From Aladdin to Lost Ark, Muslims get angry at 'bad guy' film images

ANGRY Muslims yesterday complained that films always portrayed them as terrorists and villains — even in the cartoon Aladdin.
A string of blockbusters — even those made before Osama Bin Laden’s Twin Towers attack — were accused of giving Islam a "bad name".
They included the 1981 smash Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Bruce Willis’s The Siege and Halle Berry flick Executive Decision.
And the 1998 Bruce Willis movie The Siege — about a terror attack on New York — reinforced the "stereotype of the Muslim being violent and ready to be martyred".
The film "brings into focus some of the worst American fears — Muslims or Arabs attacking the country, murdering men, women and children and attacking the way of life".
It also hints that "terrorist acts are intrinsic to Islamic beliefs and practices". The 1996 Halle Berry movie Executive Decision was attacked as "almost defining terrorism as an Islamic ritual".
The report called for British film censors to be given greater power to cut out "objectionable material".
And it said media watchdogs should be more effective in making sure Muslims got "responsible coverage".
see also