Orientalism was a term developed by post-colonial theorist Edward Said to describe the ways in which Europeans, or the West, portrayed the Orient as inferior, uncivilized, and wholly anti-Western. Netflix Inc., the world’s largest subscription-based streaming service, which as of 2018, expanded its streaming venue to over 190 countries globally, is the wellspring of knowledge for many people. Through the multimodal critical discourse analysis of 6 Netflix films and television programmes (Stateless, Gods of Egypt, Messiah, Al Hayba, Sand Castle, and Fauda) the study examines the extent to which the streaming giant is culpable in the reproduction of Orientalist discourses of power, i.e., discourses which facilitate the construction of the stereotyped Other. The results have shown that Netflix strengthens, through the dissemination and distribution of symbols and messages to the general population, the domination and authority over society and its political, economic, cultural, and ideological domains. Using Norman Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis combined with a social semiotic perspective, this study endeavours to design a comprehensive methodological and theoretical framework which can be utilized by future researchers to analyse and critique particular power dynamics within society by exposing the dominant ideological world-view distortions which reinforce oppressive structures and institutional practices.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-43793 |
Date | January 2021 |
Creators | Maatouk, Stefan |
Publisher | Malmö universitet, Malmö högskola, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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