Lane, 1 Marty Lane Will Temple GD 572 12.04.07

Modern Myth: The Role of Orientalism, Representation of the “Other”, Infotainment, and Photography in the Marketing of the War in Iraq.



We live in an information age, with access to more information than ever before. Mass media,

such as television and newspaper, along with the Internet, provide both monitored and unmonitored platforms for information. Mass media provides controlled, filtered information, while the Internet’s bottomup structure can provide a democratic flow of information. There are positive and negative aspects to both structures. Many people still view only a few mass media sources to be authorities on news. What happens when all of the mass media networks convey the same ideologies? In 1937 the New York Times stated that, “What is truly vicious is not propaganda but a monopoly of it [news]” (Snow 150). The critical challenge is how to decipher all of this information, and if it’s even possible. This overwhelming access to information can be a dangerous instrument if used to manipulate the public. The way in which information is conveyed can significantly shape ones interpretation of “facts.” Limitations are placed on the mass media on what they can show and what they cannot. The information flow can become very skewed. It is difficult even for the most experienced viewers to look critically and objectively at all information and imagery that is presented. The ability to decipher what is being said and shown is very complex especially when the amount of information itself is overwhelming. In our current dystopian state this is exactly what has occurred with the selling of the Iraq war.

Stuart Hall defines representation as “an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. It does involve the use of language, of signs and images

Lane, 2 which stand to represent things” (Hall 15). The way in which the Western world has come to represent the East in media has played a major role in shaping political actions. This paper will explore how Orientalism has influenced Western culture and how the United States has used photographic myth, marketing strategies, and representation of “Others” to disseminate the case for the war in Iraq. Investigating not only how the Bush administration played a role, but also news media, popular culture, and audiences. Finally, this paper will address if graphic designers and others in the public sphere have a responsibility to intervene with the propagation of these ideologies and how some designers are responding.

After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C., the United States government made it clear that it was going to retaliate with war. What happened in the following months was an astoundingly successful marketing strategy employed by the United States government. How was the United States able to sell the idea of going to war with Iraq, when there was no direct link between that country and the September 11th suspects? It would seem that the cards were perfectly aligned for this tragic manipulation to occur. The credit does not entirely go to the Bush administration’s marketing strategies — however malicious — because the way in which the East has been represented in the West has been an ongoing problem for centuries (Said 3)1. Theorists such as Roland Barthes and Stuart Hall have studied the complex ways that people read images. Images contain both denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative refers to a literal message, while connotative is one that is more complex and culturally loaded. Many of the images published in the West use the same sort of stereotypical connotative meaning of people of the Middle East. More often than not, we see imagery of exocitized and violent men. This connotes a fanatical “terrorist” dehumanized because “they” are different from “us”.

Orientalism was a phrase coined by the late Edward Said in his 1978 book, Orientalism. Although Said was a British scholar and tended to differentiate his studies between Europe and America, his theories

Lane, 3 apply to America’s current representation of the East. America has been very closely involved with the East politically at least for the last sixty years, beginning shortly after World War II with the creation of Israel. Said uses the word Orientalism to signify the way in which Western culture has represented people of the East through art, design, mass media and literature. He describes Orientalism in many different ways, often depending on the region he is focusing on. The most relevant to this subject being, “Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said 3). Orientalism is not a modern day development, as it can be traced back to the late 18th century, but the following examples are very current (Said 42).

Orientalism in academia has traditionally been viewed as being about discourse and not power, but this is where Said disagrees. He recognizes that in order for Orientalism to be discussed at all, it must be respected as a subject of academic study, but finds more value in looking at it in relation to power. “I myself believe that Orientalism is more particularly valuable as a sign of European-Atlantic power over the Orient than it is as a veridic discourse about the Orient” (Said 6). The representations of the East are more clearly linked to the West than themselves. When people travel abroad to the Middle East, they seek out things that make them feel like they have seen the East as it is represented through a Western scope (Said 1). This trend can be linked to the East’s inability to represent itself and the West’s hyperability to do so. If we focus on modern times, the role of photography and technology can explain this imbalance of means to represent. Orientalism as a tool for control rather than of discourse is imperative in order for the West to create a divide between “us” and “them” and still retain power. The moment that people of the West start to identify with people of the East, they will start to question the violence that is constantly occurring.

