Indie Cine » Little Bit of That

Towelhead Controversy Has Arrived

dwhitney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:11:24 +0000

When I originally “>discussed the movie Towelhead I mentioned that it would not be long before this story of an Arab-American teenage girl caught in lustful relationship with a much older neighbor received some serious controversy. I just figured that controversy would be geared toward its risque content. However, I am not surprised problems have recently arisen with the film’s title.

When the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, it went by the title Nothing is Private, but somewhere along the line it became Towelhead. Well, for obvious reasons, this titled angered the Council on American-Islam Relations who asked Warner Brothers to change it. But since the Council’s original protest, they have merely asked for a detailed explanation ofthe use of such a racial epitaph. Below you will see the response from the author of the film’s source material, Alicia Erian, Warner Brothers, the company releasing the film, and the film’s director Alan Ball.

ALICIA ERIAN
As an Arab-American woman, I am of course aware that the title of my book is an ethnic slur. Indeed, I selected the title to highlight one of the novel’s major themes: racism. In the tradition of Dick Gregory’s autobiography Nigger, the Jewish magazine Heeb, or the feminist magazine Bitch, the title is rude and shocking, but it is not gratuitous. Besides the fact that the main character must endure taunting about her ethnicity (including being called a towelhead), so much of the novel’s plot is fueled by the characters’ attitudes toward race.

I was not contacted by any organization or group when my novel was released in 2005. I don’t know if this was because no one had heard about my book, or because they didn’t feel it would have as much of an impact as a film. Having lived in a world in which my book has existed without protest for the past three years, however, I feel I have at least some view onto what to expect from the public in terms of a response. The bottom line is, never once have I encountered anyone who didn’t understand the seriousness of the word “towelhead” and all its implications.

This is not to say that I don’t find these concerns legitimate — I absolutely do. We live in a racist society, one in which people continue to use ethnic slurs to delineate those who are different than they are. Realistically speaking, though, these people are neither the audience for my book, nor for the film. They will continue to use whatever language they wish whether or not a movie called “Towelhead” is released. For this reason, I am pleased that Warner Bros. is standing by the title.

Towelhead, like its many cousins — nigger, spic, gook, etc. — is an ugly word. The job of the artist, however, has been, and always will be, to highlight that which is ugly in the hopes of finding something beautiful. This charge, by necessity, will at times put the artist at odds with admirable groups such as CAIR. The solution, it seems to me, is not to force the artist to alter his or her work, but instead to use the occasion of that work as an entry point for meaningful debate and discussion

ALAN BALL

As a gay man, I know how it feels to be called hateful names simply because of who I am. Therefore, I felt it was important to retain the title of Alicia Erian’s novel, in which she so effectively dramatizes the pain inflicted by such language, something many people of non-minority descent never have to face. I believe one of the unintended consequences of forbidding such words to be spoken is imbuing those words with more power than they should ever have, and helping create the illusion that the bigotry and racism expressed by such cruel epithets is less prevalent than it actually is, which we all know is sadly not the case.

WARNER INDEPENDENT PICTURES

One of the ideas conveyed in the film is that we all make assumptions about each other, without knowing, based on racial stereotypes. It was our goal in releasing “Towelhead” to help make this point.

Some of our past releases, like “Paradise Now, ” were extremely controversial and elicited demands that the film not be released; “Good Night, and Good Luck.” drew criticism from some as well. Warner Bros. supported the release of these films then, as they do now of “Towelhead,” as a medium to create dialogue and support the expression of ideas, as controversial or as unpopular as they may be. We apologize for any offense that is caused by this title but support Alan Ball and Alicia Erian in this effort.

Dr. William Blizek, Founding Editor, Journal of Religion and Film; Professor of Philosophy and Religion, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Dr. Amir Hussain, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles; Author of Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God (2006)
Dr. John Lyden, Professor and Chair of Religion, Dana College; Chair of the Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group of the American Academy of Religion; Author of Film as Religion: Myth, Morals, Rituals (2003)
Dr. Rubina Ramji, Film Editor, Journal of Religion and Film; Professor of Religious Studies (Islam and media), Cape Breton University
Rev. Danny Fisher, Doctoral Candidate, University of the West

The concept of cinema can be described as ‘the cultural transmission of symbolic forms’ which include actions, utterances, images and texts and are embedded in structured social contexts which involve relations of power. These forms are produced by subjects and are recognized as meaningful constructs. As a form of entertainment, it also plays ‘a leading role in shaping attitudes and ideas, including political ideas’. In-depth studies of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood films over the past eighty years have found that out of the nine hundred films examined, only five percent of all the movies (approximately fifty movies) debunked the barbaric image of Islam.

There are very few films that show Islam in a positive light. Dr. Rubina Ramji, Film Editor for the Journal of Religion and Film, is one the scholars who has researched the images of Islam in Hollywood films. Dr. Ramji screened Towelhead at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and found that this film is indeed one of those few that promote different faiths and the challenges faced by these groups in America, while offering a much more balanced representation. Using the derogatory term “towelhead” as the film’s title, in the context of this film, provides a different meaning to the term, one that encourages viewers to observe these challenges first-hand and to better understand how Muslim characters have been stereotypically displayed in previous films.

