“Othering” Mechanisms in the American TV Series Westworld(with a Focus on the Ideals of the American Dream)

Representing racial, ethnic, cultural, and geographical “Others” is considered a focal strategy of a number of American media and entertainment productions. Accordingly, the primary goal of this article is to explain the “Othering” mechanisms in the first three seasons of the popular television series Westworld (2016–present), with a focus on the values of the American Dream. In its theoretical literature and analyses, the study drew on the Western philosophical concept of “the Other” and on cultural studies. To understand how the construct of the Others functions in the show, the study used John Fiske’s semiotics and three-level model, along with Roland Barthes’ Symbolic Code. The research found that the presence and absence of two American Other groups—Black and Native Americans—and one non-American Other group—East Asian people—in relation to white people, i.e., “the Self,” in the series carry significant implications. Westworld’s semiotic mechanisms represent white people as the dominant group, East Asian people and Native Americans as subaltern groups, and Black people as being close to whites. By doing so, they normalize a power hierarchy topped by the white race to reproduce for a future world the myth of the “superior white;” a myth that portrays the core elements of the American Dream, including individualism, liberty, and freedom of choice, as being exclusive to white people. The myth also downgrades the essential element of equality by stereotyping and delegitimizing the Others to ensure that whites will be the only group to develop plans and make decisions for the world of the future.