@article{digilib39534,
           month = {November},
           title = {MUSLIMS IN THE AMERICAN CINEMA : MEDIA CONTESTATION AND
POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION},
          author = {- WITRIANI},
            year = {2015},
         journal = {-},
        keywords = {film, American Muslim, Representation, Contestation, Power relation},
             url = {https://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/id/eprint/39534/},
        abstract = {Muslims have been existed in America since the pre-colonial period and increased along the
Nation and formed the America as today. They came from many different places namely South
Asia, Africa and Middle East. However, being minority among the other two of Abrahamic
religions, Muslims have not been fully accepted , especially in media. Not only because of its
small amount of the community and thus have less power among Christianity and Jews, but
the discrimination and labeling toward this religion has led to phobia, a threat that do not
only have a negative influence on certain ethnicity (Arabic) of Muslims in America but Islam as
a whole. As Shaheen (2000:23) mentions, up to the year of 2000, there are more than 800
feature films and hundreds of television newscasts, documentaries, entertainment shows,
ranging from animated cartoon to soap opera to movies of the week which construct Muslim
and Arab in an hostile, negative, and militant way. This number was even multiply after the
tragedy of 11 September 2009.
The objective of this paper is to find out the cultural representation of Muslims in America,
especially through the movie. How and why Hollywood depicts Muslims stereotypes on the
screens which imply the negation of American society toward this religion as a whole. One
of the interesting thing of those depictions is that the Islamic representation is mostly limited
to Arabic ethnicity. As Israel and Palestine are conflicting and American interference in the
Middle East are getting intense, the depiction of Islam in the movie is mostly related to
?alien?, violent stranger and the terrorist of the world. The similar presentation from one film
to another, which is indeed based on Western perception, has led to form certain ideology
which is believed as a truth. In this sense, as a media of representation, film is no longer seen
as narratives art per se which is supposed to be neutral, entertaining, and apolitical. Through
this film ,it is seen an ideological system , an institution which compose conflicting class and
interest which all competing for dominance. Ideological storage especially the Western
perspective , cultural practice, historical perspectives or even such political interests are all
mingled to contribute presenting Islam and Muslim in a different and limited way. When a
particular construction of certain movies is followed by similar pattern of presentation , as
the Hollywood intensively does toward the Muslims and any other minority groups, the
impact is not only about the messages sent to the audience but also ideology and
knowledge production .}
}