Flightplan

I saw this movie the other day and one part of it struck me and I've been thinking about it for a couple of days. I'd have to categorize it as a part of the "Blame America First" mentality.

Here's what I'm talking about: As "Kyle" (the lead character played by Jodie Foster) starts to freak out over her missing daughter, she suddenly *recalls* seeing a couple of men who she thought were looking in her apartment window the night before and now thinks a couple of Arab/Muslim men on the plane were those same men. Therefore, they must be the ones who've kidnapped her daughter.

On one level this is just a simple plot device intended to increase the suspense and throw viewers "off the scent". From that perspective -- all well and good. But, there's more going on here.

The Arabs aren't the men in the window and have nothing to do with the bad guys who've kidnapped Kyle's daughter. Thus, we're presented with a couple of clean cut, mild-mannered businessmen who've been minding their own business, but have now been falsely accused and embarrassed in front of dozens of people for simply being Arab.

Get it? Westerners are racists who automatically believe every Arab male is a potential terrorist/criminal. But, in case you didn't get it, while Kyle is confronting the men and they are protesting their innocence, another passenger suddenly stands up and shouts something like "Yeah, sure, why should we believe you!".

This is done just in case we haven't been sufficiently bludgeoned with the message: the passenger is a big, overweight, sweaty fellow with a Southern accent. Let there be no mistake -- the Arabs are polite, articulate -- and justifiably outraged by the unwarranted accusation. On the other hand, the Westerners are rude, oafish, racists. (Of course, however, since Jody Foster can't really be a racist, it's necessary to insert an unattractive, dislikable throw-away character -- like a fat, big-mouthed redneck -- into the script to conveniently transfer the audience's moral indignation and disapproval to.)

What is it with Hollywood? Just 4+ years after 9/11, they're trying to make us feel guilty for being suspicious of Arab men on airplanes. I'm sorry, did I miss something?

Of course, I don't believe that every Arab is a terrorist or a criminal. But guess what -- every one of the 9/11 hijackers was a Muslim!! Despite Hollywood's PC attempts to condition us, we should not feel guilty for being just a little more suspicious of 4 Arab men on an airplane than we would be for, say, an elderly couple, a mother and small child, a middle-aged businessman, etc.