The Discourse of Orientalism and Narrative Gaming

A case study of media opinion on the FIFA World Cup 2022

Abstract

Although the process of modernization and democratization has been effectively promoted in Middle Eastern countries, especially in nations like Turkey and Qatar. However, orientalist discourse still profoundly influences the narrative of Western media and the construction of the image of Middle Eastern countries to this day. Based on the concept of Orientalism of Edward Said, this paper attempts to briefly sort out the media coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2022 by research methods of qualitative analysis as the main, quantitative analysis as the auxiliary. Then, this article tries to summarize the main differences and game playing between the Eastern and Western media in the narrative of the event, as well as how the orientalist discourse in the western media plays an important role. The most innovative point of this study is to analyze modern Western media discourse based on Edward Said's orientalism. The results show that the Middle Eastern countries represented by Qatar try to improve the entire world's perception of Eastern countries by establishing educational institutions, media centers and other ways. Especially with the hosting of the World Cup as a typical example, Qatar is trying to challenge existing Western stereotypes. However, the Western media is still opinionated. The logic approach and discourse paradigm of orientalism are yet deeply rooted in the West.