In popular culture, people from the East are represented in such strict stereotypical roles that it is hard to find an example that doesn’t fit this mold. When was the last time a character of Middle Eastern decent was represented in a way that was not exotic or violently threatening? This stereotyping can be seen

Lane, 4 in examples such as Disney’s 1992 film Aladdin. The two main characters in Aladdin are portrayed with lighter skin and American accents while the other characters appear villainous with dark skin figure 1

figure 2

and Middle Eastern accents. The American-Arab

Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) demanded that the film change the song lyrics of the feature song, Arabian Nights. The original version, “Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home” was changed to “Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home” in subsequent releases (www.adc.org). Another example of this stereotypical representation can be seen in the recent hit ABC show, Lost. The show has a large cast and the only Arab character, Sayid Hassen Jarrah, is a former Iraqi Republican Guard. The irony here is that many story lines revolve around the fact that Sayid previously tortured people as a member of the Iraqi guard. Is it a coincidence that a show developed and aired in America during a war with Iraq features an Iraqi as a torturer? Why could it not have been another character? Why was it more believable to portray the Arab figure 3

character as a villain? Many of the characters on the show act in violent and

aggressive ways on the island, but Sayid is the only character that is shown to have a barbaric past. On a purely racial note, taking nationalism out of the equation, the negative associations American culture has with darkness is one that is hard to break because it is so deeply rooted in history, dating all the way back to 14th c. with the black plague (black death) and continuing into modern times with black Monday, slavery, segregation, and now racial profiling against people from the Middle East.

Orientalism is not only seen in popular culture, it can also be seen in American mainstream news media. Immediately following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, there were widespread reports that the attack was carried out by someone from the Middle East. The main news channels were reporting the attack

Lane, 5 was linked to previous attacks on the United States by the Middle East. “Commentators drew parallels to incidents of “Mideast terrorism”, citing this as ‘proof’ that Muslims were responsible for the bombing. Live television programs with inflammatory logos like “Terror in the Heartland” occupied airtime on major networks the days following the blast” (Progler 60). However, within a few days, an Anglo-American was arrested for the bombing. Once it was revealed that the main suspect was in fact not from the Middle East, the slogans and messages changed from that of retaliation to that of forgiveness. Previously, the slogans were “Terror in the Heartland” and after the discovery they were changed to “Tragedy in the Heartland” (Progler 61). There was no factual link between someone of Middle Eastern decent, yet it was very easy for mainstream media to jump to that conclusion and it was also convincing to the American public. These examples show the crossovers between politics and culture and their hybrid agendas. Said states that Orientalism is not only a theory that exists in political spheres, “My idea is that European and then American Interest in the Orient was political according to some of the obvious historical accounts of it that I have given here, but that it was the culture that created that interest, that acted dynamically along with brute political, economic, and military rationales to make the Orient the varied and complicated place that it obviously was in the field I call Orientalism” (Said 12). Said discusses how Orientalism is not always used to create power, “it is, rather than expresses, a certain will or intention to understand, in some cases to control, manipulate, even to incorporate, what is a manifestly different world” (Said 12). Orientalism plays a role in creating and sustaining this ideology of “us” vs. “them”, that somehow Americans are fundamentally different from everyone in the East. This distinction of difference is continually supported by American popular culture and news media, which has contributed to the selling of the Iraq war. One of the reasons American citizens were manipulated into supporting the war in Iraq was due to the fact that Orientalism is so engrained in culture.

Infotainment is a term used to describe the crossover of entertainment and news media in modern America. The mainstream news media has become more of a device for entertainment than one of disseminating factual events. Reporters such as Edward R. Murrow who provided serious analysis of

Lane, 6 current events founded American television. Murrow raised hard questions and aired many controversial shows including the legendary one on Senator McCarthy. When Murrow was appointed by John F. Kennedy to lead America’s propaganda agency, he stated that he would “operate on the basis of truth…we report events in context; we explain why things happen. But we do not lie, we do not cheat, we do not suppress…” (Snow 99). These times are a distant past of what we now view as news. Mainstream refigure 4

figure 5

porters rarely challenge the government or question the information that is given to them. Often times different broadcast companies use each other as references, ABC cites CBS, who cites NBC and so on (Said 23). The goal of the networks now is to boost ratings, not to provide a complex survey of events. One must consider the implications of this shift. Abdul Razak Chanbasha, Chairman for The Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs, discusses the different motivations; “One figure 6

is the need to understand the media as a producer instead of a mere transmitter of news, with the ability to influence views and opinions…” (Chanbasha v). This shift in news media from conduit to producer and the resulting infotainment style played a significant role in disseminating the Bush administration’s position on going to war with Iraq by overwhelming the public with highly calculated imagery.

