I just finished watching this video and I find myself in agreement with the argument that the Middle Eastern people have been depicted in a way that confirms long held stereotypes of the "Orient." The repeated image of violence and lechery associated with the Middle Eastern people reminded me of how easy it is to associate a visual image or fictional image with the actual living people. Even the portrayal of the women in the Indiana Jones movie has as much of a statement and power of association. The women need not speak, only appear and one can easily think, "Oh that must be what women wear in that society." If a person truly wishes to know about women of that country, they may actually look up information about the culture and dress but this requires work and is less readily accessible than the image that appears before us in the entertainment industry.
Thus, in this way it is easy to condition a culture to accept (perhaps subconsciously) ideas about a people they do not necessarily come in contact with on a day to day basis. This might in fact be an example of "hegemony" or consensual domination Edward Said talks about on page 7 of Orientalism. These images of Arabs and the Middle East become satisfactory and tolerable and in the process control how we perceive a people. This video reminds us of the politics of entertainment and how people may accept what they watch without stopping to question or analyze its validity.
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People should never accept an idea put forth to them without analyzing it first... especially fictional ideas. Americans need to do a better job of training their minds to think critically!
ReplyDeletenot just U.S. Americans, but all need to be encouraged to think critically.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Americans have just, unfortunately, become notorious for buying into what leaders, in any form, are presenting and or saying. It is true though that here, in the U.S., people are as free to be as uneducated or ignorant as they choose, to an extent. Of course there are other factors too that have an impact such as the quality of teachers' education and the length of education, as well as funding.Yet, somehow the way the society or the geography seems to be set up, people are allowed to stay ignorant or undereducated without serious consequences. There are other places of this world where people suffer severe consequences if education is neglected.
A major problem, I think, is the level of spin allowed for major news outlets in the U.S. Most are not required to present opposing viewpoints equally. Many viewers are then led to believe that the slanted stories of a few are fact. If you tune in to many news outlets, you might find that depending on their slant, they will be covering completely different stories in order to tilt the spotlight on certain partisan issues. The result is many Americans sitting in their living rooms at night in their own personal echo chambers. News ought to be obligatorily balanced.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a bigger push to have students examine the forces at work behind the marketing that is targeted to them, this critical analysis needs to be expanded to include what the media is putting out there. It does seem sad that we can't really trust much at face value...but knowledge is power.
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