Analyzing Orientalism

According to Edward Said, Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident." He also claimed a large mass of writers, among whom are poets, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and imperial administrators, have accepted the basic distinction between the East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, "mind," destiny, and so on. Additionally, Said stated anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient--and this applies whether the person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian, or philologist--either in its specific or its general aspects, is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism. Orientalism is Westerners dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient (Asia/Middle East). According to Said, Orientalism provided a rationalization for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which "the West" constructed "the East" as inferior and outsiders. They claimed these non Western Cultured people needed help from them/Western intervention. Edward Said is very critical of Orientalism and the Westerner's dominance. He doesn't believe it is right in a situation where one country needs assistance. He believes there are consequences to this colonialism and Orientalism.

I personally feel Edward Said's argument is valid. Unfortunately, I feel we live in a world where there is Orientalism. I don't feel like our American culture has a strong relationship with the Eastern most parts of the world like the Middle East and Asia. The world isn't perfect, but instead of dividing it, we should ositively intervene and help each other. We have a lot of issues ourselves, and I feel we should fix those before trying to make the Orient arts of the world inferior to us. Because of the actions we take and how we perceive them, I feel America and Europe both have Orientalist mindsets. The stereotypes present in society clearly paint this Orientalist picture. Someone is always trying to dominate in this world or make others below them.

Why?

A lack of mutual recognition

According to Edward Said, the idea of Orientalism inevitably lives on through the works of writers and theorists. The idea of Orientalism began as a way to distinguish East and West, and it was used as a basis for novels, poetry, historical accounts, etc. The concept of Orientalism was a systematic process by which the English were able to form the idea of the Orient “politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically, imaginitively.” Said claims that the idea was able to emerge due to a closeness between France and Britain and the Orient. The close relationship consistently resulted in a demonstration of the greater power of the “Occident” (France, Britain, or America), which resulted in a large body of texts referred to as Orientalist.

The relationship between the “Occident” and the “Orient” depends on positional superiority. The Orientalist foundations were created so systematically that they restrict free thought or action of the Orient. Essentially, individuals in the East are perpetually viewed as socially, and even biologically inferior due to the spread of Orientalist ideas. Harmful ideologies such as this restrict free thought on both sides of the binary. The oppressed are faced with mental and social restrictions while the privileged group is unable to mutually recognized the Easterners. Orientalist ideologies prevail today, and this is evident in American culture. The East is still viewed as exotic and foreign, which prevents understanding of Eastern cultures or people. Due to a prejudiced basis of understanding, American films, books, etc. often misrepresent Eastern culture and don’t allow us to see the individuals as individuals. Once again, the Orientalist ideologies continue to restrict freedom of identity while perpetuating the Western position of power.

Returning to the Heart of Darkness

Orientalism is making generalizations or stereotypes of the East. Said argued that some of these stereotypes include being politically power hungry and devious. Easterners are sly and cannot be trusted. Their men are seen as ¨sexually incontinent¨ and their women are seen as sexually subservient. I think Said showed the West´s dependence on the East really well through his connection to Heart of Darkness. Orientalism can be maintained because the West is politically dominant. I think this factors into the generalizations of Eastern governments especially, because Western governments are democratic and honest, while Eastern governments are stereotyped as despotic and deceptive. In Heart of Darkness, most imperialists had no hesitation going to Congo because they operated under the assumption that they were helping Congo modernize and making the Congolese more civil. They could subordinate the Congolese for labor because they were ultimately ¨improving¨ the country, and just happened to economically benefit from it.

I think portions of this mindset are still visible today, most visibly in Western consumerism. I´m sure large companies still think they are helping the Eastern countries they build factories in because they are providing jobs and possibly improving local economies. However, the standards for labor are much lower than they are in the West, and the companies knowingly benefit from it and continue the trend. Despite the spotlight that gets placed on companies like Nike whenever a new story breaks about poor labor conditions in their factories, I rarely stop to question where my clothes come from or how they were produced. I think we have all looked at the tags on our shirts in a class and had a short discussion on the surprising distant locations they were manufactured in, but I know I never took the time to research the specifics of how the clothes were made. Most likely, I wouldn´t have been comfortable with what I found.