Many scholars refer to the war in Iraq as a “war by Disney” as a result of the infotainment type coverage, “You could almost say this was a war invented and produced by Disney studios. It was monumental, it was full of slogans and images, it was like a production” (Rutherford 3). On the first day of the attack on Iraq, there was live news coverage coupled with the American campaign slogan of “Shock and Awe” which set the tone for the following years. ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, ‘War on Terror’, ‘Either you are

Lane, 7 with us or you are with the terrorists’, ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ — these are just a few of the slogans used by the government and media. This influx of clear marketing slogans utilized to promote war began in 2001 with the hiring of Charlotte Beers. She was an ex Ogilvy & Mather CEO, and was named Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs by the Bush adminfigure 7

istration. The administration took a serious step towards managing mes-

sages when they hired an ex advertising executive. Immediately following Beers appointment to office, the public was in an uproar, but not for these reasons. People didn’t raise questions of whether or not it was appropriate to have an advertising executive working in a diplomatic setting — most questioned if a woman could do the job of representing America abroad. Never in the past have we seen such a use of strategic marketing ploys by the government, the tactics used by Beers differ greatly from the traditional propaganda seen in the past. For the first time, journalist photography from a war zone is being placed in advertising layouts displaying a consistent brand. The use of text and images changed the meaning of the image. Mrs. Beers proved all of her critics wrong — a woman can represent America, and apparently she can brand it as well. “The phrase, “war on terror,” Nicholas Leman of the New York Times wrote, “has entered the language so fully, and framed the way people figure 8

think about how the United States is reacting to the September 11th

attacks so completely, that the idea that declaring and waging war on terror was not the sole, inevitable, logical consequence of the [September 11th] attacks just isn’t in circulation” (Snow 78). Clearly the Bush administration has played a huge role in marketing this war, but why has the media been so quick to follow suite? “The media plays an important role in analyzing and reporting these events given that they shape public opinion, which, subsequently, translates into reactions in the various sections of society” (Alatas 1). The motivations of the media to report both sides of a story have clearly changed, as this is not represented in mainstream journalism, media, and culture.

Lane, 8 There is a dichotomy that exists between the technological developments and cultural implications of photography in East and West that greatly affects representation. Most other countries have a strong link to American media. One reason is America has a financial and cultural interest in supporting and generating media, while many other countries either lack the means or desire. Edward Said discusses the implications that this has on the international community, stating that stereotypes and dominant ideologies are further reinforced by the technological link to media (Said 26).

The historical role of photography in the East and the West is critical when examining representations in media of either culture. Photography was introduced in the West as a medium used in medicine, law, and science. Thus photography gained a reputation of always delivering truth — this is referred to as the myth of photographic truth. “A photograph is often perceived to be an unmediated copy of the real world, a trace of reality skimmed off the very surface of life” (Sturken and Cartwright 17). It has been hard for people to recognize that photography doesn’t always equal truth. Photography has always been highly respected in the West. This is in direct opposition to the role of photography in the East, where it is still considered forbidden in some areas. The cultural differences of photography have played a significant role in how the East is represented in the West. “The exteriority of the representation is always governed by some version of the truism that if the Orient could represent itself, it would; since it cannot, the representation does the job, for the West, and faute de mieux2, for the poor Orient” (Said 21).

The majority of imagery seen in American media regarding the war in Iraq subscribes to two positions; popularizing the Bush administration or fear mongering. The infamous 2003 “Mission Accomplished” photo of President Bush landing on the aircraft carrier could be deciphered in the same manner that Roland Barthes examined the Paris-Match cover of 1955. In the photo, President figure 9

Bush was captured landing by jet on the American aircraft carrier

Lane, 9 with a prominently placed banner stating “Mission Accomplished”. This scene was highly theatrical and many levels of meaning can be decoded. Even though many Americans were able to recognize it has a staged event, “recognition does not necessarily defuse the power of the myth. We can consume stereotypes and clichés knowingly, but this knowledge does not preclude the ability of such images to shape beliefs” (Lupton, Miller 113). The initial impact of the image remains — the desired ideological message is retained despite people being aware of the spectacle. In addition to this spectacular type of photography that is being used by the Bush administration, one will also see many images and text playing on emotion. As a result of the new infotainment type of news, many television networks and newspapers employ visual representations embodying fear. If people feel fearful, they will feel the need to continue to tune in to “stay informed”. This hype creates a type of fanatic behavior similar to that found in the Salem Witch Trials3 where facts are completely disregarded for mayhem.

