Recent Hollywood movies stereotype Albanians

TIRANA, March 14 – A series of recent Hollywood movies portraying Albanians as Mafia men, traffickers and gang leaders have sparked fierce reaction sociologists and Albanian filmmakers say are being used by anti-Albanian lobbyist to degrade the Albanian nation. They suggest that more should be done in promoting Albanian art and culture around the world to fight the stereotypes.
Movies such as “Dead Man Down” and “Taken 1” and “Taken 2,” “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” portray Albanians as crime and human trafficking gang leaders.
The “Taken” films are, indeed, both anti-American and prejudicial to Albanians. In them, ignorant Americans excel at brutal killing, and Albanians at human trafficking and torture. All else is trivial. In these films, Albanians are not just ordinary criminals but Islamic enemies to the U.S. government and U.S. citizens, says Albanian sociologist G컩m Alpion, Lecturer in Sociology University of Birmingham.
“Nobody denies that crime exists in Albania and that some Albanians, like members of every other nation, commit crimes outside their own lands. But a nation that counts Mother Teresa as their daughter does not need to worry about trashy films,” adds Alpion.
“Releasing “Taken” in February 2008, the month when Kosovo declared its independence, and “Taken 2″ in the autumn of 2012, shortly before Albania celebrates the centenary of its independence in 1912, might be anything but a coincidence. The strengthening of an Albanian presence in European affairs, especially with the U.S. backing Kosovo, is bound to dismay the enemies of the Albanians in the Balkans and test the European countries that in some cases (France stands out as an example) were reluctant to support the U.S. rescue of Kosovo from Serbian aggression.”