Muslim Stereotypes in the Media

The media over exaggerates their representation of the Muslim population portraying them as violent terrorists and a threat to most nations/countries. Stereotypes abound in any and every form of media we can listen to, read, or watch today. Stereotypes create recognition in people and stir emotions - from anger to fear, or even empathy. News reports on religion generally use outrageous stereotypes of the population of the particular religion. This is evident in the representation of Muslims whenever they pop-up in news stories. Our views and opinions are often shaped by the media - the news, TV shows, movies, magazines and newspapers. Many people take the views depicted in these and claim them as their own without thinking or researching it more. Cultural Theorist Stuart Hall states that the messages in media, "intersect with the deep semantic codes of a culture and take on additional, more active ideological dimensions." This means that they build on the cultural and social anxieties of a given time and also reflect then back into the culture, therefore reinforcing them and adding to them. The problem with this is that the media almost always leaves bits and pieces out and portray only the parts they think we want to see to meet our expectations.

The kids movie, "Aladdin" is one which given a skewed view of Muslim people. In the opening scenes of the theatrical release, the theme song states that Aladdin hails "from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." Throughout the movie Muslims are repeatedly depicted as scheming, mystical, violent, stupid or greedy Arabs. Everything from costuming to voice tones, facial features and references to Allah build a very stereotypical and false image of Muslims. One of the reasons why this is an incorrect stereotype is that most Muslims are not even Arabic with only about 18% of the 1.6 billion Muslims being Arabic. So why do we