Media's Influence on Orientalism

The influence of media is powerful on the human brain. In 2010 there was less than one billion social media users, it is predicted that by the end of 2019 there will around 2.8 billion social media users, almost triple the amount in less than ten years. Not only are more people on social media, people are spending more time on social media than ever before. For example social media usage among teenagers has drastically increased between 2012 and 2018. A survey conducted in the U.S. earlier this year showed that 70 percent of teenagers check social media several times a day, up from just 34 percent in 2012. The problem with this is that, as findings indicate, media make a significant contribution to what people think, precisely by affecting what they think about. Thus, by looking at what is in the media regarding middle eastern culture, there can be a greater understanding for why Orientalism is so pervasive in the United States.

For example,since the release of Aladdin, it has become one of Disney's most successful films to date, being ranked as the fourth highest film based on popularity. However, Aladdin has contributed to the orientalist mindset most Americans have. Aladdin's opening theme song, "Arabian Nights", is criticized for its lyrics "Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face, it's barbaric, but hey, its home". The lyrics signal to the viewer that Aladdin's home is not just a faraway place, but a place of mystery much different from the audience's. When the song says "..where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face, it's barbaric, but hey, it's home" it demonizes Aladdin's home and allows the audience into recognizing it as uncivilized and barbaric perpetuating the orientalist mindset of the middle east being a mysterious and barbaric place unable to change its uncultured ways.

When looking at news coverage of the middle east many news outlets, regardless of political biases, make their viewers believe the middle east is in a state of constant violence, instability and terrorism. Everyone in the middle east is Arab and Muslim and the sects of the Muslim faiths are always warring. These are the stories that are run and headlined while the news outlets blatantly ignore the areas unique and complex culture and traditions and trying to understand them. The power of this media portrayal is seen when the United States invaded Iraq. All media outlets, again regardless of politics, praised the intervention. They knowingly spreading false information about Iraq’s stockpile of weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist and their supposed involvement with the terrorist involved with the 9/11 terror attacks.

The media portrayal of a barbaric and unchanging middle eastern culture has been around for a long time. The only way to solve the inaccurate portrayal would be to intentionally write articles on the history of the middle east and their traditions while discontinuing stories that stereotype the region as monolithic and barbaric.