Parents' Guide to Lawrence of Arabia

Diverse Representations

Lawrence of Arabia holds the dubious record of being the longest film ever made with no speaking roles for women. Outdated practices such as brownface, most notably via English actor Alec Guinness playing Prince Feisal. While it's positive that actors of color like Mexican American Anthony Quinn and Indian actor I. S. Johar play supporting roles as Arab nationalists, their casting falls into the unfortunate trend in media that paints all Brown people as interchangeable. The one bright spot involves Egyptian actor Omar Sharif in the role of Sherif Ali, who pushes back against Lawrence at several points throughout the film and serves as a crucial, multilayered Arab character. On the flipside, Ottoman Turks are uniformly painted as violent villains -- a British Army officer glibly calls them "bloody savages," and no one counters him. Ultimately, Lawrence of Arabia stands as a classic example of the White savior narrative: Lawrence appears to champion Arab nationalists, even saving multiple characters single handedly which earns him effusive gratitude as they gift Lawrence his signature kaffiyeh and robes. And the only characters who die during the film are Arab or Turkish, devaluing Brown lives in contrast to those of White characters, none of whom die. While Lawrence is believed to have been queer -- he called himself "funnily made up, sexually" in a letter to gay novelist E. M. Forster and was possibly asexual -- no indication of his sexuality appears in the film. The closest the movie comes is an implied sexual assault by Ottoman Turk soldiers, an incident that was described in more depth by Lawrence in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.