Western Representation Of The Middle East Essay

1585 Words7 Pages

THE SEARCH FOR WORLD OIL AND ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ARAB OTHER

Throughout the 20th century, America represented the Middle East as being a crucial area in terms of understanding linearity and changes that happened in the past, as well as the present state of natural resources and “war(s) on Terror,”. These representations include critical analyses of Western dominance of natural resources in the Middle East. The Western world has created this specific representation of the Middle East and the people local to the region, and this has long been at the centre of conflicts dating as far back as the Crusades. However, it has predominantly been defined by mediated representations strengthened by economic imperialism that happened in the 1920s, when forces from the west were in crucial need of extra petroleum sources [CITATION Cle05 \l 1033 ]. In terms of resource exploitation, the Western representation of the Middle East has been formed based on the paradox that the area is predominantly a desert wasteland populated by Bedouins. However, if used effectively, it has a fundamental source of wealth and power under the surface. Representations of Arabs and Muslims in American movies were largely influenced by French and …show more content…

Therefore, within the paternalistic and self-orientated understandings of the Western empire, a concept of Arabs being ill-mannered young people who needed a technological, industrial and capitalist upbringing was always prominent. . In line with the linguistic trend of American exceptionalism, events in the Middle East would be result from mutual partnership of dollars, gold and oil, instead of the master/servant relationships that occurred in times of European colonialism, and would be ruled by cannons and gunpowder.[ CITATION Ken1 \l 1033