Culture Industry and Orientalism in the Movie 300

abstract:In this article, Tahsily analyzes an influential and economically very successful 2007 “blockbuster” Hollywood production: the movie 300. In order to do so, two main points of reference will be used: the theory concerning culture industry, as developed in particular by Adorno, and the concept of Orientalism, as theorized by Said. The major purpose of this work is to show how negative stereotypes concerning middle easterners are commonly used by Western media, with the primary aim of creating a conflictual relation between them. While it is clear that Said’s work cannot be fully absorbed into the purposes of critical theory, the use of Orientalism proves to be an extremely fruitful integration, and update, of the key ideas concerning culture industry. After showing the practical use of Orientalism in the movie 300, Tahsily comes to the conclusion that a different use of media is not only opportune but necessary for favoring a perspective of integration, rather than conflict, between different cultural models.