Said's Concept of Orientalism - Essay Example

?How useful is Edward Said concept of ‘orientalism’ in analysing dominant cinema’s representations of people outside the ‘west’? Introduction “The value, efficacy, strength, apparent veracity of a written statement about the Orient therefore relies very little, and cannot instrumentally depend on the Orient as such. On the contrary, the written statement is a presence to the reader by virtue of its having excluded, displaced, made supererogatory any such real thing as “the Orient”... that Orientalism makes sense at all, depends more on the West than on the Orient, and this sense is directly indebted to various Western techniques of representation” (Said, 1978, 22). The Orient (comprising of countries like the Middle East, India, China, and those lying further east) has always occupied an area of interest within the realms of American cultural arena. Various topics that include men, women and children from the Orient, tend to appear persistently in different cultural discussions, with the greatest and most presumably, the highest influence seen in US based TV programmes and movies. Right from the time of its initiation, Hollywood has persistently represented characters from Orient (like Chinese, Indians and Arabs) in specific exotic terms that highlight their ethnicity (Irwin, 2007, 106). Thus, against a backdrop of stereotyped Oriental ‘Otherness’ stands the Western ‘good guys,’ a representation of the Eastern world by its Western counterpart, which is often biased and conventionalised (ibid). It is this (mal) representation or portrayal of various non-western cultures by western filmmakers, writers, and artists, which primarily arose from European colonial/ imperialistic attitude during the 18th-19th centuries, which has been termed ‘Orientalism,’ a concept derived from Edward Said’s famous book Orientalism published in 1978. Said contended that, “Orient was almost a European invention…a place of romance, of exotic beings…remarkable experiences… [an] imaginative geography…”(Said, 1978, 1). This theory brought forth the notion that the westerners viewed Islamic civilisation as barbaric and demonic, and hence a threat to their own culture. So Orientalism was used by various media sources, like TV and films to “control, domesticate such a fearful yet fascinating prospect” (Bernstein and Studlar, 1997, 3). The Hollywood films-makers have held a continuing dominance over the worldwide box-office right from WWI, without any strong or long-term competition from any other rival film industries. Even though there were major setbacks to Hollywood during the Great Depression and later during 1960s, their dominance over worldwide cinema remained unparalleled, thus spanning unquestioned influence over millions of viewers from all parts of the world for more than ten decades. Thus, it is understood that representation of any character(s) shown by Hollywood is bound to cast a strong influence on viewers all across the globe. Hence, one can contend that the negative and imagined portrayal of Orientalism has created a negative image of these countries on the global viewers, which is purely based on lack of adequate knowledge and presumptions on the part of Hollywood. In this context, we will examine the importance of Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism while analysing the dominant cinemas (Hollywood’s) representation of people outside West. Discussion “East is East, West is West, and never the twain shall meet”~ Rudyard Kipling (1932) Said’s concept of Orientalism: In actual perspective, Orientalism refers to Orient or East, akin to the term ‘Occident,’ which means West. Said in his book Orientalism perceives the term as comprising of many false presumptions, misconceptions, and various wrong assumptions as conceived by Westerners towards those residing in Eastern parts of the world (however, here it must be noted that Said primarily relates Orientalism to the Middle East, where he had spent some years as a child). As Cheryl McEwan informs, Said in Orientalism exposes the "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture, and of the links between false images in western culture and its colonial ambitions” (2009, 63). Said further contended (in an interview) that a continuing portrayal of wrong images of the Arab and Asian countries to the Western people, made visible through the tinted glasses of cinematography (Said, On Orientalism, 2007) justified the American and European colonial ambitions. In his theory, Said also spoke against the upper social classes of the Arabic countries, who adopted and supported the Western Orientalists' mal-representation of their Eastern culture. In this context, he says, “so far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Moslems and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Very little of the detail, the human density, the passion of Arab-Moslem life has entered the awareness of even those people whose profession it is to report the Arab world. What we have instead is a series of crude, essentialized caricatures of the Islamic world presented in such a way as to make that world vulnerable to military aggression. I do not think it is an accident, therefore, that recent talk of U.S. military intervention in the Arabian Gulf (which began at least five years ago, well before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) has been preceded by a long period of Islam's rational presentation through the cool medium of television and through "objective" Orientalist study” (Said, 1998,1). This creation of a dangerous and negative ‘Arab Other’ has stemmed from a basic