A Dog Named Anwar SadatBy Will The Egyptian blogosphere — namely Egyptian Chronicles andMasrawy — is starting to raise objections to the name of a dog in the Hollywood film, ‘I Love You, Man.’ The dog’s name is Anwar Sadat. A character explains the dog is named for his resemblance to the former Egyptian president (not, thankfully, out of admiration for his policies, as another character asks).
Let’s not get carried away though. The bloggers are offended though for different reasons. Masrawy puts it in the context of anti-Arab portrayals in Hollywood, which tends to depict Arabs as terrorists or barbarians. Egyptian Chronicles focuses more on the insult it is to an Egyptian national symbol, and she notes that any Egyptian leader’s name shared by a dog would be a national insult. She also compares this to the outrage over the Obama-monkey dolls and argues the film should be censored. These are certainly interesting points but I disagree. I have often seen anti-Arab racism expressed through name-calling, but rarely are they called dogs in the United States. Actually, “dog” in the United States is not really an insult. It is actually a term of endearment (spelled “dawg”). Even the old derogatory term “bitch” — a female dog — has lost its shine, becoming so commonplace that it is more often used jokingly and harmlessly than to really hurt someone. And when it does, it has nothing to do with its canine etymological roots. It should be noted that in the United States, people treat their dogs better than they treat their children. This is why someone here will demean another by calling him a “child.” Naming dogs after people is often seen as an honorific. So there can be cultural disconnect over the dog issue. In this movie, though, it is clearly to mock Sadat and elicit cheap laughs. But I am not sure it is intended to demean Arabs. I am not even sure if most viewers know that Sadat or Egyptians are Arab. Also, their arguments are weak because overall Hollywood has championed Sadat for making peace with Israel. Thus, Sadat was the subject of a 1992 bio-pic. He was played by Louis Gossett Jr. Seriously. Another reason I am not offended is that many Arabs have called Sadat “kelb,” I am sure, and I have called him worse names. Is this a case of ‘we can trash them but other cannot’? Sadat is a hero only among a very small number of Arabs today, so I doubt this will explode in any kind of controversy. As the for the film, I still doubt I will see it unless maybe it is offered on a flight and I have nothing else to do.
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