Edward Said's Orientalism And the Postcolonial Mind

In Said’s Orientalism, he discusses how Europeans began generalizing attributes they associated with Orientals, and their artificial portrayals began transcending into their very own Western world through; scientific reports, fashion trends, film, and many other sources of multimedia.

It is interesting to track our bizarre relationship with these Other cultures and countries, and notice how the West’s imperial mentality with Eastern cultures has so deeply invaded our very own culture and how it has transformed with modern times, into such a juxtaposed obsession.

On one hand you have the West’s obsession with the East, transfigured into this compulsive need to intrude Eastern countries with extreme and excessive militant visits. However turn around to the more glamorous side of the West, the fashion industry, and see just how much the West truly “idolizes” the East in such a glorifying manner.

For example, It’s sickening that they can’t go a season in the fashion industry, without some designer releasing a completely inappropriate Oriental collection; stock full of beaded flowy tunics, ornate headpieces, oh and don’t forget the baggy pants! No Oriental collection is complete without THE baggy pants!

No Oriental collection can go without the traditional baggy pants. Chanel designed them from translucent materials of black, beige and white color.

They continued,

Perhaps are not quite familiar clothing for residents of the metropolis, but for those who are going on vacation are real gems.

And Chanel is no dummy. They make sure to cover all of their bases. Are you feeling angry indifferent about this collection in respect of the “Oriental culture”? No need to feel like you're appropriating a culture’s attire! Because after all,

Despite the Oriental theme, the designer did not forget about those who are indifferent in respect of this culture. The combination of short tight-leg trousers with a loose tunic has long time ago become universal. It’s comfortable, actual, and most importantly – it is fashionable and elegant.

You go, Chanel!

Unfortunately there is still this Orientalist mindset today, it would be completely foolish to think otherwise. Many classmates have brought up Aladdin for example, and while this is a great example and definitely shows how the Western perceptions get filtered into the minds of the young--can we just talk about for a second that that movie came out 24 years ago! That is over two decades. That is insane!

Now I know that the infiltration of an Orientalist mindset into our mainstream media has not been diminished since then, so have we become more immune or..what? Has Orientalism really been able to slide on by, making frequent stops on runways, movie screens and tv, mouths of political candidates?

A Worldly Divide

Edward Said's critique on how people look at Orientalism has a lot to do with the dichotomy between the East and the West. Western opinion on Orientals is that they are exotic, strange and devious people. These negative words associated with Orientals cumulate into making them the Other. We see people from the East as exciting and different from us, which is problematic as it creates a sort of Us and Them/Other divide.

Reading this article made me think of a John Oliver video I watched recently on white-washing in Hollywood.

It talked about how there is no excuse for the extreme lack of people of color in movie, since even when there are roles perfect for non-white people, the part is still given to a white person. One of my favorite examples he brought up was the movie Prince of Persia. Persia, the former name for Iran, is a Middle Eastern country. Yet the movie has Jake Gyllenhaal, a white man, as the lead. With this movie, they had the chance to cast an Iranian actor, but instead they went with a well known white dude.

As a society, we are so focused on not letting in people unlike ourselves (look at any Republican presidential candidate's opinion on immigration) that we miss the fact we are all essentially the same. I don't mean to sound idealistic and disregard valid cultural differences and traditions, but when there exists concepts like Orientalism and clear divide between two cultures, I think its important to take a step back and realize that between cultures and continents we're really not all that different.

It´s an Orientalist Life

Edward Said suggests that orientalism is the perception of the East from the West perspectives. Said says that orientalism favors the West and that it makes the West seem to be superior to the East as it is the vantage point by which we as a society see the other culture. It seems to be a much more evolved to the uncivilized and disorganized East. These biases have become ingrained in societal perception of the East.

In consideration of the orientalist view s that exist right now, the perception that permeeates throughout American culture is the perception of the Middle East. It is seen as savagery and through political campaigning and media people believe that the Middle East is savage and brute. For example, the film Aladdin and Argo both depict the Middle East as a completely foreign and almost extra terrestrial land that is unlike that of the West.

Orientalism

Orientalism, based on Said's definition, is the political differences between the structure of the East and the West. The Europeans, who once dominated the Middle East and Asia, see the people from those lands as sly, impossible to trust, incapable of concrete practical organization, or rigorous, detail oriented analysis. In summary, simply strange people, and Westerners see themselves as "better" than them.

