Whose Dream? NBC, China, Orientalism, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games

Justin Speed

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Clark, Maribeth

Keywords

Olympics, NBC, China, Orientalism

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

The Beijing Olympic opening ceremony was a significant cultural event. Not only did it afford China the opportunity to re-create and present its national identity, it gave the world an opportunity to reflect on that identity. Properly framing my case study of the ceremony (and its accompanying commentary provided by NBC) required an examination of historical Western representations of China: NBC�s coverage can be seen as a continuation of that typically Western narrative tradition. An application of Edward Said�s Orientalism serves to facilitate the interpretation of the commentary, as well as of China�s reworked national identity. It becomes clear, especially upon examining previous Asian Olympic host nations, that Said�s Orientalism is being expressed in two distinct ways through the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. First is the commentators� display of �latent Orientalism�, and second is China�s �self-Orientalism�. These two expressions highlight a changing dynamic between the �East� and the �West�.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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