Essay.13. To what extent is Edward Said's Orientalism still relevant to the representation of Eastern culture in Western media? In this essay, I will examine Edward Said's theory of Orientalism in Western media, particularly in film. Orientalism is a way of viewing the people and culture of the Middle East through a Western perspective. The West has played a dominant and powerful role in constructing the image of the East. This essay argues that the Western film industry has reinforced cultural stereotypes in which the Orient is seen as threatening and inferior. In this essay, I examine an American action thriller The Siege (1998) which gives violent and terrorist portrayals of Arabs and Muslims, a British comedy-drama East is East (1999) which is based on the negative portrayal of a Muslim man with strong religious beliefs and an American action drama Kingdom of Heaven (2005), the film which tackles a sensitive topic about the religious conflict between Muslims and Christians. However, it has been argued, this provides a fair view of those religions which have both good and bad members in every society. The analysis of these films refers to Edward Said's theory of orientalism (1991) and confirms the idea that the Orient is barbaric, mysterious, exotic and powerless. All of the selected films that I will analyze contain negative stereotypes about Islam and Arabs/Muslims. They also have examples of Islamophobic speech. According to Said (1991), Orientalism is "the system of thought by which dominant economic, social, cultural and political powers establish spheres of 'knowledge' and 'truth' and it is through such discursive practices that religions, races, cultures and classes are represented” (Aneli, SR et al, 2007: 23). He attempts to...... middle of paper ...... significant experiences (Said, E., 1991: 1). I agree with Schimm (2010) that elements of a colonialist narrative are present in this film. The land is shown as it belongs to Balian who emphasizes that he wishes to improve it. The people living on these lands are also represented as belonging to it (Schlimm, MR, 2010). However, they are happy and grateful for what the colonizer has done. There is Said's orientalist discourse according to which the Westerner is capable of doing more and better for the people than the Oriental (Schlimm, MR, 2010). The Westerner is more intellectual, stronger and more skillful than the Orient is represented. According to Schimm (2010), the film became appealing to audiences because of its message of religious tolerance. Scenes of religious diversity distracted audiences from embodied colonialism and orientalism (Schlimm, M. R.., 2010).