Tarek Fahmy: Cultural Critic

Coexistence:
How de we accept difference without violence and hostilities?

This 4 part documentary is on the book “Orientalism” by Edward Said.

Jack Shaheen’s “Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People” appropriates many of it’s ideas from Edward Said’ book “Orientalism”.

I just bought the book and ran into this interview/documentary featuring Edward Said. The book was written in 1978.

“…Said described the “subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture.” He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and America’s colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the American and British orientalists’ ideas of Arabic culture.”taken from a wikipedia entry.

PART #1

PARTT #2

PART #3

PART #4

Article Title: I’m the Designer. My Client’s the Autocrat.
LINK

The gulf states are a playground for established architects…

This article deals with prominent architects working for rapidly developing cities, specifically Dubai and Abu-Dhabi, that have issues with exploitation of migrant labor and human rights violations.

“By designing high-profile buildings that bolster the profile of a powerful client, do architects implicitly sanction the client’s actions or collaborate in symbolic mythmaking?”
OR
“…in the long run does architecture transcend politics and ideology? If the architect’s own vision is progressive, can architecture be a vehicle for positive change?”

The article also mentions China, Iran, and Hon Kong.
I focused on the UAE because I love the fact that they are investing in development, thus attracting people like me to want to work there.

Quotes from the documentary

“Washington and Hollywood Spring From the same DNA”,
jack Velenti, was a long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America‭. ‬

“Civilizations need not crash, but rather blend” Khaleel Ghibran

So I looked at Mr. Shaheen’s book and documentary a bit deeper. One of his solutions for this vilification of Arabs in Hollywood is to pull off what the Japanese owned SONY did in 1989, when they bought the Hollywood giant production Company named Columbia Pictures. They, in a sense, effectively purchased a powerful Hollywood lobby that also springs from the same DNA as politics. Hollywood and politics have a symbiotic relationship where one affects the other and vice versa. When you look at Japanese movies made after this purchase, Japanese men were no longer portraied in a negative light.

Shaheen further suggests that if a rich Arabic corporation/individual buys a production company in Hollywood, effectively establishing a lobby there, the image of the Arab will be portrayed in a less negative light as well.

Lets take Professor Shaheen’s idea a step further and establish the identity of this production company. This Arabic owned, progressive, and off-course ultra secular and intelligent corporation.

I started looking at Arabic typography and modern typographers in my next phase. I want this company to have a modern middle eastern logo and it’s english equivalent. I also want to use eastern imagery in some of the work.

I found a designer, who designs modern Arabic font faces as well. His name is Tarek Atrissi‬. His firm worked on the identity for the recently release BBC Arabic. His studio designed a specific font for the channel that was intended to be modern. He also designed the font for the Arabic version of Amnesty International website. I took snaps of the fonts and will show them to class.

I want to design the look and feel of the production company using Middle Eastern sensibility combined with a modern NYC approach.

I started doing research on potential countries and/or individuals that might want to invest in Hollywood. All arrows pointed to the UAE, United Arab Emirates, since they have been developing their infrastructure on a heavy scale and they also have been projecting a progressive Arabic ideaology in their marketing campaigns.

I am still in Pratt and have one year left.
The final year of my studies will be spent working on the thesis project.

Before that officially begins next year I took a class called “Directed Research”.
This class is a preparatory thesis class that focuses on research techniques and identifying a thesis topic.

Since it was a condensed summer class I will be researching and working on identifying my topic till the start of the semester in September.

My work entails a lot of reading, researching, and note taking via blogging.

I will be posting on this blog any material that I find relevant in my research and tons of notes on that material.