The Jews smarter than the Arabs in "You Don't Mess with the Zohan"?

[Torsten]

Hi,

I had the impression that in Adam Sandler's latest movie 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' the Palestinians were portrayed as significantly more stupid than the Jews. Maybe that's just my biased perception?

Thanks,
Torsten
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[Skrej]

No, I'm sure it was intentially played as so. Any movie is going to portray the hero as smart and cunning.

The bad guys are normally portrayed as bumbling and stupid, particularly in comedies. Smart bad guys aren't funny. The current fad for movie bad guys are terrorists, just like they used to be Russians, just like they used to be Viet Cong, just like they used to be Germans... and so on.

For right or wrong, the sterotypical terrorist is portrayed as Arab. Since Zohan is Israeli, the most natural Arabs to fit the bill for the required 'bumbling-ethnic-terrorist" slot would of course be Palestinians. I think the movie even identifies them as Hamas (when they call the terrorist supply hotline)? Or was it some other group. I've never actually seen the movie, just clips.

Thus, hero (an Israeli Jew)= smart, villains (Palestinian Arab terrorists)= bumbling and stupid. Those are the movie rules.

I'm generally not an Adam Sandler fan. Spanglish was the only movie I enjoyed his acting in.
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[Jamie (K)]

Watch some of the videos made about Jews in the Middle East, and maybe you won't be so worried about the biased perception in a Hollywood movie. Try some things at http://memritv.org/

[Barb_D]

Yeah, I agree: Good guys=smart; bad guys=stupid in most Hollywood movies.

Even when it's local cops versus federal agents, the FBI (the federal cops) are shown to be idiots all wrapped up in procedures and such, while the local cops are the smart ones. It's not racist - it's just a formula.

[Lovely Girl]

I'm very unhappy of what i'm reading here.I don't know why u guys have this bad idea about the arabs as a whole.you don't know middle-east and as i'm from there i can say that foreign people just like you who live in the arab world have a different idea about us than what they had.I'd like to say that i'm not surprised that you talked that way about us since you don't us and all you know about us is based on what you say and hear on TV which doesn't always bring the right news to its people.

I really hope that you don't ways al believe what you see on TV and learn more about the arabs because we are good people .
on the other hand ,Israel is the one who invaded our middle-east and killed our people not us.please ,return to the history and you will see yourself.

thanks,
lovely girl

[Jamie (K)]

[Skrej]

[Lovely Girl]

My view of Arabs from the Middle East ranged from positive to neutral back when I got all my information from American TV and the press. My negative view of Arabs came after I had to deal with many Arabs on a day-to-day basis.

i think you are suggesting that the American media is good toward us ,while you think the arabs are worse than that.by the way i have many contacts with westerners and as a matter of fact i have many western friends whom i largely respect and like but what i noticed from their attitudes towards us that they thought we were as bad as they have been told and seen on TV but as soon as they interact with us and see our attitudes they changed their mind.i'm not saying that to defend the arabs and i'm not saying that what you had said about them was lies although i don't belive in most of what you said Jamie.
again about that movie,which i didn't see but was told, since it has been produced in Israel i'm not surprised that they show the arabs in a bad way since it is what we used to see from them.actually i think that this is the only way Israel tries to show the arabs in a bad way,maybe you say it is just a movie ,but i personally believe that the one who is trying to show himself as smart is in fact the most stupid .
i'm sorry if i went far away in writing my first post and i apologize if i misunderstood the point of the deiscussion.
regards,

[Waelsaeed]

[Torsten]

Hi Waelsaeed,

I'm sorry if I created the wrong impression with my statement and I think you misinterpreted what I wrote so let me rephrase it: I think that in the movie 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan', the Jews were portrayed as more clever than the Palestinians. In other words, I think that the Palestinians are at least as intelligent as the Jews. The keyword in my statement is 'were portrayed'. This means, the movie makers decided to portray (describe) the Arabic side as more stupid than the Jewish side. So, it's not me who says that the Arabs are more stupid the movie. Please note that I did not make the movie, I just watch it and I would like to discuss it here.

Also, did you read Skrej's response to my question? If so, what do you think of it?
Regards,
Torsten
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[Yankee]

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I agree with Skrej and Barb_D. This is basically a "formula" that is often used in movies. It doesn't matter who the "bad guy" in the movie is. When this "formula" is used, the bad guy is always dumb and the good guy is "more intelligent" or wins somehow. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least one movie in which all of the bad guys are New Yorkers, for example. The New Yorkers are portrayed as a bunch of bumbling idiots.
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[Yankee]

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You know, I'd just like to add that I think almost all of the characters in that movie are portrayed as being pretty darn dumb -- including Zohan. The movie is full of exaggerated stereotypes. That includes redneck stereotypes, hair-dresser stereotypes, female senior-citizen stereotypes, and so on. In my opinion, though, the most intelligent and normal person in the whole movie is Zohan's Palestinian girlfriend.
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[Aryam]