As a quick review, orientalism is the Western imitation or depiction of certain aspects of Middle Eastern and Asian cultures. The term began to surface shortly after European countries gained power. They viewed these other countries as "exotic" and "mysterious" which resulted with their ethno-centric attitudes.
An example of Orientalism in Western cinema is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
In the film, Indian Jones finds himself in India after running away from China. Once there, an Indian tribesmaid brings Indiana back to his village. There, Indiana and his group finds a Kali-Worshiping cult that has taken over the village, enslaved it's children, and is serving food including monkey brains, a snake with beetles cooked inside, and many other foods that are represented as "cultural food" when in fact, it is nothing remotely similar to the accurate foods of Indian culture. Not to mention, in the palace, it is discovered that there is a cult still practicing immoral activities such as removing a live person's heart for the Hindu goddess Kali. May I add the victim's heart is removed by hand and then lowered into an underground pit of lava.
Cinema has been a giant enabler of orientalism throughout the years. The stereoetypes created by Western cultures create these negative views of these other cultures only because they seem "bizarre" to them. However, any way that is not there's will always be bizarre. But, that of course does not make it right to create these motion pictures with inaccurate depictions of the Indian culture and beliefs. That goes for any other Middle Eastern and Asian cultures as well.
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