Entry 5

Not Without My Daughter was an interesting film. It was written by a woman named Betty and based off of her real life experience in Iran. It is, perhaps, the fact that she wrote it herself which makes it the most interesting . What did and did not really happen is sketchy, however, it is clear that Betty and her daughter went to Iran with Betty's husband on a vacation and were essentially trapped there by her husband. They did eventually manage to leave the country through illegal means. Everything else seems to be open to interpretation. Despite the largely negative view of Muslims, particularly women perpetuated by the film, it is the women of the film who are the strongest and most sympathetic characters. When Betty's husband tries to coerce information from their daughter on where she and Betty had been that day, it is one of the female relatives who takes the child away to relative safety. The women who teach at the school Betty's daughter attends are the most sympathetic. They request that Betty spends her days at the school because of how upset her daughter becomes. Though they are restricted by rules and regulations, they do explain to Betty ways for her to get around these rules, such as arriving at school late. They cannot allow her to leave the school with the child unless her husband accompanies her, however that is very understandable. They not only have themselves to think of, but also the other students. When Betty's husband beats Betty at the school because he rightly suspects that she and their daughter were late arriving because they were somewhere else trying to find a way to leave the country, it is these women who take Betty's daughter away and do what they can to protect her by bringing the girl into a classroom.They could not have interfered in the beating, but they could and did protect their student.

Entry 4

I'll admit, I was more than a bit disapointed when we did not watch Aladdin last week. I was looking forward to watching, and picking apart that movie. not to mention that catchy songs were just what I needed to deal with my work load for this week. But hopefully we'll see Aladdin this week instead. The film about the Coolies was insteresting and disturbing. I learned more about the subject in one hour than I had known before. What sticks out to me is when the captain of a ship recorded the various deaths at sea. When he wrote it down, he added descriptions and other things which suggested that he had had at least passing familiarity with these people. But what I found disturbing was the mention of old laws in what I think was Tahiti being enforced once again. Laws that had essentially been debunked decades before. It raised the question of what had been happening in that country which would lead to something like that. The documentary did not mention the cause of these laws being reinstated, and did not have the time to do so, however to bring the subject up and then not explain it fully was disapointing. It seemed as if nearly a century was skipped over very quickly at the end of the documentary, and perhaps they should have found some other way to do that. Or have made the documentary into two hours instead of just one hour.

