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Emily the Criminal (2022)
Disturbing Perpetuation of Negative Arab Stereotypes
I'm a fan of Aubrey Plaza's other work, which is why I attended an FYC screening of this film, but I didn't think she did a particularly good job in her role. She employed a New Jersey accent in just three of all the scenes - and a terrible one, at that. I did think that the other actors did a decent job, especially Theo Rossi, who played Youcef. Turns out, he's an American, who was born on Staten Island.
Regardless, I have a much bigger issue with the film: Why did the writer choose to make the nationality of the criminal family Lebanese and, in so doing, perpetuate negative Arab stereotypes in film that have been around as long as the movies themselves? Was it unconscious bias? There was no reason that the criminals had to be Lebanese, no storyline that developed from it. It seems like it was an easy way to get the audience on board with the awful idea that these people are disposable so that the end of the film sits better with them. Anti-Arab sentiment in this country runs completely unchecked. Imagine if the criminal family in this film was Israeli for no particular reason. I'll just say, I don't think it would be received in quite the same way.
Anti-Arab racism, bias, and propaganda should not be tolerated in Hollywood or anywhere else. There's a book, and a great documentary of the same name, that explores this deeply troubling subject at length. It's called "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People."