Saturday, March 25, 2017

India: More Than Just Beauty

It is quite clear that Western culture has a major Orientalist mindset. It is clear that we have a this mindset mainly in the music industry. Coldplay created a music video for the song, “Hymn for the Weekend”. The video seems to be shot throughout India during the holiday, Holi. It is pretty clear to the audience that Coldplay is only using India as a setting for its beauty, not its culture. Sure, it is being shot during an Indian holiday so there is a cultural aspect there but is it a coincidence that the video is shot during the most colorful and widely recognized holiday. The answer is no and this is an example of Orientalism in Western culture.
The consequences of only viewing India is a “wondrous”, “mysterious”, “hidden gem” way discredits India’s rich history. It makes it seem as if India is only a place of beauty (don’t get wrong it is beautiful) but there is so much more than just beauty. There is a history that many Western cultures no nothing about and that is a shame. Western cultures are self-absorbed and only learn about our own history when there is so much more history beyond us.

To start breaking out of this mindset we need to start acknowledging that Eastern cultures have history that is beyond us. We need to understand that there is so much more than what Western news tells us. We need to accept that we are the ones who created this Orientalist mindset and understand that it is not how Eastern cultures actually are.

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