An Analysis Of The Images Of Islamic States InArgo And The Hurt Locker From The Perspective Of Orientalism

In2010, the movie The Hurt Locker, which describes the experiences of the EODteam in Iraq, was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won six Oscars, includingBest Director and Best Picture; two years later, the movie Argo, which tells the storybased on Iran Hostages Crisis, received seven nominations for the85th AcademyAwards and won Best Picture. These two films received both great success andcontroversies. The western audience believes that the presentation of the IslamicStates in the films are tally with the reality, while the audience in the Islamic Statesthink those films illustrate distorted images of their countries.Compared with other Eastern countries, the image of Islamic States in Hollywoodfilms is influenced not only by the description in early literature, but also by thepolitical situation. Islam is considered by the West as an ideological threat and evenassociated with Terrorism. According to Said, as a way of thinking, Orientalism treatsthe West and the East in an opposite way, thus creates a principle which suggest “thesuperior West and the inferior East”. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the images ofIslamic States in the Hollywood films The Hurt Locker and Argofrom the perspectiveof Orientalism, argues that Islamic States are demonized, mystified and weakened.This thesis is divided into three parts. The first one is used to analyze the demonizedimages of Islamic states, which are proved from chaotic and terroristic Islamic states.The second one is to analyze the mystified images of Islamic states, which are provedfrom exotic and fathomless Islamic states. The third one focuses on the weakenedimages of Islamic states, which are proved from impotent and aphasic Islamic states.Based on the analysis of the images of Islamic states in the films Argo and TheHurt Locker from the perspective of Orientalism, the thesis aims to prove that Islamicstates are demonized, mystified and weakened in Hollywood films and thus provide afair and objective perspective to the audience of different cultural grounds.