I believe that today, we still stereotype anybody who doesn't live and behave in the same way we are used to as strange. Whether it is that the Westerners see the Easterners dress, religion, and food as strange or vice versa. Even though we are all human and have more similarities in culture than differences we still use the media to determine how someone really lives. For instance movies like The Wolverine, The Mummy 3, and The Karate Kid portray almost every Asian character as some sort of ninja or martial arts guru.

My 5th grade teachers were fascinated by Indian and Nepali culture, and traveled there every summer, so we spent most of the year studying their gods, culture, and history, which was one of the first times my mind was fully opened to another culture. We watched historical movies about famous Indian people like Gandhi and documentaries about Indian culture and how it would be like to live there. It really shattered the idea that they were different from us because they lived in a different place, for me. Ultimately, we all get up, go to work/ school, and go to sleep. Still, orientalism is still at large and in many forms. We are scared to let immigrants into our country and want to build walls (*cough cough Trump) to keep our country "safe".

Orientalism in Action

According to Edward Said, orientalism creates a relationship between the West and the East. Because there is no actual connections made between the two areas of the world, the relationship is full of lies and false information. The West has more power over the East in this relationship. Simultaneously the West views the East as "sly and obsequious" in certain situations. This creates a relationship full of false views and opinions based on lies. This orientalism has created an opinion that many westerners have of easterners that they are untrustworthy, exotic and strange. Said also asks, "but where is this sly, devious, despotic, mystical Oriental? Has anyone ever met anyone who meets this description in all particulars?" Truly, there are very few who actually meet these standards, further proving the bias that has become so prevalent that it is difficult to look beyond.

Overall this orientialism is very well alive today. Take Donald Trump for example. Constantly in his arguments he talks about the "dangers" of Muslims This is a prejudice that it seems will never leave the United States ever since 9/11. Muslims or people that even just look Muslim are considered dangerous by many, when in fact the person is most likely just a regular citizen. It is hard to form an unbiased opinion of people of eastern descent, especially when people in the United States are constantly saying these people are bad and that they're terrorists. Reading The God of Small Things has helped for this idea to come full circle and for readers to view the other side of things rather than seeing the citizens of the United States's perspective. It is quite enlightening as to the effect westerners have over easterners through the eyes of people in the east. Overall, the west has this strong opinion of westerners that has been implemented by the government, ultimately, that will never fully disintegrate.

Said Says

Edward Said says that Orientalism is the way the Western culture perceives the Eastern cultures. According to him, Orientalism puts a difference between us(the West), and them(the East). He argues that this difference arose from imperialism, which started a power binary between the colonizing and the colonized. When a territory was taken by a foreign power, especially when the territory was populated with a race that was different from the foreign power, a feeling of us vs. them was sure to arise. An example of this is when the European nations vied for colonies in Africa after the Berlin Conference in 1884.

Views like this are almost always disputed, especially in the dominated territory. Orientalism is similar to this binary. I agree with Said on its existence. The binary was hardened when artists brought their depictions of the East to the West, creating a further gap between the two cultures. The pictures they made solidified the position of power the West had by depicting the Eastern person as vastly different from the Western Person. Said's argument seems to be valid.

Orientalism

Orientalism, by Edward Said, is a critique of the study of the Orient and its ideology. By examining the historical, cultural, and political views of the East that are held by the West, Said was able to traces the various views and perceptions back to the colonial period of British and European domination in the Middle East. He discovered that the early studies of Orientalism revolved around languages and the eventual translations of them. 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 translating various works from the native language into their own. In their minds, the Orient was made to be dominated. But through Said's work, he was able to point out the errors in the ways of these early Orientalists. He maintained that the Orient should be viewed for itself and its own cultures and societies and not viewed in the concept of Western perspective. Said's perspective basically led to a difference in the way the Orient was approached in studies, which led the field into a more modern approach. 
Unfortunately, Orientalism is still prevalent in today's society. From the start of the 21st century, our greatest and most feared enemies are considered to be in the Middle East. We have waged multiple wars on the inhabitants of those countries, mostly fueled by the tragedy of 911. For American and Middle Easterners alike, there is a deep rooted fear and spite towards the other. Most of the time, the prejudice is unjustified. But I think the idea of Orientalism is what drives a great deal of this conflict. It is the need for power and control that makes countries crumble and international relationships fail. 