East is East and West is Best

In this excerpt from his book Orientalism, Edward Said explains the theory of Orientalism. Prior to reading the actual passage, I was anticipating that Said would promote the theory of Orientalism; however, Said merely explained the theory, which was in fact constructed by eighteenth and nineteenth century European colonizers. Said goes so far as to describe Orientalism as a "corporate institution" (3). Orientalism was a way of dealing with and establishing authority over the East. Although Orientalism is a theory, Said stresses that it is not only a theory, but there is in fact a reality. The theory has had a significant effect on the geographic area the theory explains. Essentially Orientalism creates a binary between the East and West, effectively asserting that East is East and West is Best.

Through this assertion, the West positions itself as superior to the East. Said's analysis of the theory of Orientalism is logical and sensible. He maintains an impressive impartial and calm tone throughout his essay. As the West strove to gain control of the East, the emergence of the theory of Orientalism is understandable. In the quest the gain and maintain power, it is easiest to justify this power by claiming to be better than the people losing power. This theory still manifests in "pop culture" today, such as the propagation of American films like the Sound of Music in God of Small Things.

The Other: Said's Orientalism

From my understanding, Edward Said's theory of Orientalism is that the East (Middle East, Asia, etc) will never truly be able to be part of Europe. According to Said, Eastern people are described as the "sly, devious, mystical Oriental," by Europeans. Said also claims that because of Europe's lack of cultural understanding, the East is frequently romanticized into something it isn't and even goes as far to dehumanize Eastern people. In the eyes of the West, the East is a very primitive and barbaric place. In essence, Orientalism is a way for Europeans to practice cultural discrimination against the East.

I think Orientalism is simply a way for Western culture to create unfair stereotypes about the Eastern culture and its people. I'm not sure if it purely racism, but it feels pretty close to it. I believe that we still do have an Orientalist mindset. One example of Orientalism can be seen in Disney's 1992 hit Aladdin (especially in the song where Aladdin is trying to escape from the guards in the marketplace and at the start of Arabian Nights at the beginning of the movie). In modern pop culture, the East is constantly portrayed as the exotic, foreign, bad guy. I believe that Orientalism is a very strong part of Western culture because while there is this admiration for Eastern culture (and a capitalization on it), it will always be "the other."

I found this article/talk on NPR about Orientalism in Eat, Pray, Love, if anyone is interested: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129254808

Orientalism Post

Edward Said defines Orientalism in multiple ways. Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient is an Orientalist, and what they do is Orientalism. Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident" (the East and the West). Orientalism is a Western style for dominating, reconstructing, and having authority over the Orient. His theory makes it easy to see European/Western culture as vampiric (the major component of European culture, the idea of European identity as superior in comparison with all others, is cultural hegemony at work, sucking the validity and life from other cultures, in this case resulting in Orientalism).

Looking at America's cultural relationship to the world, I would say that we do have an Orientalist mindset. I am basing this assumption partly on the rhetoric that is constantly thrown around when people discuss America, which is mostly along the lines of how beautiful a nation we have, or how lucky we are to live in America and not somewhere else. It's this kind of thought, this assumption that America is as good as it gets, that sort of points to a superiority complex in American culture. The prevailing thought that nothing about America can be improved, or that we are far superior to even other Western cultures shows this. We think of other cultures in whatever ways we want, because the only one that really matters is the superior one: America's.  

Orientalism

Orientalism by Edward W. Said is a critique of the study of the Orient and its ideology. Said examines the historical, cultural, and political views of the East that are held by the West, and examines how they developed and where they came from. He traces the various views and perceptions back to the colonial period of British and European domination in the Middle East. The views and perceptions that came into being were the result of the British and the French. The British had colonies in the East at this time; the French did not but were trying to create some. The colonial rulers could not rule properly, it was believed, without some knowledge of the people they ruled. They thought they could acquire this knowledge from implementing various works from the native language into their own. The "Orient" existed to be studied by Westerners who believed themselves to be superior to the "others", which is how the East was described. They were the opposite of the East and considered to the active while the Orient was considered to be passive. The Orient existed to be ruled and dominated. The term "Oriental" was used to describe the Middle, Near, and Far East. All the different cultures were rounded up just to be studies by the Europeans. The reason for the studying them was for political reasons also. Also the misrepresentations of the Orient and the various aspects of the Orient led to confusion and misinterpretation by the scholars and politicians studying them. 