By bringing forth the racist attitudes which have arisen about Muslims living in America, Towelhead openly reveals projected fears about difference and offers a constructive, yet difficult, approach to bring forth understanding. We, the undersigned scholars, have spent years researching and understanding the impact that cinema has had and continues to have on various religious groups in American culture. We hope that the true intentions of the semi-autobiographical novel, written by Alicia Erian, who has encountered such racism as an Arab-American, will continue to be accurately reflected in the film Towelhead, by leaving the title as is – a thought-provoking and difficult term that needs to be deconstructed.

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Appaloosa Trailer, The West is the Best

dwhitney — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:38:40 +0000

In the 1950’s Hollywood was producing around forty westerns per year, that number fell to twenty during the 60’s, around ten per year in the 1970’s through 90’s, and in the new millennium, we are lucky to get five westerns each year. But when those westerns are of the caliber of 2007’s “3:10 to Yuma”, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”, and “No Country for Old Men”, quality over quantity is clearly the appropriate adage.

Since 2008 has already graced us with South Korea’s “The Good, The Bad, and The Weird”, I was surprised to see how amazing today’s trailer for “Appaloosa” looks. The film is co-written, directed, and co-starred in by Ed Harris who shares the screen with Viggo Mortensen. And if there is anybody out there who neglected to see “A History of Violence” let me just say, these two were destined to play alongside each other. “Appaloosa” is based on a 2005 Robert B. Parker novel of the same name and also stars Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons.

IMDB lists the plot as “Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow”. Check out the trailer below or go to MSN to see this trailer in HD. Expect an October release date for “Appaloosa”.

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My VHS Love Story, Before You Read Another One

dwhitney — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:29:15 +0000

Many video/music formats have come and gone, laserdiscs, minidiscs, floppy discs. And while you may not be able to buy a new VHS or cassette tape of the newest film or hottest song, I don’t think we have seen the last out of these plastic wonders. You see, for as long as they sell 1978 Oldsmobiles and compact tv/VHS combos, there will be cassette and VHS aficionados.

For me there is no better way to watch an 80’s movie, like say “Cocktail” or “Die Hard”, than on a weathered VHS. The colors, sound, and visual fuzz remain true to the era. Who can forget the joy of pause, rewind, fast forward, and the instant gratification that comes from using the tracking function. And while we may be in a time period when new movies are transmitted digitally to theaters around the country, a time when we neglect to purchase DVD’s in lieu of their internet counterpart, we can always take a trip to the used record store or local Goodwill and snag as many fifty cent VHS tapes as we can, tattered cardboard cases and all. So feel free to embrace the best and brightest in movie technology, but know that there are others like me out there, including Adam Lee Davies and his celebration of the VHS in Time Out New York.

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Carlin’s Encore

dwhitney — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:41:49 +0000

It is always sad when someone dies. However, the load is always lighter when the deceased happened to be a comedian. Instead of slow moving video montages, state funerals, or memorial golf tournaments, we get stand up! Comedians have always laughed in the face of tragedy, and thankfully, we now get to remember George Carlin through constant airings of his performances, movie roles, and general profane language. Carlin videos and remembrances have have been seen everywhere in the last couple of days from the Daily Show to Larry King Live, and the fun is just getting started.

Starting today, June 25 and tomorrow, June 26, HBO will be airing Carlin specials starting at 8pm and running through the night until 1am. Then on Saturday, SNL will air the its first ever episode, which features Carlin as the special guest. And be sure to be on the lookout for airings of Carlin’s film roles such as “Dogma”, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “Cars”, “Jersey Girl”, and The “Bill and Ted” series amongst others.

Also, if you are interested in how the fellow comics have reacted to Carlin’s passing, be sure to check out what
Jerry Seinfeld had to say in the NYT, what Kevin Smith wrote in Newsweek,
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Film Junkie Anyone?

dwhitney — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:48:04 +0000

I found these amusing videos over at SlashFilm which were created by Scott Vincent, (who I believe was the director of many “Chappelle’s Show” episodes) for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

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Where in the World is Sci-Fi Architecture?

dwhitney — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:58:10 +0000

This architectural wonder, or disaster if you will, is a 1963 Charles Deaton design titled “The Sculptured House” which sits high above I-70 on Genesse Mountain as you ascend into the Rockies just beyond Denver. As I live in this marvelous area, I have always made it a point to look out my window and gaze at the oddly mushroom shaped house while driving by. It is a living piece of cinematic history, most famous for playing a futuristic home in Woody Allen’s 1973 techno-comedy “Sleeper”. It is one of the many futuristic, bizzar, and archaic architectural wonders used as large props throughout the course of film history on Object.com’s “15 scifi movies 15 famous architectural locations”.

The list is amazing and shows the amazing creativity of our current and past architects and city planners. In the name of industry, housing, and science, they have produced some amazingly eerie structures, that look far better on in a sci-fi movie than a Hollywood Produced set. Take for instance the news today that an abandoned factory in Bethlehem PA will be the setting of some sort of Chinese industrial battle in “Transformers 2″.

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