Orient Our Point of View

Edward Said lays out Orientalism as the view held by the West, "us", of the East or Orient, "them". His postcolonial theory explains that the western view of this Orient wildly exaggerates between the two cultures. According to said, Orientalism favors the West, making it seem superior to the uncivilized and disorganized West. These biases have become ingrained in society throughout history and is still recognizable today.

The customs of those from the Orient are unfamiliar to a West perspective and have been construed as uncivilized because, in our society today, something unfamiliar is strange and unsophisticated. In The God of Small Things, this fear of unusual customs was found in the interactions between Sophie Mol and the members who belong to Rahel and Estha's family. When Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochamma first arrive, Margaret questions the way the family and cook goes about greeting them in an attempt to understand it. Because of Margaret's questions, Ammu becomes upset and storms out saying they are being examined like "natives" under scientific study. The rituals which are a part of everyday life to Ammu are unfamiliar, or even off-putting, to Margaret and Sophie. This emphasizes the Orientalism, because they have not experienced the culture before, Margaret and Sophie assume that the ordinary behavior of their lives is what is supposedly right while anything else is wrong and primitive. I believe many people from western cultures might have behaved in the same way, this fact emphasizes that Orientalism is still present in our current society.

Orientalism and Fetishisation of Asian Cultures

According to Edward Said, orientalism is a construct that sets up the binary between Western and Eastern culture. Because of orientalism, people from Western countries see people from the East as sly, mystical, and untrustworthy. The idea of orientalism was born when imperialistic European countries began to take hold of Asian countries. Because of orientalism, Westerners now see themselves as superior than the Other People from Eastern countries.

Orientalism is definitely still present today, one of the most prominent examples is Islamophobia and prejudice against people from the Middle East. Many Americans have unfounded fear and anger towards Muslims after 9/11.

But orientalism is not always easy to see. Orientalism today is present in the fetishisation and appropriation of Asian culture, especially Japanese culture. The people we call weeaboos have an over-exaggerated view of Japan and they see Japanese people as images to be put on a pedestal or in a picture frame, rather than actual human beings. This mindset can lead to the sexualisation of young girls from any Asian country that Westerners view as Other. This is obviously incredibly harmful and predatory, and it all stems from the sense of removal Westerners have from Eastern countries, because to the people who are fetishizing them, those girls aren't really people, they're just some entertainment from a faraway place.

In a Land Far, Far Away...

Edward Said describes Orientalism as a myth that has been so intricately spun over hundreds of years that it has become "knowledge." The culture that makes this possible is one of superiority over the East. Western power and its commitment to defining the Eastern people as Orientals, makes the myth strong. Although this colonial attitude was developed years earlier during times of Imperialism, it is still alive today. Westerners know that they are not too different from Easterners in terms of experience and that Orientals have a place in their culture. Defining the East as a place of strange behavior with people that can't be trusted, helps Westerners define themselves by contrast.

I think that we are definitely still disconnected from the East and although we know more truth about that part of our world today than we used to, it still seems like a far away place with people completely different than us. Different can often feel scary. This is obvious in the common American fear of Middle Easterners, specifically Muslims. We have come to assume that "all" Muslims and Middle Easterners are terrorists because of the actions of some of their people. By labeling them as evil, we simultaneously define ourselves as "good" and as the victims, when in reality, they are the victims of our closed-mindedness.

Orientalism: A Web Thicker Than We Thought

Said´s postcolonial theory of Orientalism is complex. He writes that Orientalism is the political mindset that emphasizes differences between the West and East. Further, that people of the ¨Orient" are the ultimate ¨other" because they are engrossed in religion and are incapable of rationality. The myth of Orientalism has been solidified into fact in Western cultures, as is evident in studies of eastern cultures. Said attributes this action to European political dominance in the Middle East. As one of my classmates brought up earlier this week, ¨The winners write history¨. That phrase applies well to this part of Said´s ideas.

Said´s postcolonial theory also brings a fresh perspective to Western culture. First, he highlights the fact that modern imperialism is even more dangerous than ancient imperialism because conquerors want to impose ideology. Also, he writes that Western cultures sort of depend on the Orient as a model for various parts of society. In other words, we define our society as not that. Overall, he believes Orientalism is still prevalent in the Western mindset.

