Eat, Pray, Orientalism

Liz Gilbert thought she had everything she wanted in life until she faces a divorce and turning point in her life. Previously she had: a home, a husband and a successful career. However, now as she faces her divorce and a turning point in her life she doesn’t really know or is confused about what is important to her. She tries to attempt to step out of her comfort zone and goes on a quest for self-discovery that takes her to Italy, India, and Bali.

Eat, Pray, and Love illustrates the Middle-East as a place of wonder. It is just one of many that has romanticized the Middle-East. It made it out to be “someplace timeless, otherworldly, incomprehensible, waiting to be discovered by Westerners in search of self”(NPR, Mia Mask). While in India Liz meets a girl who is being forced into a marriage by her family and the other Indian’s in the movie are either carrying her bags or just serve in the background. This suggest women in the Middle-East are mistreated, and her seen nothing more as a symbol of an arranged marriage. In Bali women are seen carrying fruit on their heads, there are merchants, and a couple of men with their roosters. They serve to convince Western consumers that Bali is a pre-modern, magical, timeless wonderland. You never see any of these people doing anything modern. You also don’t see any other types of men besides an enfeebled, toothless old soothsayer.

Western countries definitely have an orientalist mindset. That’s why there are still movies made based of orientalist stereotypes, and they make millions of dollars and seen all over the world. Orientalist stereotypes lead to a single story, actually it is a single story. It makes others treat people as less than equal. It makes people of the Orient feel less than equal from the rest of the world and sometimes less than human. Orient people are seen as the other, the less desirable, the powerless. The world shouldn’t want other people to feel this way or look this way. Therefore, we should stop supporting these movies that have Orientalism in them. There should be more coverage n movies like these so people understand and see what they are doing. We need stop feeding the fire or the fuel to these stereotypes or they will continue to live on.