Part 1: The Exotic Muslim, from the Exotic Land

An early scene in the Ultimate Edition of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” sums up the three most common stereotypes we have toward Islam. Lois Lane sits before the Nairobian General Amajagh. She asks him if he is a terrorist, and he complains that a woman is interviewing him. It is the image of the sequestered cult leader, highlighted with violence and misogyny.

The first part of the 20th century featured an American fascination with all things Eastern, as though that land was mysterious and hidden. Sir Richard Francis Burton wrote of his journeys disguised as a Muslim in the late 1800s, performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. He also translated the bawdy pulp fantasy The Arabian Nights. Likewise, in the first few decades of cinema, Islam was an exotic novelty. We associated those lands with crowded spice markets, unethical merchants, tribes of bandits racing through desert dust storms, curved architecture, mystical cultures, magical creatures, hyper-sexuality and brutal “off-with-their-heads” violence.

The first set of films to reinforce these stereotypes were inspired by The Arabian Nights. The second set added a dimension of civilized Westerners among violent Muslims. The third set depicted Americans as the default, with Muslims aiding or obstructing them.

In 1921, Rudolph Valentino headlined posters as the silent movie star of “The Sheik.” He plays Ahmed Ben Hassan, a desert leader who comes upon an independent British woman, Diana (Agnes Ayres). Many Arabs seek to seduce her, though he is the most civil, limiting himself to imprisoning her. He reveals that he is actually British and Spanish, but not Arab. She falls in love with him. In 1926, Valentino reprised this role while also playing “The Son of the Sheik.” Here, the son falls in love with a woman, Yasmin (Vilma Banky), whom he rapes, and eventually goes to her town to kill everyone. Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Sheltering Sky” (1990), a co-production between the UK and Italy, also takes from this narrative of a white woman leaving urban life to find seduction by silent, turbaned North Africans.

In 1924, Raoul Walsh directed the silent “The Thief of Bagdad” about two men—one a street dweller and the other a nobleman—competing for the love of a vulnerable princess. Michael Powell and a few other British directors remade “The Thief of Bagdad” in 1940 in full sound and color, employing state-of-the-art special effects to compete with such contemporary films as “The Wizard of Oz.” The film was remade again as “The Thief of Baghdad” in 1961 by Italy and France. In these movies, men employ spells that summon Genies (Jinns) to grant their wishes, while enchanting cloistered women hide away in harems. Brutal, imbecilic kings with numerous wives play with toys while executing dissidents. Sword fights determine victors. Disney took from the 1940 film for “Aladdin” (1992), in which the main character seeks to seduce the princess Jasmine, before the evil Jafar can get to her.