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temporary portrayal of an Islamic man in a mainstream Hollywood film came in 1975 with Sean Connery’s portrayal of a Moroccan chieftain, who kidnaps an American widow in John Milieus’ film, The Wind and the Lion. Typically fearsome, though admittedly sympathetic, Connery’s character is pit at odds with US President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the symbols of US historical culture, which gives the movie a sub text of good versus evil played out to the backdrop of Muslim terrorists fighting against the USA. It is a path, as will now be shown, that Hollywood has chosen to follow with increasing regularity ever since.

Five American produced films have been selected for analysis, each comprising a different vantage point concerning the same cultural dilemma of portraying an accurate image of the typical Islamic man. The first movie chosen for review is John Landis’ 1985 thriller, Into the Night, which was the first major Hollywood production to dwell on the threat of Muslims as economic terrorists with regards to the ubiquitous ‘American Dream’. Into the Night is therefore a cinematic manifestation of the dominant fears of the decade that saw the typical Arab businessman as a potential threat to US economic hegemony, a fear heightened by the widespread oil crisis of the late 1970’s.

The film is an important example of the underlying Hollywood prejudice towards Islamic men as it highlights the subconscious link between the Arabs, economic wealth and crime reflected in the six emeralds in the possession of the character played by Michelle Pfeifer. In comparison, her pursuers are crude examples of the image of the Islamic rogue male that was dominant in media portrayals of the time.

Into the Night can also be understood to work on a symbolic level, reawakening fears of a fusion between Islam and African Americans, which was a very real threat during the 1960’s and the heyday of the Black Panthers. By setting the narrative solely at night and alluding to images of the Arabian desire to accumulate American capital, Landis creates a foreboding atmosphere every time the Islamic men appear onscreen, which is in stark contrast to the more comic element at play whenever the American actors are on stage.

Furthermore, with the Americans inevitably triumphing at the conclusion of the film, the director underscores the futile nature of Arabian attempts to hijack Western capital. It is a theme that is repeated throughout Hollywood’s portrayal of the male cultural ‘outsider’: though he may be evil, heist, ultimately, fighting a losing battle every time.

Aladdin (Ron Clements, 1992) poses a wholly different problem. Aside from the animation aspect of the film, which necessarily requires adopting a different analytical approach to staged acting because of the immediate flight from reality implied via cartoon, Aladdin has evoked criticism for its overtly simplistic views of the Arabic man. In trying to entice laughter, the movie has been seen by some to cross the invisible line between decorum and distaste (though it should be remembered that the film was made predominantly with children in mind who have not yet been indoctrinated with the implications of political correctness.)

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