fear of cultural/ national ideological challenges, which the Western world feels may arise from its Eastern counterpart (Irwin, 2007; Bernstein and Studlar, 1997). Said’s Orientalism in the analysis of cinematic representation of people outside West: Orientalism, according to Said, served to create a dichotomy between the East and West, where the latter acted as a dominating factor, with the East being a mere ‘Other’ and a derivative of the West (Said, 1978, 72-163). During 18th century when British colonialism was at its height, English officers created a perspective that was self-serving, in the sense that, it used various ‘deficiencies’ of Arab culture (along with other Eastern cultures of different colonial states), like the ‘authoritative’ rule of the Ottomans, so called ‘backwardness’ of Islam, and many others, in order to rationalise British imperial rule enforced on these eastern countries (Shohat and Stam, 1994, 13-20). It thus justified Britain and other colonial powers (like France, Portugal, and Spain) to force their own cultural and religious values on their eastern counterparts, on the pretext of ‘civilising’ them (ibid, 20-23). After end of WWII, UK lost its position as a world colonial power, and US came into the forefront as the next superpower. However, Orientalism, as Said conceptualised, remained popular with a mere shift of perspectives, from the colonial UK to the socio-political and cultural realms of the new super power, US (Said, 1978, 72-163). The psychology behind Orientalism, as conceptualised by Said, has served as a perfect backdrop for various Hollywood film industry productions, where we find directors and producers have played the Arab villain opposite American ‘good guys,’ and thus, creating a stereotypical image of ‘Otherness’. In this context, McAlister tells us that Said viewed Orientalism as an ambidextrous subject, with ‘textual’ form of relationship that characterised Arabs in the Middle East as per three primary precepts (2001, 9). As per the first precept, there was to be created a logical set of differences that would clearly differentiate between ‘inferior’ East and the superior and civilized West. This is clearly observed in various Hollywood movies, shot mainly during early cinematographic era, like The Sheikh (1921); or the Shanghai Express (1932), where a disillusioned and corrupt white female protagonist manages to thrive only because she is located in the East; and Casablanca (1942) set in the East, shows that life here is ‘cheap’ (Bernstein and Studlar, 1997, 1). In a majority of these movies, the Arabs (and other Eastern characters) are typically allotted comic roles, or are otherwise shown as dangerous barbarians and villains terrorising those within their vicinity (Khatib, 2006, 5) reeking not only of misrepresentation but also of racism (Stam and Spence, 2004 ). The later period movies also continued showing Arabs not only as barbarians, but also immoral, lacking any sense of honour (as in the Hostage series movies shot during 1986-1992). In this series it had been shown that Arabs viciously killing, and raping almost all female members aboard on a flight, irrespective of their age, or health conditions, thus portraying a glaring lack of morality. In the movies Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Gunga din (1939), The Thief of Baghdad (1940), My Geisha (1962), Cleopatra (1963), Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom(1984), Sergeants 3 (1962 remake of the 1939 movie Gunga din), The English Patient (1996), we find typically the ‘white’ brave ‘hero’ fighting the ‘evil’ Orientals, comprising of Indians, Chinese, Arabs and North Africans. It is thus almost a tradition, where Arabs (and other Orientals) form the criminal group, only to be captured at end of the movie by the ‘white’ western heroes (primarily, the Americans). In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones (referred to as Indy in the movie), the ‘white’ hero goes in search of the Ark of the Covenant and must defeat the Nazis in order to get it. It is true that the movie shows Nazis as actual villains but one cannot deny the fact that the Arabs are portrayed in a negative light (with the exception of Indy’s Protector named, Sallah). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lu3Rf4mDIl8#!) The Arabs are vilified as cunning, abounding in numbers, but dim-witted enough to be well manipulated by the Nazis in their evil endeavours (Kolker, 1988, 237), thus reflecting clear shades of racism against the Eastern culture. Furthermore, the Orientals are shown clad in turbans and cumbersome robes, and almost appear like ‘ogres,’ ready to make the Western viewers laugh at their incompetence, and even Sallah (Indy’s protector) is shown to be a scoundrel with a comical touch (depicted in the link given below). http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dJOXLryzs8g Thus, we find that Said’s theory of Orientalism is useful in analysing these stereotype representations of the Other Arab (and other eastern characters), which shows the underlying intent of the movie plot to typically try and justify the western world’s ambition to dominate the eastern world. In the movie, Three Kings’ (1999), which is a comic drama, set in Iraq in the backdrop of post-Gulf War years. In this movie, we find that it is the American soldiers must be around to accord protection to the Iraqi civilians and get rid of their tyrannical government. Thus, it is as Said had claimed in his book, Orientalism. The basic underlying notions associated with ‘Orientalism’ typically tend to distort and subjugate the ‘Arab Other’ in a very logical