Evelyn Alsultany examines shifts and nuances in the representations of Arabs, Muslims and Iranians in popular TV and cinema. This article was originally published in University of Michigan’s Film Criticism journal (Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2016) and is reproduced here via Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License. 

This paper [from 2017] discusses the role of borderlands in I Am Legend (2007), The Road (2009) and The Book of Eli (2010), and the ways in which these dystopic post-apocalyptic films may be understood through the concept of the border, analyzing the negotiations of meaning and representation that take place. Originally published in University of Michigan’s journal Film Criticism (Volume 41, Issue 1, February 2017), it is reproduced here via Creative Commons 3.0 License. 

In this special from BBC Four’s Arena Series (first aired in 1993), Edward Said discusses his book “Culture and Imperialism” and “explains how the attitudes forged over the last 200 years continue to enforce the relationship between the west and the developing world.” The TV special includes participation by Eqbal Ahmad and others. Video embedded for Fair Use.

On Mother’s Day, here is Rana Ghose’s “Take it in Blood” (2014), a documentary that follows Kashmiri rapper MC Kash (of GOAT status) as he enters the world of Parveena Ahangar, Founder of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons and mother to Javaid Ahmed Ahangar, who at age 16 was “enforced disappeared between the night of the 17th of August and the early morning hours of August 18, 1990.” 

Film Description: Michael Moore presents Planet of the Humans, a documentary that dares to say what no one else will this Earth Day — that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road — selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America. This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement’s answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It’s too little, too late.