This book identifies, presents and critically evaluates a corpus of
films dealing with Arabs and Arabic themes produced in the United
States during the silent era (1894-1930). Underlying and guiding
this work is the premise that American (and Western) films dealing
with Arabs took shape, functioned, and are ultimately better
understood by reference to the encompassing and pervasive cultural
system of Orientalism. Responding to the conditions and demands of
Orientalism and reflecting a historically entrenched and
confrontational attitude towards Arabs and their environment, these
films share sufficient common themes, types, plotlines, motifs and
a recognizable iconography to be considered as forming a distinct
film genre, labeled here the Oriental genre. Although the author
provides ample evidence for the lackluster verdict that a great
number of these films were racist in treatment, colonialist in
drive, and fantastical in their disregard for Arab realities, he
takes the additional step to go back and explore the mindsets and
the general conditions of production and consumption of these
films, in order to situate cinematically and sociologically the
real moments of fascination and pleasure experienced by the
millions of consumers of this type of film fare. For, although it
is a hard thing to conceive by the atrophied post 9/11 collective
imagination about Arabs and Muslims, the Arab lover stereotype
roamed through thousands of picture palaces in the 1920s, charming
millions of women; as evidenced by multiple film plotlines
involving London or Chicago girls flocking to the North-African
Desert to be serenaded by Arab lovers on silver moonlit dunes. The
book then firmly establishes the contours of the new film genre,
tying it to its diverse historical and discursive moorings; then
sets out to provide the first expansive view of films on Arabs
during the silent period. The Sheik films of Valentino and the
score of spoofs they generated are here presented in depth, as they
offer the best demonstration of the craze for things and themes
Arabian in the twenties; a craze fueled and celebrated by female
audiences and the flapper element of it in particular. Furthermore,
films like The Thief of Baghdad and Kismet have been rightfully
tied to their present moment of consumption as well as to their
super script, The Arabian Nights. The reader will also find in the
book perhaps the most detailed account of the life and films of
Irish-born American filmmaker, Rex Ingram. His films on Arabs have
taken him to North Africa where he lived, went native and, to the
displeasure of Hollywood, reportedly converted to Islam; earning
him in this book the title of Hollywood's Lawrence of Arabia.
Finally, what is also exclusive in this book is the filmography of
films on Arabs covering the period 1894-1930; erected piece by
piece during the years 1900-1993. It has since been used and
acknowledged by several film critics and historians. About the
Author: Abdelmajid Hajji obtained a PhD in Film from the University
of Kansas in 1993. He served as Dean of the School of Humanities
and as Vice President of Moulay Ismail University in Meknes,
Morocco. He is now professor of Media, film, and International
Communication at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, and Al
Alakhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. He has spent two terms at
the University of Texas at Austin, as a Fulbright post-doctoral
researcher and as Research Fellow; allowing him to continue work on
this book. Mr. Hajji is also the President of the Moroccan
Fulbright Alumni Association, MFAA.
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