Orientalism Paper

Rebecca Beaudry
HIS 3105
Orientalism
Feb. 19, 2009

Orientalism is the depiction of the East by Western writers and artists. Edward Said defines Orientalism in a much harsher fashion. According to him, it is the hostile and disparaging view of the East. This was, according to him, influenced by centuries of colonialism and imperialism.
This view of the meaning of Orientalism is supported by numerous films and books. In the film Peace, Propaganda, & the Promised Land: US Media and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the focus is on how the United States media favors Israel over Palestine. While the film was biased in favor of Palestine, it brought up numerous points and raised equally numerous questions. These questions included why the US favored Israel and why Palestinians were so vilified in the media. The only reputable source mentioned in the film which depicted the area relatively accurately was the BBC.
This bias against the Palestinians resulted in the true conditions in Palestine not generally coming to light in the United States media. This included many of the check points and the all Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. The US media also rarely mentioned that the historical basis for why the Israelis were in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Nor did the United States media mention that the Israelis were illegally occupying Palestinian territory.
The film also mentioned how even when deaths or bombings in Palestine were mentioned, the Palestinians were essentially dehumanized. In one instance, children killed by a landmine were blamed for their own deaths, while the people who placed the bomb were essentially exonerated. Despite the fact that this was in a relatively residential area.
Likewise, the documentary, To Die in Jerusalem favored the Israeli woman. However, by the end of the film, it was the Palestinian woman, not the Israeli woman who looked better by the end of the film. This film focused on the mothers of two girls who died in a suicide bombing. One girl, Ayat, was the suicide bomber, the other, Rachel, was the only other person to die in the attack. Rachel’s mother cared little for what Ayat’s mother had to say, and did not care about the conditions in Palestine.
Instead, she tried to vilify both Ayat and her mother, rather than face the problems caused by her own government. When Rachel’s mother went into Palestine to meet with Ayat’s mother, she was so terrified, that she left. Several of the camera men had been arrested and Rachel’s mother honestly fear for her life, yet still she refused to see how the conditions in Palestine may have influenced Ayat to do what she did.
When Rachel and Ayat’s mothers finally speak face to face, Rachel’s mother dominates the conversation. She all but ignores anything Ayat’s mother has to say, instead choosing to all but accuse Ayat’s mother of raising Ayat to be a suicide bomber. She ignored the points Ayat’s mother tries to bring up, such as the man and child Ayat had seen die when she was young and the conditions Palestinians faced on a daily basis.
It was incredibly hypocritical that Rachel’s mother so vehemently refused to acknowledge the conditions Palestinians faced, yet had all but fled in fear of her life from Palestine. She refused to acknowledge what she obviously knew to be truth, instead hiding behind perceived superiority. When she visited a prison to speak to Palestinian inmates, she refused to hear their side of the story as well and began to lecture them, as if she knew all the answers. It was obvious by that point that she looked down upon Palestinians and rather than being oblivious to what was occurring in Palestine, she was well aware.
A third film was on the Coolies. These Indians were essentially indentured servants sent to various parts of the British Empire and treated almost the same as slaves had been treated. England had recently abolished slavery within its colonies and had need of cheap labor. So they turned to the old practice of indentured servitude. People, who likely had very little understanding of what they were agreeing to signed away years of their lives to working on plantations or in other such industries.
Labor conditions were harsh, and many people died. Likewise, many of the plantation owners treated the Coolies horribly and worked them much as they would have worked their slaves. Numerous people died during the trip from India, and losses were expected. Many times, the Coolies were sent to live in the former slave quarters. The conditions in these areas were appalling. Due to the conditions these people were forced to live in, nearly two thirds of infants died. Yet, it was their mothers who were blamed, for not having proper motherly instincts, rather than the plantation owners who forced people to live in such unsanitary and harsh conditions.
The film Reel Bad Arabs focused on the portrayed of Arabs in films and media. The speaker mentioned the mythical Arabland, which according to him is where much of the portrayal of Arabs in film takes place. In this place, there was more Hollywood mythology than truth. Arabland, according to the narrator, was a conglomeration of Hollywood myths, stereotypes, and clichés of what the Middle East was like.
He pointed out how regularly Arabs were used as villains and how on many occasions, Arab men were portrayed as lecherous or, as in the case of the film True Lies, incompetent. Women, according to him, were portrayed as either sexual symbols or heavily veiled and all but without individuality. They were often portrayed as unintelligent or barabaric, or were insulted in passing. Another example used in the film was the popular children’s movie, Aladdin. In this movie, even the opening song was horrifyingly racist, calling the area barbaric, and then further explaining that the barbarity was essentially acceptable because it was “home.”
Orientalism is how the West depicts the East in any and all media. According to Said, Orientalism is the negative depiction of the East by Westerners, as influenced by colonialism and imperialism.

Entry 3

The documentary, To Die in Jerusalem was at times very disturbing. It was about the mothers of two girls who had died in a suicide bombing. One of the girls, Ayat, was the bomber, and the other, Rachel, the only other person to died during the attack. It struck me how young Ayat was. She was, according to the documentary, just eighteen when she did this. Ayat's mother clearly had no idea this was going to happen, and neither did her friends. All of them were, it seemed, quite shocked that she would choose to do this. Ayat was so young and it made me remember a lot of the incredibly stupid things I did when I was eighteen and how unlike me, Ayat would never have a chance to regret doing them. I'm not sure why, but Rachel did not quite evoke as much sympathy from me. I think it's because my view of her is colored by her mother. Much of the film focused on Rachel's mother, who was determined to speak to Ayat's mother. As the documentary went on, she became less and less put together as her daughter's death almost seemed to consume her life. Admittedly, I have no idea what it is like to loose a child, but Rachel's mother seemed to be quite extreme at times. It was as if the only opinion that mattered to her was her own. Likewise, she was sure that Ayat's mother had known about what Ayat was planning. When the two women finally spoke, it became clear that Rachel's mother was only willing to listen to her own opinion and refused to listen to Ayat's mother, who was trying to bring up several very good points.

Entry 2

The film, Edward Said: On Orientalism, really helped to clarify the book reading. However, it seemed to be a quick overview with little detail, unlike the book. This is understandable as it was just a relatively short recording. In contrast, Stuart Hall: Representation and the Media, was incredibly repetitive. It raised several good points on the subject, and then devolved into a reiteration of points already mentioned. I found one image to be somewhat questionable, although that might have been his point. It was subtle, and may wall have been imagined, but when Hall used the image of two women to show communication, it was the blonde woman who looked straight at the viewer confidently while the brunette with darker skin looked away from the viewer and down, in what could be considered a nervous pose. This could well be imagined, or it could be a subtle point Hall was trying to make. The book by Lockman was particularly useful. the reading assigned gave a good overview of the historical background for Western views on the East, starting with the Greeks. It was very interesting , and though it skimmed over major events, it gave a good analysis of what had happened and how that had shaped various views.