In this two-part series for Roger Ebert’s blog, scholar and Hollywood consultant Omer M. Mozaffar discusses Islam in Western cinema, taking a look at such diverse films as “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Rudolph Valentino’s “The Sheik”, “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Mr. Mozaffar focuses his essay on four forms of Islam represented in cinema – the exotic foreigner, the militant threat, the pious believer and the American Muslim.
As Mr. Mozaffar pens, “Consider the archetypes we find in so many of these films. The world of Islam, according to these movies, is a world of mysterious men seeking to bed women; it is a world of savages led by secretive leaders. Through the latter part of the century, it becomes an ancient world trailing behind our own in civility, organization and technology.”
