Edward Said describes how Europeans defined themselves in opposition to Orientals. They defined their culture as ordered, civilized and rational in contrast to the irrational, mysterious, and backward. For Europe in a colonial era, the East served as the other for the West to establish the superiority of their culture and way of life. Said describes the prevalence of the myths and stereotypes about the East even when presented with realistic portrayals of even first hand observation of the East.
Because of the prevalence of Orientalism in out culture, even today, our first experiences of the East are through an orientalist perspective, presenting the East as exotic and strange. Most children watch countless Disney movies countless times. For most of us, movies like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan are our first times seeing Asian or African culture, or what we thought was Asian or African culture. These movies adhere to the old stereotypes of the East as exotic, undeveloped and present the culture of the East in opposition to our superior Western culture. Aladdin shows the middle East as mysterious, filled with thieves and animals and The Lion King portrays an Africa completely absent of people.
And although Disney movies are not realistic, as much as I wish I had a fairy godmother, when this is the first representation of something foreign, it sticks in your mind, especially as a child. The representations of the East based on such stereotypes especially directed to children, make it difficult to move beyond the underlying message that what is non-Western is somehow inferior. Orientalism is very much still present today and it is important to evaluate our culture and media to ensure more accurate portrayals of the East.
These movies perfectly show the orientalist view of Disney creators. In the films there are stereotypes that show the exotic and bizarre places they are living in. I like how this post shows the terrible similarities of these childhood movies I watched.
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