Characterization of Arab personality in films participating in nternational festivals(Analytical study of the period AN from 2009 to 2015

Abstract

Type-casting of Arab Character as in the Films

Participating in International Festivals

Our views about others are usually formed from their characters and natures , and these most often interact with the situations to make up the Arab character.

As far as the Arab character is concerned , some have tried to type-cast it through the ages , starting from the writings of the orientalists and ending with the full- volume productions of motions pictures which cast the Arab character in a certain fixed mold with the obvious aim of implanting them in the minds of viewers .

Now that the Arab film industry has developed and has made its presence felt strongly at international festivals as an ambassador of Arab character , we may pose some questions here ; How these films have presented the Arab character and how they have formed it? Have they presented a fair picture of the Arab causes and problems ? Have they succeeded in giving an impression quite different from what is known about them? Have they been able to portray the true and positive qualities of the Arabs such as love , peace and non- violence?

These questions constitute the principles on which this study is based .It is an attempt to define the type of the Arab character as in the films participating in the international festivals (Cannes , Venice , London and Oscar).

The present study is , for the most part , an analytical description of the films shown at the above international festivals over the period from 2009 to 2015 . It has adopted the content analysis method and focused on the pictures of the characters presented .

Among  the most important results which the study has come up is that the Arab characters have been portrayed as violent and aggressive even when they deal with their children who should be given special treatment . Also among the results is that the security conditions now prevailing in the Arab countries are mostly unstable . They never offer safety for their populations who , under such circumstances , prefer to leave them for better life in other countries . Yet , the most dangerous thing about the foreign films is that they portray Islam as an extremist religion which imposes its own teachings on its followers but they disobey them. 

Generally speaking , the study has come up with the conclusion that there is a conformity between the type of the Arab characters and the  type presented about them by the West. This matter supports the fact that both Islam and the Arabs have come under a foreign attack and that it gives the other side an excuse to interfere in our lives as being violent peoples who know nothing but to live in permanent conflicts .