RE-PRODUCTION OF ORIENTALIST IMAGES THROUGH TELEVISION IN THE 21st CENTURY: THE EXAMPLE OF “MICHAEL PALIN'S NEW EUROPE”

In the development of intercultural relations, the economy has played a very important role for centuries. It is observed that with the increase of trade routes, not only goods but also cultures are exchanged and existing cultures are influenced by new ones. On the contrary, cultures that aren’t fully understood from are compressed into certain forms with the foreground of the features that are located directly against the existing culture and the images produced by imagination over time. The concept of Orientalism, which we can explain with the West's fully-formed perspective on the east, is only one of those forms. The latent orientalism approach, especially expressing suspicion towards Eastern cultures and seeing it as a fantasy area, is based on images of disregarding or underestimating differences. Certain images can be produced in every area of the culture, as well as in the mass media. Television, which is one of the most effective mass media, has a structure that reproduces and interprets the meaning and values of certain cultures. The approach of latent orientalism, where negative approaches to eastern cultures are softened on discourse basis and visually hidden behind certain images, are often encountered in television programmes. In this study, it was researched how the Turkish image created through orientalism and was produced in the 21st century. Within this context, “Eastern Delight”, second episode of a television programme named “Michael Palin’s New Europe” which was produced and broadcasted by BBC in 2007 was analyzed. This programme has been selected because it examines countries that are not members of the European Union, including Central Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Republics. Through the programme, the differences between Western and Eastern cultures are described in the eyes of a Westerner. In this study, semiological analysis is used as the analysis method. In the light of the preferred discourse in the program, it was focused on the production of orientalist images, specific signs and these indicators have been transformed into a table. As a result of the assessments made; it has been determined that the program is unable to offer an alternative to the orientalist viewpoint and transforms Turkey into an unknown fantasy area, with a variety of indicators approaching suspicion