The Representation of Arabs in Hollywood’s War and Action Movie “Rules of Engagement”

Abstract

Abstract: This research aims to shed some light on how the Arabs are being presented in Hollywood through examination of the war and action movie Rules of Engagement (2000), which according to Jack Shaheen (2008) is the most stereotypical movie of all time. The main objective of this research is to identify the image and the messages the producer of this film tried to send to the audience. The method used in this study was the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Horkheimer, 1972). The results revealed that the producer of Rules of Engagement made an extensive use of the perplexing power of the semantic components of the language in arguing for or against an ideology. Keywords: Stereotype, Representation of Arabs, Influence, Image of Arabs, Hollywood.