Indeed the use of terrorism as a means to, or even smokescreen for,
theft pops up in many of the cop movies and military yarns such as Under
Seige.  Perhaps movies starring yankees seem more realistic if they want
money rather than the glory of God?

We must already work to stifle the persecution of Arabs abroad and Arab
Americans here.  The Seige and Three Kings address the issue more
squarely than any others that I can think of, and it's probably time to
study trends in the genre and in Hollywood/Int'l film more closely than
we have thus far (for references to such work I'd be grateful).  The
careers of actors such as Tony Shalhoub, usually asked to stand in for
any ethnic group but his own; and the use of Arab terrorists at first
for scary bad guys but then more recently for comedy (is that true?).
Some work has been done on the interchanging of Asian and Asian American
actors in roles of various nationalities (Palestinian, Italian, Jewish,
and then Korean, Chinese, Philippino, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hawaiian,
etc.).  Perhaps time for a production/reception study of white and
nonwhite perception of such interchangeability, and the link to
subordination and ostracism?  And then to any link between military
hostilities and media trends.

Sorry for the scattered thoughts.  I'm trying think of a research
contribution in our resistance to a what could work up to a full-scale
persecution campaign.


peace

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