In the present day, America still has an orientalism mindset just like there was in the past.Today orientalism is still seen in the movies that we watch on the silver screen. Such the movies God of Egypt(2016), Cleopatra(1963), and Aladdin(1992). The characters in God of Egypt and Cleopatra contained an all white cast even though the movie was in Egypt which makes an all white cast inaccurate for the time period set for the films. Also in the film Aladdin the protagonist characters have American Accents while the antagonist had extremely stereotypical Arabian accents. Through the portrayal of these characters it could teach children to treat others with foreign accents as bad and hostile. With orientalism still thriving in today's society it goes to show what Said was writing is still around today.

What Would Aristotle Say about Rocky Horror Picture Show??

Rocky Horror Picture show is a satirical comedy of old science fiction cinema and 1950's rock music. It is a celebration of alternative lifestyles, focusing specifically on human sexuality and gender roles. One of the main characters, Frank-n-Furter, is a manipulative and dominant (yet lovable) transvestite who owns the house in which everything goes down. During their stay at Frank-n-Furter's castle, Janet and brad, two clean cut lovers, "lose their innocence" and open their minds to an array of taboo life experiences. By Aristotle's definition of comedy, they would be the comic heroes, since they began as reasonably likable (but somewhat boring) characters, and expanded their horizons to a whole new world of opportunity. Although this is true, there is a flaw in this analysis, since the end of the movie is neither positive or negative, but actually really inconclusive and confusing. The end of the movie subtracts a lot of the original credit that was granted to Frank-n-Furter's chaotic style, since by the end, Frank-n-Furter is exposed as a manipulative murderer who is actually very unhappy. Janet and Brad are definitely a lot more sexually advanced than when they started out, but the end begs the question of what they actually gained from their experiences at the castle. RHPS is a satire as well as a dark comedy, but most importantly, it is revolutionary, full of energy, and a lot of fun to watch.

Spaceballs and Aristotelian Comedy

Comedies, like tragedies, can deepen our understanding of the human experience. In my opinion, Spaceballs does exactly that. In addition to fulfilling the modern definition of comedy, it also fits into Aristotle's definition. In the film, a less than perfect protagonist named Lone Starr meets up, through some unusual circumstances, with Princess Vespa. The plot revolves around trying to return the princess to her home planet and trying to defeat Lord Helmet. Through their journey, they deepen one's understanding of the human experience. The most important thing that the film reveals is the ability of people to work together to achieve a common goal, even when one dislikes the others in the group.

The Era of All Things Romance: The 1940's

When it comes to Romantic Comedies/Dramas, personally I’m a fan of the classics. This prompt made me begin to look at these films, that I’ve seen each over a dozen times, with a new set of eyes.

I did some homework and re-watched a couple films, and in that have noticed that these strong female leads are often shown more powerful in the "comedic" situation and more importantly, over themselves. You can't help but wonder if this was meant to add to the comedic material.
In works such as His Girl Friday, Blithe Spirit, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the well known (pictured above) A Philadelphia Story, the female leads often play the “straight man”--a term used in comedic works to describe the one character whose responses range from aplomb to outrage, or from patience to frustration. They make their partner look all the more ridiculous by being completely serious.

It was funny for the audience of that time to see the men struggle and the women have the control (until of course he finally reached her and she melted into his arms).

While Rom-Coms can be seen as nothing but airy cinematic fluff that fill your heart with desire and your head with false hope, there is a lot to be said for how these “light-hearted” films comment on gender, class, etc. in a very palpable manner that becomes useful when doing such studies.

And as a side note, while there is most definitely a huge correlation between the love stories seen in romantic comedies and “love delusion” or fabrication by the average viewer--that isn’t to undermine the art of the films in anyway. And it quite possibly might be another reason why these films are in fact forms of art, and powerful ones at that.

