Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 2004, pages 66, 69

Special Report

In Disney’s “Hidalgo,” Omar Sharif (l) plays a wealthy sheikh who invites Pony Express rider Frank Hopkins, played by Viggo Mortensen, to enter an Arabian horse race (courtesy Touchstone Pictures).

Paul Pessimist: I just saw Disney’s $100 million epic, “Hidalgo.”

Whoopee! Set in 19th century Arabian desert, it’s all about Frank Hopkins, a half-Sioux cowboy, and his horse, Hidalgo. What I really liked about “Hidalgo” is watching Hopkins and his horse cross 3,000 miles of desert to win the “Oceans of Fire” Arabian race. They leave behind, in the dust, 100 Arabs riding “pure Arabians.”

Jack Shaheen: This is an oft-told tale, Paul. Hollywood desert race movies, such as “Sahara” and “The Black Stallion” films, also show Americans triumphing over those tentdwelling Arabs.

PP: So what—that’s the way it should be! “Hidalgo” is one terrific movie, with plenty of action. Every 15 or 20 minutes some Arab baddies try to kill Hopkins. But, this cowboy/Indian is really fast on the draw. We see cheating desert Arabs trying to buy the race, but they don’t have a chance—Hopkins shoots ‘em all dead. One of my favorite scenes shows dishonorable and disagreeable Arabs, who tar Hopkins an “impure animal” and an “infidel,” trying to castrate the American. But Hopkins decks the baddie.

This film is merely entertainment, harmless stuff intended for teens. Besides, Disney says it’s a true story, and Mickey Mouse doesn’t lie.

JS: Mickey lied. “Hidalgo,” the most racist film of 2004, is not a true story. There was never a 1,000-year-old Arabian horse race. Just go online and check out the Long Rider’s Association and other noted equestrian historical experts. Sure, Hopkins was a real person, but “Hidalgo” and his other stories are pure bunk!

Look, Paul, you accept and applaud Americans bringing down dastardly Arabs because of Hollywood’s mythology. Disney never shows Arabs as humane, decent folk, people like you and me.

PP: That’s because they’re not like you and me. They’re different.

JS: Well, we used to think Jews were different, and blacks were inferior, and American Indians were savages, didn’t we? We finally unlearned those prejudices. It’s not politically correct to show a cowboy gunning down Indians any more. Audiences won’t buy it! But anyone can gun down and disgrace all things Arab.

Look, to make sure viewers would cheer Hopkins, Disney’s writers took the cowboy’s best traits and blended them with the Indian’s noble attributes. Presto! Out from the blender comes Hopkins, son of a Lakota princess. The bottom line is this: “Hidalgo” is a reincarnated cowboys-and-Indians shoot-‘em-up. Only this time the cowboy-Indian hero guns down not Indian “savages,” but Bedouin “bandits.”

PP: You know what I think? You own stock in Disney, and just because the company is faltering, you’re upset. This is all personal.

JS: Not true. I never invested in Disney, and my criticisms are based on reality, not fiction. Besides, Disney has a history of advancing bigotry against Arabs. It began as early as 1932 with their animated cartoon, “Mickey In Arabia.” Here, an Arab sheikh appears as a sinister black cat. He and his cat bandits kidnap and hold hostage Minnie Mouse. Naturally, Mickey rescues her, tumbling scores of “desert pirates.”

PP: Come on, Shaheen. That cartoon was released 72 years ago; it’s so old I can’t even find it on eBay! What does yesteryear’s Mickey Mouse have to do with today’s “Hidalgo”?

JS: Well, like the “Arabia” cartoon, the movie “Hidalgo” also shows 1) the Western protagonist bringing down evil desert “hostiles,” and 2) the hero rescuing, in the nick of time, the kidnapped heroine from being ravished by a wily Arab.

In “Hidalgo,” devious, dark Arabs kidnap Princess Jazira. And Jazira wants Hopkins, “the foreigner,” not a fellow Arab, to win the desert race. Why? Because if Prince Bin Mubarek wins the race she will be forced to “become his fifth wife. The youngest of his harem. No more than a slave in his house.”

PP: Well, those Muslims do have more than one wife, right? So what if the princess has to wait on him hand and foot? Those women over there have always been repressed, then and now. It’s a good thing Hopkins is over there to save her. Any more complaints?

JS: Perpetuating the myth that Arab women are submissive is not a reality, but part of Hollywood’s distorted folklore. “Hidalgo” replenishes this injurious stereotype, and others, as well: Arab versus Arab, Arab versus American, Arabs versus blacks. Early on, scenes show Arab slavers parading Africans in chains, including a young boy whom Hopkins saves from the auction block. Later, a devious Arab kills a heroic Nubian.

PP: Look, for its first week “Hidalgo” was number three at the box office—audiences love this movie.

JS: Given the fact this film displays so many ugly and malicious Arabs, its popularity disturbs me. This stereotype is firmly implanted in psyches. I am even more aware of a tragic post-9/11 reality:

Hollywood’s methodical hate-Arab implants continue to teach viewers worldwide to despise all things Arab. It remains acceptable for American movies to be anti-Semitic—as long as the Semites are Arabs. Just look at Disney’s movies, from 1992 to 2004:

• 1992: “Noises Off-Stage”—actors belittle Arabs; “Aladdin”—Arabs are abhorrent caricatures; Islam is a brutal religion.
  
  
• 1993: “The Return of Jafar”—Refurbished hook-nosed Arab curs, à la “Aladdin.”
  
  
• 1994:“In the Army Now”—Pauly Shore plays a Glendale reservist; he and his pals kill evil Libyans.
  
  
• 1995: “Father of the Bride, Part II”—Dhe sleazy, rich Habibs swindle an American family; “Miami Rhapsody”—The hero boasts, “Arabs don’t compromise...they live to bargain.”
  
  
• 1996: “Spy Hard”—Mideast terrorist cell buys a “scorpion missile”; “Kazaam”—Greedy and gluttonous Arab Americans brutalize an American teen.
  
  
• 1997: “GI Jane”—Demi Moore portrays a Navy SEAL and blows up nasty Arabs.
  
  
• 1999: “The Insider”—A “60 Minutes” producer tags the ugly Sheikh Fadallah, a terrorist.
  
  
• 2004 “Around the World in 80 Days”—This upcoming film, complete with red-fezzed curs, also stars California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a prince with plenty of wives—a different one for every night.

PP: Are you trying to tell me that when it comes to vilifying Arabs, Disney knows exactly what it’s doing?

JS: Exactly. Watching “Hidalgo” and these other movies I wanted to shout at the screen: Mr. Eisner, why don’t you produce a family film that enhances tolerance, instead of movies that escalate prejudices? Isn’t that what Mickey Mouse is all about?

Jack Shaheen is the author of Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, available from the AET BookClub.