I think they should go for Eyes Wide Shut.
A secret screening of Porky’s might explain why Canada was named in a recent audiotape by (supposedly) Bin Laden.
I actually don’t think it’s that far-fetched.
Extremist Christian groups hate movies like American Pie because they contribute to “the corruption of our youth.”
I would expect fundamentalist Muslims to be no less liberal. In fact they would probably take it as proof of our immoral society that corrupts youth for profit. Then those immoral bastards export such movies and other forms of pop culture in order to grow rich off violating the morals of innocent young Muslims. I don’t think the fundies hate Christians so much as they hate what they percieve to be our “soulless secularism.” And when preaching to the converted, clips from movies like American Pie make the threat seem all the more real.
Moral outrage is a great motivator.
Make them watch Patch Adams. If they survive the experience, they’ll want to tear down every movie studio in California.
as young male Muslim fundies succumb to hormonal rushes at the thought of Alyson Hannigan & various band instruments… and then they smuggle in BUFFY episodes & see Vampire Willow, and then Willow & Tara.
Alyson gets Congressional Medal of Honor- Amber Benson soon follows.
OK. I agree that my OP wasn’t the best phrased in the history of the board. I might blame that it was late in the evening, I just read the article, and I had sort of an epiphany. So I’ll back upp and give a condensed version of what it said.
The journalist starts of by saying that his been in touch with people studying how movies are used for propaganda. These people are at Sorbonne and they brought up how thay know that young muslims, as part of being indoctrinated, get to view American Pie. The writer finds it ironic, that enemies of the US are being driven down the road of hatred, with the aid of a Hollywood movie. Implied in the text is also that this is standard procedure, not only with this particular group in Paris, but in many of them, around the world.
Now, I find this interesting for a number of reasons. I also find it totally plausible. I mentioned the Chateau Rougue district earlier. This is a part of Paris where, apart from the buildings, you could easily believe you’re in North Africa. There are many zones of housing projects around Europe, where refugees from Arab countries live in ghettos with virtually no contact with the country/culture surrounding them. They spend all day in their apartments, living off welfare, watching satellite TV. They don’t know a single word of any language but their own. This is a big problem, and also a topic for much debate. How do we integrate them. How do we get them into the workforce ASF.
As an example: Ahmed Rami, who owns Radio Islam in Stockholm, has publicly said that he will continue to fight for de-sexualizing (is that a word?) the Swedish society. Swedish women who wear skimpy outfits are taunting doog muslim men, and have to cover their bodies. The web site has some pages in English. A quick look didn’t show what’s on top of the pages in Swedish: “Why do we need an Islamic revolution?”
Now, let’s take a (fictional) 12 year old Lebanese boy, who came to Sweden or France as a refugee. He can go to private school, paid for by tax money, where all education is in Arabic. Swedish is taught three hours a week as a forreign language. Of course, the school needs to provide documents to prove that it’s following the curriculum, but who can check. Three years later, he has very
little knowledge of the western world or even the country where he actually lives. Young and confused he joins a militant group, which starts his indoctrination program. He might even have seen American Pie, and laughed, but in the context of the program, he now sees the movie in a diferent light.
I really don’t see why this is so implausible. And if it’s done in Paris or Stockholm - why not in Bahgdad, Tripoli or Amman?
And as an aside: What do we, in the ‘western world’ really know about everyday life in an Islamic country. What do we know about the middle class Working-Ali? Are we so enlightened about their ways and their views? What picture is Hollywood constantly portraying in movies and TV? What does the news media really tell us?
This is arguably the most interesting, open-minded question that I have seen anyone ask yet in GD. My answer to you - as a westerner that came to this region with all the preconcieved stereotypes 18 months ago - is “very little.”
I couldn’t even claim to know very much myself. For two reasons:
(1) that it is very different to live here as an ex-pat than to live here as a local/national
(2) that “Islamic” countries are hugely variant in their laws and culture, and practice of Islam. By this I mean how “devout” the population is - how much they attend mosque - the country’s alcohol/decency laws - how closely Ramadan is observed - all this varies a great amount. And not just country to country, but even area to area, town to town. So I can tell you what I know from Dubai/UAE, but it wouldn’t necessarily be right of Saudi/Iran/Jordan, etc.
What I can tell you is from my personal experience in the West, and now here, that a vast, vast amount of the media in the West is shockingly inaccurate and distorted. I won’t say biased, because that varies from publication to publication, and also because I believe much of the misinformation comes from genuine ignorance and misunderstanding (laziness?) on the part of the media.
I would also say from living here - and being a journalist - that the most accurate, impartial stuff I have read about this region is probably the BBC, and AFP (Agence France Press) newswires.
It’s hard for me even to work out from the newspapers here what it is really like for nationals here, because the English language papers are very different to their Arabic counterparts, and the main readership target is subcontinentals and Europeans anyway.
But of the Arab and Muslim friends I do have, the thing I learn more and more, is that really they are in the main part people first, Arabs/Muslims second. They are like “us” in the “west.” The “militant islamics” that are so feared now in the light of 11/9 and Al Qaeda really are NOT mainstream, and they really are more analagous to KKK types/mega-fundamentalist-abortion-clinic-bombing types in the US.
And believe me - young men here are just as in to porn as young men anywhere, when they can get it. Human nature is human nature, after all 
They are watching American Pie?
Why not just put on daytime French TV?
TG: So I’ll back upp and give a condensed version of what it said.
Thanks TG, that was much more informative, and very interesting! Again, though, in order to determine—as your OP seemed to be asking—what kind of impact this has on Muslim perceptions of America, we’d really have to have factual details of how much, when, and where it is happending, and how tight the seal is on other sources of information.
I for one don’t have any trouble believing that some militant Muslims would use such cultural artifacts as examples of Western “immorality”. (It still seems improbable to me that young fundamentalist Muslim men would be shown the whole of American Pie, sex, nudity and all, rather than carefully selected clips, but I could be convinced otherwise by actual evidence.) After all, many Westerners do the same sort of thing, combing through the Qur’an or the life of Muhammad for items that seem very outrageous to Western eyes when taken out of context, and using them as examples of Muslim “barbarity” or “inhumanity”. But without knowing more details about how this indoctrination process is conducted, when, where, etc., we have no way of estimating how effective it is in influencing Muslim views of the West.
Has anyone sent a link of this thread to their local congressman?
You could (depending on your political views) use it to argue:
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That the film industry is aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation;
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That this weakness for films should be exploited, and all propaganda drops in Al-Qaeda areas should include DVD copies of the following movies:
Lawrence of Arabia
American History X
[Insert any other movies you care to mention…]
3. The growing “film-crap gap” is a threat to National Security and funds should immediatley be appropriated for the covert support of mass appeal films in Islamic states.
The possibilities are endless.
I’d think “American Psycho” would be ideal…
“One time, at Al Qaeda training camp, I stuck the barrel of my rifle in my…”
Replace ‘terrorism school’ with ‘The PR branch of the US gov’t’(media, etc) and the enemies with ‘Arabs, Islam, Axis of Evil’ and you’ve got an interesting view into what many countries think of the US.
Particularly the part about ‘making them up’ in re: to the UN weapons inspection in Iraq.
Just making an observation, not saying I take up this opinion myself.