Geopolitics PIA
Geopolitics PIA
Geopolitics PIA
Introduction (Abstract)
This has brought into the frame a new discourse that we call popular geopolitics theory, a
phenomenon with the sufficient potential to link public opinion to geographical policies, in
which researchers seek to evaluate methods of representing geographical phenomena and
geopolitics events in media such as cinema.
We have chosen to center this political discourse in the region of the Middle Eastern, aiming
to examine the structures that try to guide public opinion, and the subject of the Hollywood
cinema representation with its techniques, and how does its influence and power helps
advance the American perception of the world and its mold into public opinion for its own
national interest.
“State and non-state actors pay more attention to the use of media, because the media
reaches amount of audience and the messages conveyed through the media are obvious.
Film is seen as a global medium that reaches a huge amount of the audience with the same
message while the film industry plays the leading role in the global media system.”
(Maisuwong, 2012, p.1)
In international relations, Soft power and Hard power are recognized as two tools by which
an actor (State, NGO, Company, Individual, etc.) influences -positively or negatively- another
actor. The arts in general, and cinema in particular, have positioned themselves as
fundamental elements of contemporary Soft Power. Joseph Nye defined soft power as “the
ability of a country to structure a situation so that other countries develop preferences or
define their interests in ways consistent with its own” (1990a: 168).
In this sense, the US has known how to use Hollywood as an instrument of soft power better
than anyone else, and has been in charge of creating stereotypes in the collective
imagination, its impact in shaping perceptions of America and American society, all around
the globe. By using this type of instrument, they justifiy that democratic values are needed in
the world, and attempt to put the lifestyles of foreign public in the social and politics fields
into a form that is proper to American values.
Therefore, Hollywood is, in more than one sense, the best office of social communication in
the United States. In the first half of the 20th century, cinema was the main means of
communication, and since then Hollywood has had a foreign policy that has gone hand in
hand with the interests that the United States promotes within its society and in the world.
Hence, to start with the analysis of this problem, we must first take a look into the
background on how Hollywood started to influence popular thinking in politics, dating back to
the Post-war era.
➔ World War II set the international stage for Germans to star in antagonistic
roles in Hollywood. At this time, we find the famous Hans Gruber in Die Hard
or Heinrich Strasser in Casablanca.
➔ And then came the Cold War, where along with the Germans, Russians have
a long tradition in Hollywood antagonists, in films ranging from Red Heat to
James Bond, Mission Impossible, The Terminal, The Bourne Affair, among
others; also, political messages of the polar leaders that where distributed to
international system rapidly and easily.
➔ It is from the 1970s onwards that foreign policy was internalized, where the
withdrawal of troops from Vietnam was sought due to the broad social
criticism of the American people. At that time, films showed a public enemy
resulting from a decadent society, in this context, villains such as corrupt
policemen, failed government institutions and gangsters emerged. Some of
the most emblematic films of this era are Dirty Harry (starring Clint
Eastwood) and Taxi Driver (starring Robert De Niro), without forgetting
Magnum Force and Bullit.
➔ At the beginning of the 20th century, the enemies portrayed in the movies
were people of African origin: it is enough to see some of the films of D.W.
Wright, but especially The Birth of a Nation, to understand the collective fear
of the Saxon Americans with respect to the African-Americans.
➔ And this is where our strategic point of analysis comes in, with the new era of
villains that began after the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11). This era
identifies the Arab world as the main public enemy. In this period, we find
Blockbusters such as Batman Begins (2005) with the character of Ra's al
Ghul or Iron Man (2008) who is captured by a group of Arab terrorists.
A combination of factors that coalesced in the late 1990s led to the catastrophic event.
These factors included regional conditions in the Middle East that motivated the
perpetrators, as well as intelligence lapses and failures that left the United States
vulnerable.
Throughout the 20th century, a wave of secular, nationalist revolutions swept through the
Middle East, taking root in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, and other countries. While these
movements were awash in promising ideology, the new regimes quickly became autocratic
and suppressed dissent. Their critics turned to violent revolution to express their
dissatisfaction with the secular governments.
At the same time, social malaise, especially among young men who were struggling to find
decent jobs and start their own families in corrupt oil states, provided easy targets for
radicalization. Bin Laden’s message that America was the “head of the snake” and the root
of all society’s problems resonated well with the discontent.
The September 11, 2001 attack on the United States redefined international security threats
and altered the nature of warfare globally. The United States’ response to the 9/11 attack,
namely the invasion of Afghanistan, had a deeply destabilizing impact on the Middle East
and North Africa region. In addition to the death of tens of thousands of Afghanis and others
from the region, as well as the emergence of new terrorist groups, U.S. post-war policies
sparked a strong wave of anti-Americanism across MENA.
Islamic extremism was stirred by the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
and the assassination of the Egyptian president. That extremism turned anti-American
because of U.S. support for Israel and repressive and secular Arab regimes.
Soaring birthrates and limited economic opportunities generated social pressures. Extremist
thinking embraced violence because local regimes left no other options for peaceful,
democratic reform.
