Okaaay... (Help with newbies and Yrth needed)

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by jSarek

It's a pretty good movie, and darn close to the only mainstream American movie I've ever seen with a Muslim protagonist. And though not perfectly so, it's a more faithful adaptation of the novel (Eaters of the Dead) than most adaptations of Crichton's works turn out to be.

If your campaign is going to have what amounts to a medieval Muslim in foreign lands facing unknown forces, this movie should prove useful for inspiration. If you're not, the movie should still prove to be somewhat entertaining, so long as you can suspend your disbelief for the language learning scene early in the film. ;-)

what aladin doesn't count? what about sinbad?

I take your not count morgan freeman in Prince of thives either? ;)

[jSarek]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

what aladin doesn't count? what about sinbad?

Well, I actually haven't seen either of these, so by my original statement, no, they don't count. ;-)

Originally Posted by roguebfl

I take your not count morgan freeman in Prince of thives either? ;)

No, because he's not the protagonist; Robin Hood is. Azeem is an important character, but not the main character.

[Akicita]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

what aladin doesn't count? what about sinbad?

I don't know whether you were thinking about any particular version of these, but for the most part, American treatments of stories from the Arabian Nights are just fairy tales in funny costumes. The Arabian characters aren't really played as Arabs, and any appearance of Islam is purely nominal - the Anglo actors say "By Allah," periodically, so you'll know they're playing exotics.

[quarkstomper]

In the most recent Sinbad movie, the animated one, he wasn't even nominally arabic. His home town was changed from Bagdad to Syracuse or Hoboken or some such place. Instead of exotic Arabian cultural stuff we got exotic Greek culture.

Over all, it was a decent movie, but the de-arabification of a character from the Arabian Nights reeeeealy bugged me.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Akicita

I don't know whether you were thinking about any particular version of these, but for the most part, American treatments of stories from the Arabian Nights are just fairy tales in funny costumes. The Arabian characters aren't really played as Arabs, and any appearance of Islam is purely nominal - the Anglo actors say "By Allah," periodically, so you'll know they're playing exotics.

True but my perception of all the movies, include the old versions where colored by the fact i read Arabian Nights as a kid 8)

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by quarkstomper

In the most recent Sinbad movie, the animated one,[...]

That movie would have bugged me horribly if I had not realized, "This is not the Sinbad stories in an animated form. This is a movie about some other guy called Sinbad who is in a cinematic universe where you can do that to a boat and not sink, and hey, if the gal doesn't want Proteus, I'll take him."

The Disney Aladdin had more relation to the stories than that Sinbad did.

But less nifty swashbuckling.

[lunar]

Yeah but its irritating that it seemed to have been changed merely due to anti-semitism. (Arabs are semitic in case anyone doesn't know.)

[Archangel Beth]

I don't think that's why it was changed. I think it was changed because the screenwriters had about fiftyzillion ideas about how to "adapt" it, and by the time they finished, the only thing remotely original-Sinbadish was the giant island-turtle. The original Sinbad was a merchant, not a pirate...

[eddie]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

The original Sinbad was a merchant, not a pirate...

Merchant ... Pirate ... What's the difference? ; )

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by eddie

Merchant ... Pirate ... What's the difference? ; )

where they get their merchandise ;)