With the war in Iraq we have seen a new type of censorship put in place by the American government and media. Only certain types of images are deemed suitable to show to the public. The motivation behind characterizing images as suitable or not for public viewing isn’t always in the public’s best interest. The media utilizes pictorial representation as a tool to convince the public the war is needed and going well. “Although the United States was the invading power, in the overwhelming majority of the New York Times’s photographs, soldiers appeared in non-antagonistic poses or as victims of a violent enemy — a glaring inconsistency with the actual conduct of the war, where Iraqis died in the thousands and fought only sporadically and briefly, and almost entirely on the defensive” (Artz 86). In contrast, American flag draped coffins where prohibited from being shown to the public4. The photography used by the media is figure 10

being chosen and edited to fit a specific agenda. There is an

interesting juxtaposition occurring in the media; on one hand they want to show American soldiers as victims rather than the attackers, but they can’t show too many victims as the public may begin to ques-

Lane, 10 tion the war entirely. The goal of showing American troops as victims is needed to keep the general public in the fearful mindset of September 11th to make the connection to Iraq as the “axis of evil” despite the lack of facts linking the two (Artz 89).

Reading photographs and text is not a one-way activity; to complete the process the viewer must decode the information. People are not empty vessels waiting to receive information or passive viewers. However, it can become difficult to decipher messages when stereotypes are severely engrained in culture, especially when there is a monopolization of media or the intentional use of manipulation. Graphic designers and others in the public sphere have a responsibility to intervene with this complexity. Many prominent graphic designers have approached the issue through critical writing, using Barthes’ approach to breaking down images and assisting viewers in decoding the message. It is interesting that some graphic designers such as Steven Heller, Michael Bierut, and William Drenttel have written highly respected articles around the “image wars”; however, when the context shifts to that of the blogosphere, many graphic designers are outraged with the crossover of “politics” and design. The role of a graphic designer is expanding to include many multi-disciplinary roles including that of critical thinker. It seems fully appropriate to question the juxtaposition of image, text, and context and how they are implicated in changing the way people think.

In addition to critical writing, some graphic designers are taking an approach of dissent, designing images that are in direct opposition to those in mainstream media. “When you think of dissenting conditions, there is always a source of power that is instrumental in producing dissent. The reaction of dissent is always in response to a sense of oppression that is experienced by those who dissent” (Glaser 226). Graphic designers have the ability to not only design for themselves when oppressed, but for others as well. The intrinsic question is how graphic designers can position themselves to be taken seriously and find agency to intervene in social issues. Orientalism, the myth of photographic truth, and the monopolization of media are obstacles that are hard to overcome. Graphic designers can take action by utilizing critical writing, opposition design, and by providing systems for viewers to navigate complex information.

Lane, 11 Notes

1

“Taking the late eighteenth century as a very roughly defined starting point Orientalism can be dis-

cussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient — dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said 3).

2

Faute de mieux is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “for lack of something better

or more desirable.”

3

During the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th c. hundreds of people were arrested for being witches. It took

more than 300 hundred years for society to completely overcome the hype and declare the arrested innocent (Levin 141–2).

4

Tami Silico, a photographer for the Maytag Aircraft Corporation, was fired from her job as a result of tak-

ing a photograph of soldier’s coffins. The American military has banned all photos of American soldier’s coffins. The Seattle Times published the photo on the front page despite the military’s ban. The editor of the Times, David Boardman, stated, “ The administration cannot tell us what we can and cannot publish” (www.smh.com).

Lane, 12 Figures

1

Aladdin characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aladdin-character.JPG

2

The Return of Jafar (villlian from Aladdin) cover:



http://disneyvideos.disney.go.com/moviefinder/products/3678603.html

3

Sayid Hassan Jarrah from ABC’s Lost: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sayidlost.PNG

4

CNN screenshot: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/

5

Fox News Screenshot: http://www.foxnews.com/specialsections/waronterror/index.html

6

CBS Screenshot: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/terror/main224.shtml

7

From the United States Coast Guard: http://www.uscg.mil/history/OIF_USCGR_Article.html

8

Fox News screenshot: http://jennifer-eccleston.com/jennifer_eccleston/pictures/jennifer_eccleston_



9

miss_shock_and_awe.jpg

Mission Accomplished: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=%22Mission_Accomplished%22_



10

May_1%2C_2003

Photo by Tami Silico: http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/22/400_seattletimes2304,0.jpg

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