Negative Muslim film characters are numerous enough to form their own genre.

Evidence

Films that feature Muslim monsters are the product of a cinematic history that includes Arab, Persian, Turkish, and African Muslim villains in large numbers. 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: Eisele’s ‘Hollywood Eastern’ classification with its 10 identifying characteristics gives the reader a precise analytical category for the manufactured Muslim monster in cinema.
• SEED: The ‘Hollywood Eastern’ framework could anchor an essay comparing the ten plot beats across Star Wars, Homeland, and early silent films as one continuous monster-making tradition.