Orientalism and Madagascar

According to Edward Said, Orientalism is a stereotype of the Middle East and Asia. Many people are blogging about how orientalism is seen in movies like the Lion King, which takes place in Africa, which is not technically orientalism since it is not in the Middle East or Asia. However, those blogs should not be discredited. Quite the opposite in fact, as I believe orientalism is a localized term for a more widespread stereotype.

For example, the DreamWorks movie Madagascar displays a western stereotype of Africa. Very similar to the Lion King, it was one of my first impressions of Africa. It is much like the Lion King as it depicts Madagascar as having no humans, except for skeletons on a crashed plane, and is overrun by jungle and "savage" wildlife. In Madagascar 2, the animals end up on the mainland Africa. Here they run into tourist Safaris. These white people are the only people seen in Africa, along with just wide open spaces and more animals. It makes Africa appear as a place where white people can go and look at the pretty views and animals, not an actual home country for anyone.

I would like to briefly address the irony of this blog post (and many others). I am white and have spent my entire life in western culture, so I can't pretend to know what extent of the western stereotypes are incorrect representations. I am subject to western media and I cannot pretend to be superior to the rest of western culture when it comes to acknowledging our stereotypes. All I can do is do my best to learn about them and rise above them.