The proliferation of weapons gave activists the means to inflict harm, and innovation in
communications facilitated worldwide publicity about their deeds — which served the
psychological warfare objective of unsettling western populations.
From sanctuaries in Sudan and then Afghanistan, bin Laden and his allies orchestrated a
series of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 1993, an American
military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
1998 and a U.S. Navy ship in Aden Harbor in 2000.
● Even after the immediate shock of 9/11 had subsided, concerns over terrorism
remained at higher levels in major cities.
● Patriotic sentiment surged in the aftermath of 9/11. After the U.S. and its allies
launched airstrikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in early October 2001
● The immediate response to 9/11 was George W. Bush administration’s War on
Terror, which began in Afghanistan as a retaliation against al Qaeda for carrying out
the attack. The Bush administration soon expanded the War on Terror into Iraq, and
the consequences of these wars continue to affect the Middle East to this day.
Almost 20 years later, the United States is still at war in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
● There were domestic long-term effects of 9/11 as well. Thousands of people struggle
with cancer and lasting chronic health problems relating to the toxicity from Ground
Zero, the site where the Twin Towers used to stand.
● Hate crimes against Muslims rose 1617% from 2000 to 2001, according to the FBI
marking some of the highest numbers of Islamophobic hate crimes ever in the U.S.
● The 9/11 terrorist attacks drastically changed public opinion towards Muslims. Since
then, terrorist acts such as the attacks by violent jihadists in London, Paris, Brussels,
and Barcelona have increased fear and anxiety. The use of Islam by extremists to
justify their terrorist acts has made many Europeans regard Islam as a threat and
fear Muslims as the enemy. Since 2001, some media in Europe have succumbed to
reporting based on stereotypes and used the actions of Islamists to stigmatize
Muslim populations. There are concerns that stereotypes and generalizations about
Muslims are informing counter-terrorism measures in Europe that restrict liberties for
all and negatively impact Muslim communities.
● The 2017 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey found that on average one in
three Muslim respondents faced discrimination and prejudice in the previous 12
months, and 27 percent experienced a racist crime. Research also shows that
Islamophobia can especially impact women—in the job market, for example, as is
highlighted in recent research by the European Network Against Racism.
In recent decades, the role-playing of the media has paved the way for the emergence of a
new discourse named popular geopolitics, which has evolved over time into a type of critical
geopolitics that represent the discourses of world politics in the visual context of cinema.
Throughout history, governments have allied with film production companies, because of the
potential of the cinema media, since they’ve believed that films could tell the truth in light of
the existing political situation, and also to manipulate the public opinion in times of crisis or
war.
However, popular geopolitics can be considered a process that is made in an elite culture
and made available to the public through mechanisms such as cartoons, magazines and
films.
Now, popular geopolitics in this very particular case can be explained by the following in the
representation of the media.
1. The geopolitical power of cinema not only lies in its distribution, but also in the way
events, people, and places are arranged. Because of this, films can stimulate all
kinds of emotional investments and demands for political action through the
representation of places and people. (Explanation: The distribution across the world
of the movie is not the most important aspect, but how everything along the movie is
placed strategically as films can produce emotional investments in people and the
effect it produces on them) (In the movies later portrayed, movies can be projected
on cinemas, and sell the tickets, however how the war, and the facts occured on it is
what moves people in regards of political action and ideologies)
2. The media often frame events and processes, therefore, play an important role in the
interpretation or structure of the narrative. (Explanation: a medium such as cinema
has the ability to justify their policies in the public mind by using popular imagination
in line with the goal of the political leaders) (With the use of all resources and
analogies performed along the movie, it can have secret messages to portray
something awful as war, with images that are not bloody, and maybe can be
portrayed with popular actors, that often softens the public opinion on different
national events)
3. Popular geopolitical resources have led to the creation and reproduction of instances
of geopolitical ideas and traditions that help persevere particular national views of
governments. (Since the invention of cinema, governments have relied on the power
of moving image to help create sentiment about national and international status) (as
in the case of the U.S., the performance of the hollywood movie along the history,
have portrayed the U.S. as the main savior of the world, as observed in avengers
movie, or the war movies where the U.S. is always the winner and the strongest,
which preserves the feeling between its people of belonging to the great america and
promoting nationalism and patriotism across them)
How did the U.S. and Hollywood do this whole process of reflecting this ideological thinking?
Explanation (overall): World powers, including the U.S. government, with the fight against
terrorism express their discourses with the help of political tools such as political romanticism
and political theology to distinguish between a friend an enemy in politics.
Political theology refers to the connection between a fundamental model of political order
and a contemporary theological model. In simple terms, the ruler is known as the
representative of God and earth who can form us and the other to achieve his political goals,
whith the help of the good and the bad.
Political romanticism in general terms refers to the fundamental alternative to justifying
political action, as it uses the dreamlike imagination of the person, and thus, the political
actions are justified.
In the distinction, terrorism, and subsequently, Muslims in the middle east have been the
target of many hollywood movies. Additionally, along the movies, they portrayed the concept
of Orientalism in the representation of the characters as Middle East people are perceived
as backward, mysterious, and bizarre people as opposed to the modern, developed and
progressive west people.
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