Disney defends latest film
Regional, International, 8/21/1997

Responding to accusations from an American-Arab group that its new film, G.I. Jane, portrays Arabs in an unfair and inaccurate light, Hollywood Pictures, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney company, said in a statement that there is "no intent to disparage any people" in the film.

The American-Arab Anti-Defamation Committee (ADC) criticized the film as the latest of many Disney films to contain negative portrayals of Arabs, specifically pointing to a sequence in which "scores of faceless Arabs bite the dust." Disney maintains that the film simply "depicts activity in the Gulf Region where action involving the United States has taken place over the last severeal years."

The group also criticized Disney for not meeting with it, a charge Disney denies. "We have met with members of the ADC. . . and where we felt it was appropriate, have initiated changes based on their concerns," the statement said. But the ADC, backing away slightly from their earlier categoric statement, maintains that the film division of Disney has not only refused to meet with them since Aladdin, but that it continues to release movies "that feature a regular flow of negative, degrading Arab images."

The ADC has issued a report to the Arab League on Disney which will come under discussion and possibly result in official action against the company.

On a broader scale, the ADC has expressed concerns about a lack of Arabs portrayed as normal people on the American big screen. And the ADC stated that it places emphasis on "the connection between images--like GI Jane--and reality, like what's going on in Lebanon, where Arab lives don't seem to count for too much."

Previous Stories:
  Walt Disney is under consideration for reprimand by Arabs   (8/20/1997)

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