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Palgrave Macmillan

Muslim Heroes on Screen

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Daniel O'Brien

    1. Southampton, UK

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  • Extensive study of characters, folkloric, historical, in relation to issues around screen depictions of Islamic heroes
  • Features detailed examination of key films and debates not found elsewhere
  • Draws on theories of orientalism, popularized by Edward Said's 1978 study

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 1-31

  3. Thieves of Bagdad: The Cinematic Metamorphosis of an Islamicized Hero

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 33-66

  4. The Voyages of Sinbad: From Hollywood Cartoon Stooge to Global Fantasy Icon

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 67-116

  5. Moutamin and the Mahdi: The Honourable Muslim Ally/Enemy in El Cid and Khartoum

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 117-143

  6. Saladin: The West’s Favourite Muslim?

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 145-183

  7. Representing the Unrepresentable: Muhammad, The Message, and South Park

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 185-203

  8. Epilogue: ‘The baraka has not deserted me’—American Expansionism and Muslim Resilience in The Wind and the Lion

    • Daniel O’Brien
    Pages 205-216

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 217-251
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Keywords

About this book

If films drawing on Middle East tropes often highlight white Westerners, figures such as Sinbad and the Thief of Bagdad embody a counter-tradition of protagonists, derived from Islamic folklore and history, who are portrayed as ‘Other’ to Western audiences. In Muslim Heroes on Screen, Daniel O’Brien explores the depiction of these characters in Euro-American cinema from the silent era to the present day. Far from being mere racial masquerade, these screen portrayals are more complex and nuanced than is generally allowed, not least in terms of the shifting concepts and assumptions that inform their Muslim identity. Using films ranging from Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, El Cid, Kingdom of Heaven and The Message to The Wind and the Lion, O’Brien considers how the representational strategies of Western filmmakers may transcend such Muslim stereotypes as fanatic antagonists or passive victims. These figures possess a cultural significance which cannot be fully appreciated by Euro-American audiences without reference to their distinction as Muslim heroes and the implications and resonances of an Islamicized protagonist.



Reviews

“The book is a sound contribution to the literature on the study of Islam and Muslim societies in film.” (Ahmad Nuril Huda, Journal of Religion & Film, Vol. 27 (2), October, 2023)

"Before the dominance of the “terrorist” trope in Hollywood dozens of films embraced romantic and exotic representations of Muslims on screen. While these films are often left without serious inquiry because they reproduce stereotypes, Daniel O’Brien’s Muslim Heroes on Screen questions whether these depictions can transcend their Orientalist production and framing. O’Brien brings his compelling and careful film analysis to a series of films that center heroic Muslim characters, while also analyzing their cinematic production, release, and journalistic reception. Muslim Heroes on Screen is an unique study that pushes the study of Muslims in film in interesting directions." — Kristian Petersen, Old Dominion University, editor of Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology and New Approaches to Islam in Film.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Southampton, UK

    Daniel O'Brien

About the author

Daniel O’Brien is a writer and part-time lecturer in film studies, and has worked for both the Department of Film and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton, UK. His previous books include Classical Masculinity and the Spectacular Body on Film (Palgrave, 2014) and Black Masculinity on Film (Palgrave, 2017).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Muslim Heroes on Screen

  • Authors: Daniel O'Brien

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74142-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-74141-9Published: 17 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-74144-0Published: 18 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-74142-6Published: 16 November 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 251

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 23 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: American Cinema and TV, Islam

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