如果你不讲自己的故事，别人就会讲。对于中东/北非（MENA）人来说，他们在媒体上看到的故事确实是一个挑战。尼尔森的数据显示，在 1500 个广播、有线和流媒体电视节目中，中东和北非地区在屏幕上的出现率仅为 2.5%。但是，不仅仅是媒体对这一群体的报道不足。事实上，美国人口普查仍将中东和北非人归类为白人，这使得他们必须更加努力地争取资源，因为他们的代表性不足，被低估了。那么，媒体行业可以做些什么来增加中东和北非人在银幕上的代表性，并更准确地讲述他们的经历呢？
To explore some ideas and opportunities, we spoke with Dr. Evelyn Alsultany, Associate Professor, Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at University of Southern California, and educational consultant for the MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition (MAAC), an organization that advocates for greater visibility of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian talent in Hollywood.
"我们看到了太多对阿拉伯人、伊朗人和穆斯林，当然还有许多其他群体抱有成见的形象和故事情节。它们的危害不在于一个故事，而在于它们的重复和图像缺乏多样性。其结果是，这些刻板印象代表了整个群体，剥夺了他们的人性"。
伊夫林-阿尔苏塔尼博士
Q: From 2019-2021, Nielsen data shows that the genres where MENA talent is most often seen are biographies, action sports and dark comedies. From your research/experience, what stories about MENA culture are being told on screen? Are there stereotypes or accurate representation/depictions?
答：好莱坞电影和电视节目并非 "仅仅是娱乐"。刻板印象及其在历史上的重复影响了对伤害阿拉伯人和穆斯林的政策的支持。它们产生了巨大的影响和后果。2017 年，MAAC 将中东和北非地区作为一个新的多样性类别，在娱乐行业中建立了更高的知名度，帮助该社区获得认可，并使尼尔森等公司能够正确衡量中东和北非地区在屏幕上的表现形式。但仍有不足之处。
There have been some notable changes over the last two or three decades. After 9/11, there was an increase in “good” Arab and Muslim characters in TV shows like 24, 故土 和 Jack Ryan. However, these characters appeared as U.S. patriots who either worked for the FBI or CIA or who were willing to fight and die for the U.S. to prove their patriotism. It is an improvement over portrayals as terrorists but it is nonetheless a very limiting character that defines Arabs and Muslims as “good” or “bad” in relation to terrorism and in relation to a very narrow conception of patriotism.
问：随着流媒体和数字平台内容的增加，我们是否在屏幕上看到了更多的中东和北非文化/人物？
我们已经从大多数人在网络电视上观看同一套节目的时代转变为通过流媒体服务提供如此广泛的节目的时代。我们也有更多机会接触到非美国制作的节目。在使我们消费的中东和北非人民的形象多样化方面，我们有很大的潜力。
Historically,non-Arabs would play Arab roles and would use costumes and accents to convey Arabness. Anthony Quinn, who was Mexican, played Arab characters in several movies: The Road to Morocco, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Lion of the Desert (1981). As recently as 2014 and 2016, Gerard Butler was in Gods of Egypt, and both Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton in Exodus: Gods and Kings were all painted brown to play MENA Characters. Most of the roles left available for MENA actors over the last two decades have been stereotypical characters. Even when MENA talent is present, there is still a need to expand the stories that are told about them. Nielsen’s Gracenote Inclusion Analytics data shows that romance was the top genre where MENA talent appeared on screen in 2021—almost twice more than in mystery, which is the genre with the second highest MENA share of screen. And when we look at the programs under the romance genre, 40% is in Spanish-language novelas, which is limited to the Spanish audience.
Luckily, we have content creators like Ramy and Nasim Pedrad helping to change the landscape. But we need more streamers and networks to buy MENA content from MENA creators and put it on air. With TV more global than ever, there is a market for it. We’ve seen a concerted and notable effort in Hollywood to expand and improve representations especially in response to the Muslim Travel Ban proposed in 2015. As a result, we saw an increase in representations of Muslims outside of terrorism. It is quite refreshing. These include CBS’ FBI, Fox’s 9-1-1: Lonestar, the CW’s DC Legends of Tomorrow, Freeform’s The Bold Type, NBC’s Transplant, Hulu’s Ramy, Peacock’s We Are Lady Parts, and most recently Disney+ Moon Knight. These shows have been impacting the MENA audience in moving ways for their accurate and thoughtful representation.
问：还能采取哪些措施来推动变革？
最有效的方法将是那些寻求纠正历史上的陈述而不是一时的危机的方法。
伊夫林-阿尔苏塔尼博士
Over the last five years, some wonderful resources have emerged to support Hollywood in diversifying representations. The MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition, MAAC, works to educate the industry at large on the underrepresentation of MENA in entertainment and has created a database of MENA and South Asian creatives to connect emerging and established talent from these regions to the industry. The WGA launched a Middle Eastern Writers Committee to create awareness for MENA Writers, and SAG-AFTRA recently created a National MENA Committee to advocate for performers.
But devising effective solutions requires developing a fuller understanding of the problem. The problem is not one movie or TV show, but how a history of stereotypical representations has constructed negative meanings about Arabs (and Muslims) that have real world consequences. The problem is that MENA performers have been portrayed as terrorists so many times that it has come to represent the entire community of 300 million people. Therefore, we need to encourage streamers and networks to invest in MENA talent and hire MENA writers.
我们往往在问题爆发或出现危机时试图解决问题，比如穆斯林禁令。但是，最有效的方法将是那些寻求纠正历史表象而非一时危机的方法。
