Forms of Intersectionality: Drama and Metadrama in Yussef El Guindi's Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes

Abstract

This study aims at studying Yussef El Guindi's Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes (2008). Arab American, particularly non-Native, actors are typecast in the roles of terrorists. Therefore, they are torn between their desire at stardom and their loyalty to their origin. The present study employs the intersectional theory in such a way to relate it to the form, not merely to the content. Intersectionality is a sociological theory but it is applied on numerous fields, including literature. This theory is based on the premise that multiple social categorical axes (e.g. race, religion, and social status) operate simultaneously to produce a distinct system of discrimination and privilege for each individual. In the view that Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes is a play within a play, this study utilizes this metadramatic technique to illustrate that layers of narrative can be an effective tool to clarify layers of stereotyping. This is the point where a modern sociological theory can cohere with a classical dramatic device. In other words, this paper attempts at linking the content, form, and theory together in order to expound how Muslim American actors are stereotyped in their real-life situations as well as in the roles they perform. Arab American actor Ashraf is stereotyped and experiences the prejudice practiced on Arabs and Muslims in the frame story/his personal life and the inside story/the cinematic roles he plays. In such a way, both the levels of narrative, which represent different social contexts, reflect two levels of the intersectional stereotypes of the same person.