The representation of the orient and the orientals in the American animated sitcom the simpsons

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This Magister dissertation has investigated the representation of the Orient and the Orientals in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It took its theoretical bearings, substantially, from Edward Said's works on Orientalism then from Linda Hutcheon's postmodernist theories on parody and irony. It also leaned upon Roland Barthes's "Rhetoric of the Image" in analysing the snapshots, especially the usage of colours to convey non-verbal messages. The representation of Orientals in the sitcom is characterized by ambivalence, polyvalence and proves to be replete with social and political satire. Furthermore, parody which is a form of intertextuality constitutes the fuel to the sitcom's representation. The portrayal of Oriental spaces and people is based on preconceived images of The Arabian Nights, inherited from the early French and British Orientalist literatures and powered by contemporary American Islamophobic stereotypes of terrorism, despotism and aberrance. The sitcom proves to be intertwined with American geopolitics and adheresto the main Hollywood satiric and ironic Pop art stream. The comparison between the three Oriental communities, the Arab and Muslim, the Indian and the Jewish communities has shown to what extent the sitcom, at least the target episodes, is ambivalent and characterized by bias and double standard discourse, since the Arab and Muslim aredepicted as outsiders and foreigners to the American "Salad Bowl" represented by the emblematic city of Springfield. The Simpsonsbelongs to the type of the strong and influential satiric shows, which are too direct and most of the time irreverent and sensibility-hurting.