Anti-Muslim villain films form a distinct Hollywood genre with fixed narrative beats

Evidence

A useful way to understand these films is through the classification system developed by John Eisele, who argues that negative Muslim characters are so numerous that they merit their own genre—the “Hollywood Eastern.” Eisele identifies 10 characteristics common to these films: transgression, separation, abduction, reduction, induction, seduction, redemption, revelation, reaffirmation, and mutilation. Easterns are classified into subgenres and follow a particular narrative. White slavery films typically feature the kidnapping (abduction) of a white female who is captured or sold to another Arab or “Middle Easterner,” usually rescued by a white hero (redemption). — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 612

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘Hollywood Eastern’ as a formal genre classification with its own narrative grammar, parallel to the Western.
• SEED: Could compare the Hollywood Eastern’s 10 beats against the medieval monster’s terror list of features to show the monster archetype persisting nearly unchanged across centuries.