Orientalism

As I am Asian American (and was born in China), I feel as if orientalism is very relevant in my life. I was adopted as a baby so I have absolutely no recollection of China, yet I know that it is a huge part of my life. Devoid of memories of China, I have been forced to build my perception of my birth country through movies such as Mulan. The common stereotype that movies such as this conveyed is China (more generally, all asian countries) as a mystic, mysterious less developed country where nature and ancestral connections are prevalent. While this depiction of Asian countries is not wholly false, it is also not wholly true. Films and other works of art tend to exaggerate said aspects of Asian countries as an attempt to add to their work's appeal. For example, in many films, it is a Westerner who goes to an exotic Asian country and saves the day by usually either defeating evil locals or mastering the country's specialty (for example, karate in China) to the point where they are better than those from the country. These situations paints Asian countries as a surmountable challenge to Westerners, which is almost parallel to the ideology associated with colonization.

When my parents went to China to get me, they recount how much of the area they visited was geared towards Westerners. In fact, they recall eating at Domino's and McDonald's. Similarly, when they were in China, random people would go up to them and comment on their height, size of their feet, or anything characteristics that made them different. To the locals, my parents, representing Westerners, were idealized. I feel as if orientalism plays a part in why my parents were idealized. In fact, this situation shows that orientalism has a profound effect upon Asians as well as Westerners. It creates a sort of stratification between the two, where too often, Westerners are on top.