Dark rom-com

Just like tragedy is a necessary element of life, comedy also serves a purpose. Without both tragedy and comedy, we wouldn't have a full emotional spectrum. Of course, some of the best movies have a little bit of both. Throw a little romance in there and you get, not a rom-com, not a black comedy, but a..... dark rom-com? I can't think of a better example of this genre than Harold and Maude. This movie employs gallows humor and romantic tropes to make the audience laugh at an already-strange relationship.

The romance aspect of the movie does not fit the classic rom-com mold, as neither of the characters are conventionally attractive and one of them is elderly. The film deals heavily with the topic of death, yet somehow still manages to be lighthearted. It holds value as a comedy because it shows that a movie doesn't have to be all laughs to be funny and profound.

Meaningful Comedy in the Royal Tenenbaums

I defend the idea of an Aristotelian comedy as a meaningful art form.

In order to further elaborate on this statement, I will use the movie "The Royal Tenenbaums" by Wes Anderson as an example of a long-term comedic work. The Royal Tenenbaums is an absolutely fabulous movie from 2001, and is a comedy/drama film. The film revolves around an eccentric family, including most notably three uniquely gifted children, and their weird father. The film follows these children through their disappointing and at most times absurd failures and trials in life and how they navigate their complex and messy family life.

This comedic work is a great example of why comedy is so important as an art form. Although this movie uses mostly ironic and absurdist humor, its message is ultimately one to be taken seriously. The movie endeavours to show the reader that our lives will never be as perfect or as successful as we envision them, and our perfect fairytale endings that we may want are not always what is right for us in the end. The movie also dwells on the fact that it is important to not take things so seriously. For instance in the movie, the father Royal Tenenbaum is clinging on to the idea that his estranged wife might still want him back. Eventually through a series of absurdly funny tragedies, Royal realizes that he needs to let his wife go. One of the younger Tenanbaums ends up marrying his adoptive sister, which while comedic and absurd, shows that we need to step out of the box sometimes in life to get the ending or the happiness we desire. The film also urges us to confront our failures in life with humor and the ability to move on in many instances. For example, one of the daughters, Margot hides her past and her smoking from her neurologist husband which she views as faults, but this changes in the end when Margot ultimately decides to pursue her adopted brother for true love. In a more dramatic example, Royal never really connects and gets the family he so desperately wanted at the beginning of the movie but like most things in the movie, he moves on by divorcing his wife and accepting his fate.

Although comedy may convey life lessons or important messages in silly ways, the message is no less important.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in Wes Anderson films in general or absurd or ironic humor,

Drake & Josh

One of my absolute favorite comedy shows is Drake & Josh. As silly as it is, it does live up to Aristotle's definition of comedy. It is a show I have grown up with that actually has taught me a lot, despite how many people view the show.

The show consists of two brothers, Drake and Josh. Drake, his mother and sister join Josh and his father to begin a new family, in a similar situation like The Brady Bunch. There's Drake, the cool brother who gets by on dating plenty of girls, never doing homework and playing in a band and then there's Josh, the very smart, loser-ish, awkward brother. Aligned with Aristotle's definition, the characters in this family aren't anything out of the ordinary. They come from a typical family of five, live in a regular house and go to high school. Simultaneously, the show explores the problems and situations that regular people commonly find themselves in. Dealing with high school drama, girlfriends, popularity, school and a pesky sibling.

Personally, this is one of the most realistic shows about teenagers that I watched as a child. Many shows such as Hannah Montana (the lead character is secretly a superstar!) and Gossip Girl (I will never understand how the characters never went to school, but all ended up at Ivies). Drake and Josh went through many situations similar to how my high school career went. Dealing with sports tryouts, your first babysitting job, dating in high school and also dealing with siblings.

