Tsk tsk tsk Hollywood….

Jake Gyllenhaal is a popular and likeable Hollywood superstar. I like his work and would gladly watch any of his films. But listening to his cringe worthy British accent while he portrays himself to be a Middle Eastern rogue In the film Prince of Persia is just laughable. What I picked up first and foremost on this poor representation of Persians was the characters accents. All the main figures spoke with a British accent which is a blatant contradiction considering they have all applied fake tan to suggest they’re all ‘genuine’ Middle Eastern folk. Its bad enough that they have an all white American/British cast portraying to be Persian ethnicity let alone giving them a British twang. Talk about being culturally confused. So what does this impose upon viewers? That Persians are not in fact Persian at all? It is clear here that the affect of Hollywood white washing is spread all over this film.

Going back to the characters being covered in fake tan and bronzer, could this be an example of contemporary black face and therefore inferential racism? It follows the same concept as the original black face of white man applying colour to his completion to portray a coloured person. The character of Nizam in particular played by Ben Kingsly would be the best example of this. He’s even reduced to wearing eyeliner to give him that exotic look which again alone can be another example of Hollywood white washing and Eurocentric perspective on Middle Eastern people. Also Edward Said’s idea of the orient can be explored here as the make up given the actors aids the exotic orient stereotype Hollywood are all too familiar with.

                 

So how does Hollywood get away with this? What is the effect onto audiences mind set? Having films like prince of Persia depicting such ethnicities in this light can only lead viewers to envision them in this way. I agree with the point made in lecture about Hollywood having a very Eurocentric perspective within its film and this is just one of many films the express this idea. We can also see here, Halls ‘west and the rest’ notion here through Hollywood portraying Persia in this way on an international scale.