Muslim villains in movies ‘are a symptom of laziness’

LONDON

Due to sheer laziness, Muslims have been tapped as the current “evil villains” in Western movies and TV shows, said an acclaimed Hollywood scriptwriter on the eve of the Fourth International Bosphorus Film Festival.

Renowned screenwriting guru Robert McKee, who teaches the trade and runs workshops around the world, said movies have a history of using a particular nationality or community as a stereotypical villain, and that this position is now occupied by Muslims.

McKee is the author of the popular textbook Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, which has been used to teach over 100,000 student screenwriters – including 60 who went on to win Academy Awards.

He is due to attend the International Bosphorus Film Festival, which begins on Thursday.

“Right now, our favorite villains are Muslims,” he said in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency.

“But I can remember when our favorite villains were Italians. And before that, in the 19th century, the favorite villain was the Irish. All those cowboy villains were Irish.” 

Misrepresentations

Despite burgeoning filmmakers around the world, the multibillion-dollar U.S. film industry in Hollywood remains the largest in the world. The movies it produces each year reach more cinemas and are seen by more people than any other country’s industry.

Yet many Muslims believe their faith is regularly attacked or insulted in its films.

Some of the worst offenders are reported by Islam in Film, a website that tracks Islamophobia in movies.

It says one of the most common misrepresentations is the phrase “Allahu Akbar” – a common Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” – which is frequently associated with terrorism.

“Muslims are often portrayed as rich oil barons, clandestine terrorists, or brutish wife-beaters,” the website argues.

“How can such treatment not lead to prejudice and irrational fear when in a country where movies can have widespread influence beyond that of ideological or political leaders?”

McKee said he recognized how much pain such vilification causes.

“Everybody’s feelings get hurt when their group gets singled out as the favorite international villain,” he said.

“[In] the United States, we’ve had one villain that we have used for 250 years and that’s the English. When we want a really great master criminal we get a British actor.

“What can I say? Everybody has to take their turn. Right now it's Muslims. It won't be long [before it changes].”

And the reason that screenwriters go for such over-simplification with their villains?

McKee’s answer is firm: “This is a symptom of laziness.

“Action writers, writers often are in such desperate hunger to be successful, to be published, to be produced, to get on screen that they just grab clichés, whatever's in the air, and recycle them.”  

Organizing chaos

At the International Bosphorus Film Festival next week, McKee will run three days of seminars on the essentials of scriptwriting for TV series, thrillers, and comedies.

He said a strong story is always at the heart of any good screenplay.

“Stories make civilization possible. They make the individual’s life possible, because life does not teach us how to live. If we only had life as a guide, we would be in chaos, and God knows what kind of animal would come out.

“Story organizes experience comically, tragically, and across the whole spectrum from fairy tales to children’s stories to war and peace.”

More than 3,600 films from 122 different countries have been submitted to this year’s festival, which begins on Thursday and will run until Nov. 18.

Anadolu Agency is the festival’s global communication partner.

Michael Daventry contributed to this report from London.