The main reason I feel that it is a successful example of a comedy is because of the rise of both Drake and Josh. Each characters had their highs and lows, but the show stressed that you cannot be like just one of these boys to succeed in life. Although Drake was definitely the more popular and well liked boy, he went through many school problems. And Josh was definitely the not-so-cool guy, but he was doing very well in school. In different episodes Drake would be seen studying with Josh, or Josh would be learning tips on how to pick up girls. Each character appealed to the audience because everyone could see a little bit of Drake in them, but also a little bit of Josh. I cannot remember a time when I had a specific favorite character, because I felt that I related to both characters.

There was a lot of humor involved in this particular show, and that along with the many lessons I learned from it is the reason I value it so much. It was on air from 2004-2007, but there are still re-runs of it that I still watch today.

Your Job's a Joke, You're Broke, Your Love Life's DOA...

As most of us have,  I grew up watching Friends, a sitcom about the life of six ordinary friends living in New York. Even from the first episode there is clearly a rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character, Rachel. When Rachel abandons her fiancee at the alter and leaves the life of wealth and privilege she has grown up with for a waitress job, the audience begins to cheer for her and continues cheering for Rachel until season 10 when she has a job with Ralph Lauren.

 Friends' comedy ranges from finding, and failing to find, new boyfriends and girlfriends, saying the wrong name at the alter, carrying a couch up the stairs, climbing down a fire escape, getting fired, finding new jobs, and simply sitting in a coffee shop. It is able to use satirical, romantic, farce, and on occasion even black comedy (when a Friends member has mortified them self beyond belief) to made the audience laugh. By the end of the episode everything is (usually) resolved and the friends are back on the familiar couch. The audience feels a satisfaction that Joey and Chandler finally chose a new kitchen table, the gang has finally sat down for thanksgiving dinner, or that Rachel got off the plane. Simple everyday tasks are made funny by everyday people.

Friends is a perfect example of Aristotle's idea of comedy because this comedy does involve a celebration of human sexuality, love, and has a rise in fortune of all the characters, not just Rachel. Joey becomes a successful actor, Ross finally lands his dream girl, Monica and Chandler finally have children, and Phoebe finally finds a family. 

Laughing Through the Snow

Modern romantic comedies are the best example of Aristotle's comedy in our modern society. Aristotle described that the central structure of a comedy involves a character who ascends in a more positive direction, learning truths about humans along the way. I think that a good example of Aristotle's criteria is the movie The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz (Amanda), Jude Law (Graham), Kate Winslet (Iris), and Jack Black (Miles). *Side note: some people may consider this a christmas movie, I strongly believe it is not, even if it is I am still denying that Christmas is over so that does not matter anyway.* During the course of this movie the two female principal characters undergo this positive assent which Aristotle describes.

At the very beginning of the movie Amanda has just broken up with her cheating boyfriend who is upset with her lack of being able to cry. Iris is caught up on a work colleague she unrequited love for yet, this colleague continues to drag her along by taking advantage of her, something she views as him caring for her opinion. Iris also finds out that this colleague is engaged to someone else and, of course being the author of the engagement section of the journal they work for, has to write about it for the paper. Throughout the film, both characters have extremely low moments, including an attempt at suicide, but, as time goes on, they develop an emotional vulnerability and confidence respectively as they maneuver new relationships and friendships. By the conclusion of the film, both women have developed into stronger, (semi-)independent women. This is one of my favorite movies and I strongly encourage everyone to go watch it now.

Not Just For Laughs

If you have not seen  How I Met Your Mother yet and plan on watching it then DO NOT READ THIS.

Although I am not normally a huge fan of sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite TV shows. It is about a guy named Ted, the comedic hero, who is telling his kids the story about how he met their mother. Ted and his friends are constantly getting into strange, funny, and awkward situations as Ted searches for the perfect woman. However, almost every time he tries to date a girl something goes wrong.

Eventually, towards the end of the series he finds a girl named Tracy. Everything seems to be going great and eventually they marry and have children. But, she dies of illness. Years later Ted's love for Robin, one of the main characters and former girlfriend of his, is rekindled. And they end up together.

Although parts of How I Met Your Mother are more serious, it is still a Aristotle comedy. It also teaches the audience that although things don't always turn out the way we want them to there is almost always a silver lining.

