Hollywood and Iran
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Neda Maghbouleh in her piece entitled The Limits of Whiteness explores many themes regarding being Iranian in regards to whiteness and its relationship. She explores historical developments overseas in the United States along with developments in Iran itself providing a very interesting analytical piece of writing about the Iranian identity. One section which I found particularly interesting was regarding the role in which Hollywood played in stoking anti-Iranian sentiment and racism in the United States. One example she writes about is a movie called "Not Without My Daughter" supposedly based on the true story of an American citizen who moves to Iran with her husband and tries to escape once he decides the resettle the family there permanently. I watched the 2:38 trailer which contains many problematic and racist content which even at the time according to film critic Roger Ebert was prevalent writing "If a movie of such vitriolic and spiteful nature were to be made in America about any other ethnic group it would be denounced as racist and prejudiced". Highlighting how Hollywood played a crucial role during this time in presenting Iran as the enemy to the American people and the demonisation of the Iranian state.