Abstract
Otherization has been executed in both Orientalism and Occidentalism for a long time. People have always been expected to choose either side in a binary opposition such as “mother or father,” “male or female,” “destiny or coincidence,” “pasta or pizza,” “Fenerbahce or Galatasaray,” etc. However, the human itself is the balance of those binary oppositions such as “good and bad,” “normal and abnormal,” “optimistic and pessimistic,” etc. In this respect, this chapter offered a new term, “medientalism,” indicating advertizing as a possible alternative medium to mediate between otherized opposites such as gender, race, ideology, lifestyle, religion within the fame of the opposition between Orientalism and Occidentalism. As a result, transmedia storytelling, a persuasive multiplatform strategy to reach the audience by telling stories, was suggested as a functional tool to employ in spreading the idea of mediation between otherized opposites.
TopLiterature Review
Criticism of Orientalism is mainly characterized by three perspectives. Those main perspectives determine principles, issues, characteristics, origins of Orientalism within the framework of postcolonial theory rooted in the Western imperialist diffusion. The first one is Edward Said’s perspective constructing the Orient in the eyes of some Western people as the “other”. The second perspective was developed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, which is characterized by Third-World feminism, deconstructive thought and writing. And the third one is Homi Bhabha’s cultural critique on Third-Worldist and postmodernist approach (Said, 1978; Spivak, 1993; Bhabha, 1994; Ning, 1997; Sawant, 2011).
On the other hand; criticism of Occidentalism seems to have been started by Buruma and Margalit’s chronicle The Origins of Occidentalism (2004), which inflames many researchers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who have counterpart otherization approach. Muharram’s (2014) Occidentalism/Orientalism In Reverse: The West In The Eyes Of Modern Arab Intellectuals puts forward Arabian Occidentalism. Huang (2011) gives details about Chinese Occidentalism in Constructing the West in Chinese Magazine Advertizing: A Content and Semiotic Analysis. Anadolu (2018) explains the Turkish perspective in Occidentalism and how Orientalism has affected Turkey throughout history in 21. yüzyılda Oryantalist İmgelerin Televizyon Aracılığıyla Yeniden Üretimi: Michael Palin’s New Europe Örneği. Other than criticism on one side, either Orientalism or Occidentalism, mediating perspectives are given by some researchers including Huang and Anadolu. Ning (1997) proposes a cultural dialogue rather than an opposition.
Indeed, as the scope of the study, neither Orientalism nor Occidentalism was the main focus but “otherization” in general. So, general otherization criticism was included in the main focus of the chapter. Kotler’s and his friends’ (2017) Pazarlama 4.0 (the original English version Marketing 4.0) discussing otherization in terms of a new era marketing strategy was important to this study that indicates advertizing as a mediator between binary oppositions.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Medientalism: A brand-new term invented by H. Deniz Karcý, the author of the chapter, to refer the role of advertizing, a mass media practice, as a mediator between binary oppositions.
Comprehensiveness: Philip Kotler’s concept used for embracement in Marketing 4.0 era.
Advertizing: A marketing communicaiton leading the consumer to buy depicting both desirable qualities of certain products and services and reflecting values, norms and stereotypes as social reality.
Cultivation Theory: George Gerbner’s communication theory positioning between mainstream approach and criticism.
Otherization: Not accepting but rejecting qualities, values and style of the one not similar with the self.
Occidentalism: The Eastern counterpart of Orientalism rejecting the West’ s opressions, exclusions and reductions.
Transmedia Storytelling: A multi-platform engaging storytelling form involving the audience in the process.
Orientalism: The vision of the Orient in the eye of the Westerners.