Thursday's movie was the first time I really learned about middle eastern stereotypes in American film. I was extremely surprised that Aladdin's opening song contained such racial lyrics. "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face, it's barbaric but hey it's home." This line goes to show that middle easterners are generally viewed as being villainous, and violent throughout American culture.
If movie's we show to our children portray arabs as being barbaric, it's safe to assume that it's a widespread problem in all genre's. Other American classic's such as Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and Father of the Bride reinforce these stereotypes. In other movies we see that Arabic women are often shown as belly dancers, or Arab men being rich oil tycoons.
Racial profiling toward middle easterners has only gotten worse since 9/11. The two comics shown in the film went on to say that they had to show up a month early for a flight.Even if this is a stretch, it's obvious that all people with a tan/brown tone to their skin are hassled when traveling.
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