From 'Aladdin' to Galaxy's Edge, how Hollywood interprets Arab culture
The city walls are scarred with bullet holes and burn marks. Tattered camouflage netting hangs like moss over defunct fighter posts and the Moorish archways of the marketplace. The cries of hungry children fill the bazaar, where merchants in flowing robes and headscarves hawk scarce, overpriced goods to desperate parents.
It's a war zone I recognize, or at least one I think I recognize as an Iraqi American and someone who has taken more family trips in combat-wrecked regions than poolside resorts.
But despite the multiple checkpoints, nomadic desert garb and food staples of hummus and pita, this is one Arabesque war zone where you won't hear Saudis flying American fighter jets overhead or see the black flags of Islamic State crumpled on the ground.
You may, however, spot a fairy princess or
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