Not my Favorite Movie

At least 10 people told me I really needed to see Sex in the City 2 as the fashion was great. That was true it was great. However, had I known it was an epic movie (in terms of length) I may have bowed out. It was colorful, opulent, warm and everything you would want to see. But as I looked at the scenery, I wasn't thinking Abu Dhabi. I was thinking Morocco; especially the beach scene. It just felt like Morocco.

I know that a lot of people think that the plot was weak and that it was a bit too over the top. I didn't go for the plot. I went to see what was being worn and to see if there was any attention at all to the cultural differences in the Middle East. Again, I was not disappointed.

However, I was a bit saddened at the manner in which the residents of 'Abu Dhabi' were portrayed. Yes it is a relatively conservative Islamic country. Yes, they do have different standards and moral codes than we do here in the States. And yes, women are less free to express themselves than we are here.

People kept talking about how awful it was that the women were wearing burqas. Well guess what? I didn't see a single burqa in that movie. I saw abayas; I saw veils and chadors, and even hijabs, but no burqas. Trust me, if you saw a burqa you would know it immediately. It totally covers a woman from head to toe and only her eyes and hands are visible.

The younger women are more expressive and they do tend to wear makeup and accessories that their mothers and grandmothers would not. That said, I think that ignoring the culture of a country in which you are a guest is rude and arrogant. The whole Samantha Jones scene with the Danish architect was totally out of line. To openly ignore the beliefs of your hosts and throw their taboos in their faces is so typically American. If you travel you see it first hand. We really believe that we have some unabridged right to do as we please no matter where we are.

I actually saw two movies depicting the lives of women in the Middle East yesterday. When I came home I watched The Stoning of Soraya M. It is about a young Iranian woman who was falsely accused of adultry and sentenced to death by stoning. It was a difficult movie to watch. I am sure it was an even more difficult movie to make. However, it was an important movie.

While I was outraged by the manner in which this woman was framed and tossed to an angry crowd by a sleazy husband who wanted her out of the way to marry a 14 year-old girl, I was not half as outraged as I was at the scene in Sex in the City 2. If you can't have enough respect for your hosts to obey their customs long enough to get through a lousy dinner date, then stay home. If you cannot attempt understand the cultrual differences between the United States and an Islamic country, then don't go.

We, Americans, don't have the best reputation abroad in terms of understanding other cultures and attempting to fit in. So while the stereotype was meant to be a put down of the beliefs in Abu Dhabi, the real stereotypical putdown was of the behavior of a sex-obsessed American woman who felt she had the right to behave however she pleased, irrespective of the wishes, laws, beliefs and moral codes of her hosts.

What does this have to do with fashion? Well there are some incredible Middle Eastern designers. So now, instead of a Sex in the City romp through a beautiful country where only one of 'the girls' even bothered to learn about the customs (Miranda Hobbes) there should be a documentary on Middle Eastern fashion designers and the real women of the Middle East.

Don't get me wrong. I do believe that women in the Middle East are repressed. I do believe that there is far too much emphasis on making women totally cover themselves. But guess what? That's not my call and I have no right to question their cultural or religious beliefs. We claim to be a country of tolerance. What I saw in that scene and a couple of others was total intolerance for a differnt way of life.

The thing that makes this planet so interesting is that we are not all the same. We live in different countries, we have different beliefs and we have a myriad of landscapes on which to play. My great-grandfather was born in France. His parents were from Morocco and Tunisia. Part of that world is in me. I embrace it and I honor it. I am also black in America and I honor that also.

While I do not practice Islam, there is a 90 percent probability that my ancestors did. While I would not choose to live the life of a woman in an extremist Islamic country, I would not dishonor any women who did find themselves living that life.

When in Morocco or Tunisia or Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia or Egypt a chador is an easy garment for me to don. It is simply a shawl that is expansive enough to cover my head (actually hair) and serve as a veil. I do not show my arms and legs and I do not show any cleavage. It is disrespectful. What would my great-great grandfather say? Why would I throw sand in his face? My beliefs are my own; but my behavior is on display for the entire world to see.

a la prochaine

Debra