I thought Said´s ideas were interesting and provocative. I didn´t fully realize how much this ¨web¨ ideas and attitudes about another part of the world affects life right at home. I see it in movies such as Aladdin and even recognize a bit of it in my freshman year World History class. The unit we did on eastern cultures such as India or countries in the Middle East focused on religion and societal differences. The focus wasn´t necessarily bad, but I can see where my classmate is coming from with the phrase, ¨The winners write history¨.

That Land Across The Sea

Edward Said describes Orientalism as the way in which culture makes the east and the west seem like very different areas. To better understand what Said means, he references Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, by likening his idea of imperialism with the idea of Orientalism. In Conrad's story, Imperialism is a process that makes another part of the world seem frightening and full of mystery, which is very similar to the idea of Orientalism.

Today, I feel that our society is still in many ways disconnected from eastern culture, and where we are disconnected from that culture, the Orientalist mindset begins to creep into our heads as to what we think the east is like. Although recently with the new rise of technology we are now easily connecting with all parts of the world and I believe that this increased connectivity will end Orientalist thinking.

Orientalism Is...

According to Edward Said, Orientalism is a political view that encourages the binary between the familiar West and the unfamiliar East. People from the East, or "Orientals," are stereotypically sly, mystical, and untrustworthy. These "Orientals" are also completely contrived by the West- they are characters created to make the East seem more other, to make western cultures feel knowledgeable about the East, and to strengthen the binary between them. Basically, the West created Orientalism to make it seem like they knew their stuff when it came to non-western countries, when, in fact, they did not.

So, is Orientalism still present in modern western cultures? Yes! It's alive, well, and presenting itself in new and terrible ways. For example, America has created a binary between itself and the Middle East specifically. There are offensive stereotypes about Middle Eastern people (they're terrorists, everyone wears a turban and rides a camel and has twenty wives) that Americans use to pretend to understand what their culture is like while also maintaining dominance in the binary by imposing those negative stereotypes. Islamophobia seems to be the modern Orientalism.

Said's Orientalism

Said's orientalism is another case of the West versus the East, but in this case mostly culturally. It's a story of the West's domination of its Other, the East or the "Orient." It's a method of distancing oneself from the Other by generalizing the Orient as a completely contrasting, mysterious, and less-developed culture.

Orientalism is still present today. With immigration as a hot topic at political debates these days, there have been some infamous and terrible stereotypes and generalizations made about Mexicans as well as Muslims. Another prevalent issue today is the cultural appropriation that occurs all too often. It's another practice of generalizing a culture and exploiting an aspect of it for personal use. This is another form of domination by stripping a culture of a significant detail and westernizing it for no real reason.

I hope to one day see a world where orientalism is no longer and issue, but I must admit, that world is hard to imagine.

Can East Meet West?

Orientalism, according to Said, was the way that the West negatively viewed the East (non western cultures). This view supported and encouraged the political dominance of imperialism. Westerners accepted and internalized this view to allow them to rationalize their imperialistic beliefs and actions towards other cultures. This was epitomized by Westerns view of Eastern as "sly, devious, despotic, mystical". By applying these stereotypes to Easterners, Westerners were able to separate themselves and make themselves seem superior and really believe they were.

One of the fundamental stereotypes of twentieth century orientalism is that easterners are religious fanatic and incapable of practical beliefs. This attitude persist to this day. You can observe this by the way westerners fear Muslims. They believe all Muslims are radical Islamic who want to impose their fanatical beliefs on Westerners at any cost. Including Jihad. Certain republican presidential candidates are capitalizing on this stereotype and making people fearful to gain a political advantage. However, I remain optimistic that cooler heads prevail among my peers.

Orientalism

Edward Said's theory of orientalism talks about how the Western world, and Western society, regard and portray the Eastern part of the world. Often when the Eastern world is portrayed in Western novels, films, ect, it is shown as very exotic, showcasing stereotypes that have been forced upon the cultures that live there for many years. Many times, this takes the form of showing cultures as more primitive than Western cultures, which adds to a "mysterious" sense to cultures other than the prevalent Western ones.

This issue is still very alive in today's world. When many people think of cultures and people other than Western ones, or their own culture in other cases, the thoughts may be mysterious, exotic, mystical, ect because of what media and society has conditioned us to think about them. It works very much like racism, and is helping Western culture to dominate and oppress other cultures that may not be seen as equal to theirs. Especially in America, many people have learned to fear a lot of countries, people, and cultures in the Middle East because of terrorism. This fear then is loosely applied to anyone who may remotely fit the stereotypical image of a "terrorist," and can then be applied to many different cultures that may have nothing to do with the terrorism that is feared in the US.

