Today's video game industry is full of examples of games that showcase Oriental stereotypes repetitively and portray them with the typical passive, barbaric, and violent perception. The methodology of this study builds its structure on that problem by gathering data from a conducted survey that focuses on video gamers based in the Middle East, with the aim of exploring how the reiteration of the stereotypical portrayal of the Orient in video games produced by the West affect people's perception of the Orient. The data then gathered will be analyzed according to Carla Willig's approach of the Foucauldian discourse analysis using six stages: (1) discursive constructions, (2) discourses, (3) action orientation, (4) positionings, (5) practice, and (6) subjectivity. The analysis's main limits and strengths will then be taken into consideration, and recommendations will be suggested based on the results of the analysis.
TopIntroduction
“A long time ago there were no toys, and everyone was bored. Then they had TV, but they were bored again. They wanted control. So, they invented video games.” These words, by Victor Aurelio Bautista, form a narrative, not only for the endless basic instinctual demands of humankind, but also for our need for knowledge, learning, and interference (Kinder, 1993; Maslow 1943, 1954).
Since the rise of video games, they have changed and developed to a great extent (Lule, 2010). Today, games represent many topics and present different events in their narratives, particularly political narratives (Simons, 2007).
This chapter set out to investigate how certain topics are being represented in these political narratives, especially the portrayal of the East and the stereotype surrounding them in produced video games. When stereotypes are presented in mass media, they tend to give birth to normalized universal ideas (El-Aswad, 2013), and though they may not be accurate, it does not change their impact on the perception of particular communities and cultures (Ibroscheva&Ramaprasad, 2008). That gives reason to why it is important.
The purpose here is to answer the research question of how the reiteration of this stereotype affects people’s perception of the East. That will be carried out by analyzing gathered data from a conducted survey which focuses on video gamers that are based in the Middle East from a Foucauldian analysis approach. It is executed by detailing the stages involved in carrying out a Foucauldian discourse analysis from Carla Willig’s approach (2008), and by applying the gathered data to those stages. The reason for adopting that approach is explained and then its strengths and limitations are considered.
Orientalism, Neo-Orientalism and Video Games
People perceive the world through cultural lenses, and Orientalism is one lens of many others that people view the world from, often making out an image of the “West” as ruling, or more advanced, than the “East” (Jouhki, 2006).
Edward Said, influenced by Michel Foucault's discourse theory, argues that this “man-made” distinction was crafted purposely by Western thought to create an “other”, or “Orient”, that could be manipulated and controlled and is but “a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary” (Said, 2003). Through that tradition, Said describes that the East or the “Orient” has become associated with the stereotype of being passive, irrational, and conservationist (Kaya, 2018).
Today, the concept of Orientalism metamorphosed into a post 9/11 neo-Orientalism towards Islam and the Arab-Muslim world which operates with a new paradigm and refers to new constructions of the Orient that unfold the formation of that world (Kerboua, 2016).
The rise of Orientalist universal ideas has been affected critically by the stereotypes produced by Western media, as they are continuously implemented into the media we consume (El-Aswad, 2013). In unrealistic and sometimes unfavorable forms, mass media tends to construe social reality and plays an important role in shaping the perceptions of the world (Ibroscheva&Ramaprasad, 2008; Shoemaker & Reese, 1996; Boulding, 1959; Eagly, 1987; Eagly& Wood, 1991; Fishman, 1980).
Further impairment to the portrayal of the Middle Eastern community is being caused due to the constant reinforcement of aggressive clichés throughout video games, and they only seem to reinforce and strengthen the perception of those who believe in Orientalist notions (Tucker, 2006).
An example of that is the reiteration of how the East is represented in video games, which have often relied on the use of stereotypes (Mou&Peng, 2009). The effect of these stereotypes on people’s attitudes and perceptions calls for attention, especially considering the lack of positive images of certain groups, for instance, Arabs, in the media (Saleem, 2008). There has been an increase in games presenting Arabs and Muslims with the stereotype of being savage, brutal, uncivilized, and deviant since the fall of the twin towers, post 9/11 (Van Buren, 2010). These games also tend to represent Arabs as characters with turbans, facial hair, weapons, desert environments, dark skin, and unintelligible speech, which is but a mere stereotype (Saleem, 2008).
Although it appears that there has been some progress to improve the representation issue in video games, we are still far from straightening out this issue. Issues with the portrayal of Arab people in video games are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the vast range and reaches of Orientalist views (Shaw, 2010).