After watching the "Reel Bad Arabs" and having our discussion in class it made me realize that I need to inform myself on what is going on instead of just watching movies and taking what I hear off the news as the truth and how people in that culture live. I know that I mention this a lot, but honestly I never truly realized how sheltered my ideas about those in the Middle East were and how much I actually didn't know. It wasn't because I disagree with more of their culture or that I have something against them, I think it was the simple fact that I was unaware of their culture and what they went through so I never truly cared to come face to face with some of the horrible things that went on.
It was definitely ironic when the "Reel Bad Arabs" had the section about Aladdin. It is definitely true that this is one of the few options we have in America to decide how we are going to view those in the Middle East. The other is that all of them are terrorists, which along with everything being mystical and a fairy tale, we don't have many other opinions or facts to give us any indication as to how these people live or the things they go through in their lives, or even the similarities they have to people in the West. The reason that seeing a film that showed how people view Aladdin is ironic is because my 4 year old kids at day care that I take care of everyday had just watched the movie last week. Several of them asked me where this was, and why they were dressed this way, and if all people could live in a castle. I believe this ties in perfectly with what the video was trying to say. This is probably one of the first times these kids have been exposed to that group of people and the first impression they get is that this is magical and that's it. I honestly had a hard time explaining to them all of the questions they asked because honestly, I didn't know many of the answers myself. At the time I really didn't think anything of it, until I got into this class. Now I realize there really is no excuse as to why I shouldn't know the answers to those questions or why I shouldn't try to understand their culture better. It's true that many of them live in America and I should be willing to understand their culture to better understand them as people, and not strictly by what I see on TV.
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I thought the same thing when I was little: I thought that Aladdin was just a totally magical place. I never really thought about it as a REAL place. I hope this book will help teachers and kids discover what wonderful literature is available from the Middle East. Then we won't have to rely on things like Aladdin!
ReplyDeleteI really like your attitude on approaching this subject. You seem to be very open to taking in new information about the Middle East. From reading these blog posts, I get the idea that a lot of us (myself included!) have little previous knowledge on the topic of the Middle East in general. I think that that will make this class more interesting in the long run, as so many of us are experiencing this new information at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI think the distinction you make between having stereotypes and just not having any information is an important one. Our society, and certainly schooling, teaches us what we should know, and what we don't need to bother to know. Seems like in this class we are going to need to rethink education to some degree, as well as think about what we "know" -- that may be stereotypes, and what we don't know, or need to know.
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