Parks and Recreation Isn't Just Fun and Games

When I think of a comedy, I think of Parks and Recreation. I think the fact that it is a series adds to the development of characters and values so the underlying meanings can sink in over time. Leslie Knope starts off as an employee in the parks department and ends up working her way up to city council woman and eventually runs for governor of Pawnee, Indiana. Her rise did not come without numerous lessons, sometimes subtle and sometimes blatantly obvious.  Also, the wide array of characters and personalities worked to highlight the endless absurdities of human actions.

One of the characters, Jerry, is always being brutally made fun of by everyone in the office. The attacks are often cringe worthy for the audience while the actors seem unaffected by the relentless ridicule. But then the irony kicks in. We find out that Jerry has a beautiful wife and three beautiful daughters. He is so incredibly content with his life that the constant stream of jokes bounces right off. Jerry's unwavering happiness make it incredibly clear to the audience that one's priorities should lie in finding a happy life and having a family you love.

I personally think that comedies are more effective than tragedies in most cases. People often feel uncomfortable when confronted with serious issues in ways that are overwhelmingly terrible. In many cases that causes people to shut down or shy away from the real problem. But when people are able to laugh about the ridiculousness of human faults, I think it paints a clearer message. By making important serious messages more approachable, I believe they will reach more people effectively. While many of our comedies today don't seem to have any purpose besides making people laugh, A well written satire or comedy can be shockingly effective. At least I personally feel like I became a better person from watching the comedy in Parks and Recreation unfold.

The Vow

I think the movie The Vow is a good example of an Aristotelian romantic comedy. After getting in a car crash, Paige loses all memory of her relationship with Leo. Their marriage is tested, but they end up reuniting. While there is a happy ending, the movie does not show Leo and Paige remarrying or professing their love again. Rather, they decide to get dinner together when they happen to meet outside of their old favorite restaurant.

I like The Vow more than other romantic comedies, and find it more meaningful, because we learn more about the characters and their relationship. We learn about Paige's hobbies, passions, and quirks as Leo tries to help Paige remember her life. Although not much is explicitly stated about Leo, we learn a lot about his character by how he treats Paige after the accident. As Leo tries to win Paige back, we see the routines that make their relationship unique and more realistic.

The Vow definitely has some of the stereotypical romantic comedy aspects, but it says more about human nature than just that "true love" lasts a lifetime. It shows how easily we can lose ourselves, and the necessity of genuine relationships to help us recenter our priorities. It also shows how we often hurt the ones we care about most, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Paige's family betrays her trust, which she finds out after she moves in with them, and Paige hurts Leo by going back to her previous fiancé. Although the relationship between Paige and Leo is romantic, I think the movie comments on what valuable human connections in general look like. In the end, Leo just wants Paige to be happy, no matter which "version" of herself she chooses or if she chooses to be with him. I think that it's meaningful to know what type of relationships we deserve, and The Vow argues that we deserve relationships that will last through changes in appearance, personality, and lifestyle.

Arrested Comical Development

A television that sticks out to me as a comedy is Arrested development, especially as a farce. The absurd characters and intricately connected plot line point towards this type of comedy. The characters step on each others' toes and bug each other to no end, but by the last few minutes of each season all the problems that have occurred in the last episodes resolve, and the values that really matter become clear.

This relates to the Aristotelian comedy as an art form, because the comedy shows how one shouldn't live their life. IN the example of Arrested Development, every character's traits leads to challenges that could have been easily avoided if they weren't so wacky. The comedy can serve as an example of what not to do.

How to Relearn Some Knowledge in 10 Days

I think romantic comedies are the best modern day representations of Aristotle's dramatic comedies. The principle idea behind these works is when the comedic hero's journey allows the reader to have a greater understanding of greater human truths. Romantic comedies have the best potential to teach lessons about the simple human truths that exist among every person. One of my favorite romantic comedies is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Throughout the film the main character Andie (Kate Hudson) attempts to write an article regarding all of the common mistakes people make when dating others. However, realistically speaking there is no universal human truth that has a legitimate message relating the important points in human life. I think that Aristotle's dramatic comedies were the original romantic comedies and our movies actually are like remakes of the originals.