The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 1-35

3. Towards a Theory of Scapegoating, Catharsis and Narrative Closure

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 37-64

4. Towards a Method of Intervisuality

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 65-117

5. A Genealogy of the Terrorist in Western Culture

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 119-164

6. Portrayals of Terrorists

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 165-218

7. Conclusion

   • Christiana Spens

   Pages 219-230

8. Back Matter

   Pages 231-253

   PDF

This book explores how terrorists have been portrayed in the Western media, and the wider ideological and social functions of those representations. Developing a theory of scapegoating related to narrative closure, as well as an integrated, genealogical method of intervisuality, the book proposes a new way of thinking about how political images achieve power and influence the public. By connecting modern portrayals of terrorists (post-9/11) with historical and fictional images of villains from Western cultural history, the book argues that the portrayal and punishment of terrorists in the Western media implicitly perpetuates neo-Orientalist attitudes. It also explains that by repeating these narrative patterns through a ritual of scapegoating, Western media coverage of terrorists partakes in a social process that uses punishment, dehumanization and colonialist ideas to purge the iconic ‘villain’, so as to build national unity and sustain hegemonic power following crisis.

• critical terrorism studies
• cultural sociology
• aesthetics
• terrorism
• visuality
• scapegoating
• ritual
• catharsis
• narrative closure
• Girard
• intervisuality
• genealogy
• representation
• terrorists
• post-colonialism
• witches
• lynching
• Osama bin Laden
• Boston bombers
• Saddam Hussein

• School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

  Christiana Spens

Christiana Spens is the author of Shooting Hipsters: Rethinking Dissent for the Age of PR, and writes for Prospect, Art Quarterly, Studio International and The New Strategist on politics, art and visual culture. She is also a founder and director of Truth Tellers, a research centre focused on art, trauma and international relations.

Policies and ethics