Orientalism In Film

Orientalism is a term used to criticize the West's colonialist view of Asian countries. The Oriental mindset is Westerners' belief that Eastern countries are mysterious, dangerous, and exotic. This traces back to the 1800s when Western nations were first colonizing in the East, and countries like Britain and France viewed Asia as an uncivilized region that existed only to be ruled and dominated. The West did not understand or know about Eastern culture and depicted the East as a bizarre place in order to justify their superiority, and to draw a boundary between the East and the West.

In Orientalism, Edward Said examines the Oriental views held by the West and works to state why these beliefs are wrong. Similar to Said, the movie Argo subtly reveals and criticizes the Oriental mindset that is prevalent in the media, particularly the film industry.

Argo is a movie based off of real events during the Iranian hostage crisis in the 1970s. In the movie, Ben Affleck's character must rescue six Americans, and does so by coming up with an elaborate plan involving a fake movie. Affleck's character pretends to be a movie producer and disguises the hostages as Canadians who are involved with the movie. While entering Iran, Affleck tells a guard that he is in the country because he needs an exotic setting for his science-fiction film. The guard bitterly says to him that he must be looking to film in specific parts of Iran because they more accurately depict Orientalism. This part of the movie shows that the guard and Iranian people are aware of Orientalism and its prevalence in Hollywood.

Orientalism does have a strong presence in films and it alters the way people view Asia. I never thought about or realized my preconceived notions about the East until learning about Orientalism. It may be impossible to completely get rid of the Oriental mindset, but we can begin by putting in an effort to learn more about the cultures in Eastern countries and to stop distancing ourselves from the East.