The representation of anti-black racism in Egyptian movies

Abstract

With the flames of racial and ethnic discrimination glowing vehemently everywhere, the present study probes into the representation of color-based discrimination in Egyptian movies. It depicts the stereotypes and value judgments taken as norms characterizing black people in Egyptian movies. The paper's methodological approach is both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitatively, a structured questionnaire on Microsoft forms consisting of three questions that are related to Movie watching habits, stereotyping, and attitudes & future recommendations, was used to elicit 75 viewers' reactions toward the negative representation of black people in Egyptian movies. Qualitatively, the researchers analyzed some scenes that were extracted from six Egyptian movies. The quantitative findings showed that some of the participants have a typical stereotype about black people based on what they watch in the movies and recommended representing them in a better way in the future. The qualitative findings revealed inter-discoursal characteristics of racist discourse in Egyptian movies. The conclusions and recommendations call upon global media hubs and social media platforms to help combat and eradicate racism through banning the production of TV programs and shows that condone racist beliefs and practices.