Denzember concludes as Journalist and host of the Turbulence podcast Séamus Malekafzali returns to the show to discuss Edward Zwick's 1998 geopolitical thriller The Siege, a film about a Muslim terrorist cell wreaking havoc on New York City, the resultant fear it stokes, and the vidictive results of martial law being enforced in an American city. Largely lost to time as an artifact of The End of History, the film nonetheless rings with a startling prescience as a pre-9/11 document of Hollywood's casual anti-Arab sentiments (even among well-meaning liberal sects), and trust in American institutions to disavow bad actors and preserve democracy.

We begin by dissecting the films amorphous, byzantine, and *totally fabricated* understanding of Middle Eastern geopolitics, and how its obfuscations function as a tool of propaganda, making the threat of Muslim extremism feel omnipresent and unknowable. Then, we consider how the film contends with imperial blowback, individuating it as mistakes by discrete actors rather than the guiding policy of America's geopolitical meddling across the globe. Finally, we reckon with the film's countless contradictions, its liberal posturing toward the "right" kind of wariness toward extremism, and its unconscious buttressing of the same ideologies that lead to fascist persecution of The Other.

Follow Séamus Malekafzali on Twitter.

Listen and Subscribe to Turbulence Podcast.

Subscribe to Séamus' Substack.

Get access to the whole Denzember experience, all of our premium episodes and bonus content, and an invite to the Hit Factory Discord by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
.
.
.
.
Our Denzember Theme Song is "Funk" by Oppo.

DENZEMBER 2 VOL. V - The Siege feat. Séamus Malekafzali