Orientalism refers to the Western form of reproducing scenes, scenarios and motifs from the East through painting, architecture, music, and other manifestations of art. Some artists even intended to represent the East realistically, but most Europeans liked to enhance their works with the supposed “exotic” air coming from the other side of the world. This exclusion of cultures was done without respecting the individuality of each country. In the book Orientalism (1978), Edward Said states that the vision of the Orient as an exotic and mysterious place “was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences.” For Edward, this attempt to differentiate between East and West, representing the people of East as barbarians, was to justify the interests of Colonialism. As we can see in the images below, the paintings tried to portray the “exoticism” that either fascinated or frightened Europeans.
These paintings have rich colors, such as orange, gold and red, in addition to the use of light and shade, to create a feeling of heat and desert dust that Westerners like to associate with the East.
On the cover page of Edward’s book, we can see a naked boy with a snake around his body, men wearing a scarf on their heads, and the painting on the wall written in Arabic.
Orientalist stereotypes still influence the way people from Asia and the Middle East are represented in art and media. But then, how is the East according to the West?
Well, the East would be a completely different place. A place that has all its people and cultures reduced to a unified mass, inhabited by exotic, incomprehensible, unassimilable, and often magical and wild people. To understand how Orientalism leads to anti-Oriental racism, I brought some of the stereotypes we found on television that we discussed in class. According to them, people from the East, including the Middle East, South, East and Southeast Asia, and even North Africa would be:
Evil
This is probably the most persistent Orientalist representation of all, and a stereotype related to it that appears frequently today is the “Muslim terrorist”.
Arab characters from the movie “Aladdin”
Another example is the Lady Dragon, she is aggressive, knows martial arts and, for the most part, is hypersexualized. In contexts outside of action films, she can also appear as serious, competent, mysterious and emasculating. In most cases, characters who fit these stereotypes are presented as villains, and need to be defeated in some way by Western good guys.
Bizarre
One of the main characteristics of Orientalism is to portray Eastern society as people who have stopped in time, who are extremely closed and resistant to interaction with Westerners. The use of exotic animals in movies is an example that East culture is strange or exclusive.
Effeminate men and sensual/submissive women
Most of the time, they are represented as socially inept nerds who either have no interest in women, or have no success with them (lack of virility). Furthermore, when they are presented as inferior to Western men in terms of masculinity, they fit that model of ideal minority, which neither wants nor has chances of “stealing” Western women for themselves.
On the contrary, white men seem to have no problem with oriental women in the films, who are usually portrayed as sensual and sexually disposed of. Often, those in East Asia are often portrayed as sweet, delicate, and submissive who must be dominated and controlled.
To wrap things up, all these stereotypes that we see over and over again in pop culture originate from an entire imagination we have about the Orient that was built in a context of the domination of these regions, even as a way of justifying it. With that being said, it is important to realize that these characterizations and divisions of ‘West’ and ‘East’ are still ways of playing people and cultures against each other. In addition, it is worth noting that dehumanizing other people, presenting them as inferior or enemies, has always been a great way to avoid having to think about the contradictions and problems of our own cultures. Therefore, I think it is important to acknowledge that in this case racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia go hand in hand because of Orientalism.
Sources:
- Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
This song from Aladdin sums up everything I said:
“Oh, imagine a land, it’s a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where you wander among every culture and tongue
It’s chaotic, but, hey, it’s home…”