Shitty SHIT SHIT!

Question #1: “Is True Lies a flattering or not-so-flattering portrayal of the U.S. Intelligence community? Why or why not?”

True Lies is a flattering portrayal of the U.S. Intelligence community, at least to people who cannot separate hyperbolic representation in film from reality. Yeah sure, if True Lies was real I would be more than proud of my badass government agents who tirelessly work behind the scenes to ensure my security. Do I even have to answer the rest of this question? It’s True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger for Christ's sake; anyone who watched the movie for thirty seconds can tell that the intelligence community (and all its’ covert violence) was glorified.

Question #2: “Should Americans worry about nuclear terrorism like al-Qaeda’s ‘American Hiroshima’ project or the nuclear terrorism depicted in True Lies? Why or why not?”

Yeah, but “worrying” about al-Qaeda acquiring a nuclear device won’t actually stop them from getting one. Maybe if I worry real hard. The fact is that I trust the American intelligence agencies enough to protect the United States, and even if I didn’t, I live in a flyover state, I’m not worried about getting nuked. I know what you said in class about terrorists’ plotting attacks against shopping malls and the like in less populated areas, but since I think that al-Qaeda’s strength has diminished, I don’t think that they are going to risk their existence on Oak Park Mall.

Question #3: How are Muslims/Arabs depicted in True Lies and Prayers for the Assassin? Are there any positive Arab portrayals in either True Lies or Prayers for the Assassin? Please provide justifications from each work for your answers.

Generally, pretty bad. Arnold’s sidekick (not Tom Arnold) seemed Arabic, so it appears that he is the exception to the James Cameron rule. In Prayers for the Assassin, the very protagonist of the novel, Rakkim, is a Muslim, albeit a lapsed one. However, most of the novel, along with most of True Lies sets Muslims up in the “bad-buy” role that has been sorely undeveloped since the end of the Cold War. Without the “Evil Soviets” us stupid Americans need a knee-jerk ethnic group to mass-demonize.

Jack Gustafson