Sunday, March 15, 2015

What Is Orientalism Mr. Jones?

Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, is a movie series about an archaeologist that embarks on crazy adventures around the world. In the Temple of Doom Indiana has made his way to India. The movie filled with examples of Edward Said's orientalism. The people of East are portrayed as strange and exotic.

The movie met some resistance after its release because of inaccurate portrayals of Indian culture and racism. The movie has one scene where the villain (who is Indian) removes the heart of a sacrifice and holds it up for everyone to see.

It is interesting to look back and see how fundamental parts of my childhood are so politically incorrect. I remember watching the Indiana Jones movies with my dad and thinking, "Man this guy one hell of an American," but now looking back it seems so wrong.

The fact that these depictions of eastern culture have made it into American households, and people do not question it has started to bother me. We are so numb to the oppressive nature of white culture. We rewrite history from the white man's point of view, and the dominated part of the binary never get a say in their own history.

It is something the west needs to work on. Everybody needs a voice, their own voice, in today's society.

1 comment:

  1. It's amazing how many examples of orientalism we can find when examining our culture. Another example is the movie Aladdin, which is universally loved by all of my peers and is in reality a somewhat offensive mishmash of various distinct cultures into one singular oriental one.

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