Orientalism

According to Edward Said, Orientalism can be seen as the way that Westerners view, exaggerate, and distort differences between the Western culture and that of the Orient, being comprised of the Middle East and the rest of Asia.  In Said's book Orientalism, he references Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness.  Although the main events of Conrad's story occur in Africa, Said attempted to compare the idea of Orientalism to that of Imperialism, which is referenced numerous times in Heart of Darkness.  Instead of criticizing the author's depiction of the savage culture found in the Congo, Said saw that Conrad recognized the idea of imperialism as false mental construct of the Europeans, similar to what he believed to be true about the notion of Orientalism.

I would have to agree with Said's argument on the existence of Orientalism.  In most of the depictions of people in "the Orient" that we see in art created by Europeans in the 19th century, we see the artist's intention to show the exotic and mysterious aspects of those people.  As these depictions were brought to Europe, the mindset toward people of the Orient was changed, aiding the Europeans in their drive to colonize the mysterious and unknown parts of the world.

Orientalism and Iron Fist

Orientalism is an example of unconsidered racism that is used to make the western world feel superior to the east. Like imperialist views of Africa and Africans, Orientalism views Eastern peoples as primitive, mystical, and ultimately inferior. It is so deeply ingrained in today's culture that many people don't realize how biased and in many cases racist their learned beliefs of Eastern culture are.

An example of how orientalism is still present in today's society is the recent drama surrounding Netflix's upcoming series Iron Fist. Iron Fist is a superhero who originally appeared in Marvel Comics in 1974. He was an American boy who went to the East and was taught mystical powers and martial arts by a mystical Asian man, before killing a dragon to become the Iron Fist. Just based on that it is easy to see the effects of orientalism in a story where a white man goes to the East and learns mystical things and karate. Last week Iron Fist was thrust into the headlines when a white British actor, Finn Jones, was cast in the role. Many felt it should have gone to an Asian actor and the fact it didn't was an example of continued Hollywood white washing. But perhaps they are wrong. While it is true that more major roles are needed for Asian actors, why is it this role that is generating the uproar? It seems people hear "mystical Kung-Fu master" and assume "Asian". While the people complaining likely have good intentions, this example shows how deeply ingrained, racist Orientalism is still alive and well in today's culture.

Stick to the Stuff You Know

Orientalism is the Western way of regarding the East. It views the different cultures of the East as exotic, foreign, and at times primitive. Orientalism exalts Western society while dehumanizing people from the East. Said in his Theory of Orientalism asserts that these ideas extended beyond imperialism. Orientalist ideologies have been expressed in works of literature such as "Heart of Darkness", poems, songs, and paintings. These ideas result in exploitation of the East.

I believe that we still have an Orientalist mindset. In "The God of Small Things" when Sophie Mol's hands were getting sniffed by the cook and Margaret was asking about it, Ammu suddenly gets upset at her treating them as if they are some kind of natives for her to gawk at. That scene made me take pause because I feel like witnessing the same thing I would act like Margaret Kochamma. This scene really made Orientalism resonate with me. It's the arrogant assumption that we as Westerners do everything the "right" and "normal" way. I really appreciate the moments in the book like these that force me to really stop and think and encourage myself to self evaluate.

The Fear of Distortion and Inaccuracy

Orientalism is basically another way of saying how the dominant West makes generalizations about large areas of the world that they do not fully understand, that area being the East. The West, or the Occident, views the East, or the "Orient" as strange and mysterious. The Orient does not simply refer to an area of land. It refers to the culture, the vocabulary, the doctrines, and the values of the East. Orientalism has also become a western mode for dealing with the Orient. It is a way to teach, describe, settle, and rule over the East in a way that makes it appear that the West understands, even when that seems impossible.

Edward Said wraps up his introduction by revealing his two biggest fears when it comes to talking about the topic of Orientalism. Distortion and inaccuracy. I think that fear is the embodiment of this entire topic. Everyone's view is going to be warped by their "own contemporary reality." I think that makes it difficult to get an unbiased view because one would either come from the "East" or the "West." But even that being said, I believe that Orientalism still exists in the world. The biggest example probably being the westerner's view of the Middle East. The common feeling of people in the West is one of superiority but also puzzlement. The values and ways of life are so fundamentally different in many ways that it makes it easy to view them as the mysterious East.