Ever so often, a movie is made showing just how ignorant our society can be when dealing with race relations. Rarely, however, do we as a society view a movie that does so and makes an effort, even if on a subconscious level, to show that these thoughts and relations that are so imprinted on our brains can prove us all to be foolish for having a one-track thought process. A film such as Three Kings (1999) may in fact give us a new outlook on how we think and work with the opposite races, or perhaps in a time of questioning one’s place in the world, a more accurate outlook on how society really works, instead of the conventional stereotypes that the media produces itself.

Three Kings incorporates Blacks and Whites in a joint effort to suppress the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the Gulf War. One may notice the typical Middle-Eastern stereotypes in this film, in addition to the problems amongst the Black and White soldiers shown early on in the movie. These stereotypes shall be explored and explained in regard to how they actually affect the viewer, and society as a whole. This film, although obviously opaque on the surface, is more transparent if it is examined prope

So why have I played this up as being so important? The answer is an unlikely one. I think a major reason that we see stereotypes in movies and television, and the reason for them to prolong, and not vanish like the segregation laws did in the 1960s, is that the media constantly reinforces these negative images into our brains. If we did not see Will Smith in Bad Boys announcing “Don’t be alarmed…We’re Negroes”, or Archie Bunker on television making humorous jokes about African-Americans, would we still be such a racially divided society? I don’t think we would.

Early in the movie, we start to assess the race relations that form our opinions for the rest of the feature. Ice Cube’s character is a victim of indirect racism by Spike Jonze’s character in a meeting between the soldiers. By calling the Iraqis “dune-coons”, Jonze is playing off of the bigotry “coon” stereotype that is historically applied to an African-American. The thought may stay in the viewer’s mind that Jonze’s character is a somewhat blatant racist, as he is presented as an unintelligent redneck. At one point mid-film, he even argues that there aren’t any good Black quarterbacks. By presenting a racist character as such, Russell avoids the need for scripting actual racial slurs. The impression this gives, however, is just as effective to the average moviegoer. Russell also does a good directorial job of showing that even though Ice Cube’s character is “part of the team”, he is still distanced from the other White soldiers. This is simply a representation, or possibly even a mirror, of how society as a whole still segregates itself, even some forty years later.

Directed by David O. Russell, Three Kings was theatrically released in 1999. The story unfolds in the aftermath of the Gulf War; burnout Special Forces Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) figures out from a reporter that the Iraqis have stashed Kuwaiti gold in a nearby village, and that there is a map showing the location of the village. The map, as it turns out, has been retrieved from an Iraqi soldier's posterior by two grunts: straight arrow Sergeant Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) and redneck Private Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze); later, Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) joins Barlow and Vig. Gates tracks the three down, and they devise a plan to retrieve the gold (though we have no idea how they plan to smuggle it back to the states).

Three Kings is an important movie both cinematically and politically. It is a good example of a modern text that shows how stereotypical our society can be.

Aside from the normal Black and White race relation is

Some topics in this essay:
Conrad Vig, Black White, Bowling Green, Americans Arabs, Spike Jonze’s, Stereotypes Kings, Roger Ebert, Ice Cube’s, Archie Bunker, Arabs Iraqis, racial slurs, race relations, gulf war, jonze’s character, 1999 review film, dealing stereotypes, mass media, black white, white soldiers, ice cube’s character, conrad vig, arabs electronic media, village map, representation arabs electronic, spike jonze’s character,