Orientalism and Media

Orientalism in media has greatly contributed to our society’s view of eastern cultures. Therefore, western media needs to be more careful with how they portray other cultures in order for harmful and racist views to cease. This cannot completely solve the issue of Orientalism, but can certainly help to do so.

Many towns are composed of entirely or almost entirely one race. The people in these towns would therefore have severely limited interactions with people outside of their racial groups. For these people, their interaction with different cultures would take place largely in the media. And when the media perpetuates harmful stereotypes, these stereotypes would be the sort of thing these people would come to understand as truth.

The profound effect media has on people needs to be treated with responsibility. The media should take care to accurately portray other cultures, something they quite often fail to do. In addition, different peoples need to be represented in a positive light. For example, Arabic characters should be able to be a hero instead of just a terrorist. Positive portrayals such as these will help white westerners to see people of color as people not just stereotypes.