by MetalSuicide on 09-16-2008 10:26 am
Actually I'll post it anyways
I didn't write the essay for nothing
Well I wrote it for school actually
But apparently school is suposed to teach us things we need in everyday life
So ill give it a go
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The film ‘Not Without My Daughter’ was subject to much scrutiny over its accused attempt to create prejudice by using some well-know literary techniques. The book of which the movie is based upon was written with the direct attempt to create a deep prejudice against Moslems and the movie followed this base and built upon it during the movie, creating prejudice toward Iran and other Moslem countries, and the Moslem religion. The filmmakers tried to persuade the audience into their way of thinking by using these literary techniques. Some of the techniques were quite subtle and discrete, while other were more obvious and imposing in the film, although both of these techniques work as well as each other, the film uses a combination of the two too create a deeper prejudice against the Moslem people. Although the film was based off the book ‘Not Without My Daughter’, which was based on a true story, the writers elaborated and exaggerated many aspects in the film to make them seem more harmful and destructive, while they might have been quite normal and expected. The writers used a few techniques that have been seen and summarised into main points, four of the recognised main techniques used in the film will be explained and exampled during this essay.
Without doubt one of the movies main literary techniques to create prejudice was the use of juxtaposition. The attempt to create prejudice was started from the very beginning of the film with the juxtaposition between the family’s home in America, and the war-torn, ravaged, harsh, dessert country of Iran. The filmmakers used the parents of Betty Mahmoody in contrast to the family of Mahmoody to create a prejudice against the family, and what they believe in. The use of religion also played a crucial role in the juxtaposition of the two cultures; the Moslem religion seemed more primitive and fundamental than most other socially accepted religions, and they used Farsi in the prayers to create confusion, and link the praying to the riots on television by using the combination of Farsi and chanting. The use of juxtaposition played a vital role in the film to create prejudice, as without comparison to another country like America, Iran would have seemed less primitive and would be seen as normal or standard. There is an abundance of freedom in Western countries, and using that in comparison with such things as the dress code in Iran created prejudice in the minds of the viewers.
Another main literary technique used by the writers was setting up a villain, and a hero. Much like juxtaposition, this gave a contrast between the two different roles, and made you feel sympathetic for the hero, to try and make you either dislike the villain, or like the hero. This played a key role in the form of Mahmoody, and Betty. Betty was seen as the hero; saving Mahtob, trying to get home to safety, and Mahmoody was seen as the villain, keeping Mahtob in Iran, and beating Betty. This technique could also have been used, and was used, to make it seem like Moslems and Islam were villains, and America and Christianity were the hero’s.
A less direct and more subconscious technique is the use of; ‘An Epic Story of Rescue’. The epic story of rescue is used in many, many stories. This is why the technique is so successful; it’s used over and over again, and is expected in most stories and makes the story-line easy to follow. The epic story of rescue often involves a hero, and a villain, and sometimes a secondary character, such as Mahtob, who was used to create sympathy for the hero. Mahtob was the one who needed to be rescued in the film, this situation is relevant to many other storylines of similar movies, many of which were not created to create prejudice, but were inadvertently doing so. The use of Mahtob is this particular story was to gain sympathy for Betty’s situation, and the turn the audience against Mahmoody and he’s family, and in a greater sense, the Moslem people. The epic story of rescue is an example of one of the more discrete and subtle literary techniques the filmmakers used. The story has been told so many times, that that majority of people do not notice that the technique is being used, this does not however mean they are unaffected by the technique, as the technique is used to sub-consciously to create a deep-seeded prejudice.
The literary technique that seems to stand out most in this particular story is the shocking scenes and images that were seen during the film. The more vivid scenes kept the audience on the edge of their seats, and shocked the audience into siding with the filmmakers against Moslem people. Such as the scene where Mahmoody first strikes Betty, this shocked the audience, and because his actions had no consequences and was considered to be normal in there society, many member would have been outraged at the fact that he ‘got away with the crime’ so to speak, and showed no remorse for his actions. The immediate shock is always followed by a sense of disgust or distaste against whoever was seen to be blamed for the event, in the case of this film; it was the Moslem people and Mahmoody who were portrayed as the ‘bad guys’. Another such example is the Iranian army taking the children from the street by force, and making them sacrifice themselves for their country without choice. This made the Moslem country and its laws and customs to look horrific in comparison with the laws and customs of which the targeted western audience were used to in our society. The shocking scenes created an automatic prejudice, and was used by the filmmakers very skilfully and spread out during the movie, always shocking the audience and keeping their attention.
Conclusively, the filmmakers accused attempt to create prejudice among the audience was, considering the examples, a correct accusation and was at some points made quite obvious, such as the shocking scenes and juxtaposition. The story used prejudice against a few Moslem people, and generalised their actions into the actions and beliefs of the entire country, also using some strange and unusual customs that would not be seen in western countries. They used to hostile environment compared to the freedom and luxury available in western countries, and exaggerated and elaborated many aspects in the film, which was based on a true story. The film was based upon the book, which was based upon the true story written by Betty Mahmoody, this means that the filmmakers were able to create somewhat; their own story, using the true story as a guideline, or base to build upon. They took some aspects of life in Iran to extreme levels, and exaggerated the truth on many occasions, such as the violence, and the customs. The techniques were explain and exampled, and were the four main literary techniques used in this particular story to create prejudice against the Moslem people.
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Lets just say; everything has it's good and bad things. And I think about the qu'ran this way, because it was told to me it was wrong like, all my life, you just can't change that, can you?