manner, in order to justify US role in terms of its foreign and political policies as regards Middle East countries, and the presence of US military in the region. As Said clearly states in one of his interviews, the political line adopted by US is to “discredit the Arabs to make them seem like a threat to the West, to keep the idea around at the end of the Cold War, that, you know, there are foreign devils. Otherwise what are we doing this gigantic military? (Media Education Foundation Transcript, 2005, 9). As per the second precept as conceptualised by Said, Orientalism from the perspective of the West tends to makes a sweeping assumption regarding the Oriental countries and deliberately overlooked the differences between the various Oriental nations (as per Said, the Middle Eastern countries). Thus, the East was represented as ‘scientifically objective’ which again justified the attempts of West to dominate East (Said, 1978, 1-7). Said further contends that Arabic and other eastern cultures were expeditiously distorted with a fixed aim of amalgamating heritage and myth with reality, and presenting them as actual history, as clearly seen in many Hollywood productions that focus on themes like desert dwellers, luxury and decadence of the ruling class, backwardness, magic lamps, harems (with scantily clad women), and ‘impracticalities’ of the eastern people. These themes are all evident in Universal’s famous movie Arabian Nights (1942); the Thief of Baghdad (1940); The Mummy (1932), and Alibaba and the Forty Thieves (1944), all of which upholds Said’s second precept (Bernstein and Studlar, 1997, 11). Said’s notions on Orientalism managed to find out the link between political and military ambitions of the British and later US, and the portrayed images of the region’s history and cultural values (McAlister, 2001, 9). According to the third and final precept, Orientalism managed to create an idea that east is a dangerous place, and therefore must be dominated in order to control and civilise it, and this is represented repeatedly in all Hollywood films that deal with the East. These movies show that Arabs are a threat not only for the Westerners but also for the common people of the East, and thus must be ‘saved’ by the West. In this context, Said contends that the analogy between West and Orient is based on hegemony and imperialism and it is this “hegemony (…) that gives Orientalism (…) durability and strength” (Said 1978, 7). In the documentary Reel Bad Arabs (2001), Jack Shaheen speculated on the stereotype representations of the Arabs in 900 odd Hollywood films (Reel Bad Arabs- How Hollywood Vilifies a People, Youtube, 2010). He made a review of the defamatory history that started from Hollywood’s early days until 2001, and derived that Hollywood represented Orient (Middle East) in certain specific terms that were exotic, yet brought forth hatred, ill feeling, and a sense of distrust from the viewers. He further contended that the stereotype representation of Arabs by Hollywood as a pernicious threat was quite removed from the actual truth, even though the US movies persisted in showing Muslim Arabs as the cultural threat or ‘Others’’ (Shaheen, 2000, 23). However in the documentary Sheen also reveals that the depiction of the Muslim Arabs changes frequently suiting the changing course of global politics (Shaheen, 2001). In this research documentary that covered 900 films and lasted for almost 20 years, Shaheen has listed Hollywood representations of Middle East characters that almost always appear as multimillionaire sheiks, Bedouins, mullahs with long beards, terrorists, and noisy shoppers trying to steal a deal. The Arab women are invariably shown as subservient to their male members, or they are shown as voluptuous belly dancers, or as erotic slaves. In this context Tajima states that “Asian women in film are either passive figures who exist to serve men as love interests for White men (lotus blossom) or as a partner in crime of men of their own kind (dragon ladies)” (1989, 309). In the same thread we find that, Hagedorn endorses the lotus blossom/dragon lady dichotomy that exists in Hollywood movies, and contends that Hollywood movies tend to make Oriental women appear either as trivial and submissive characters or as exotic beings, “If we are ‘good,’ we are childlike, submissive, silent and eager for sex. And if we are not silent, suffering doormats, we are demonized . . . cunning, deceitful, sexual provocateurs” (1997, 33–34). The more recent movies show Arab women as comic characters, often completely covered in burkhas, unattractive and illiterate, complete slaves to their men (Shaheen, 2000, 23). Thus, we find that Shaheen’s research work agrees with the notions of Said, where the Hollywood producers and directors with aims to create a negative image of the Arabs, have consciously used Orientalism in order to justify the political and military ambitions of US. Conclusion From the above discourse, it is quite clear that Hollywood’s representation of Orient (Middle East) is multifaceted in nature, and takes into account the relationship between US imperial ambitions and the stereotypical representations of all Arabs. Hollywood with its dominance over worldwide box-office has undoubtedly created a negative image of the eastern culture in the minds of millions of viewers across the globe. Even well-known Hollywood personalities like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg for the sake of getting box-office success, have stuck to Orientalism theory, vilifying Indians and Arabs in their Indiana Jones series. Edward Said in his famous theory ‘Orientalism,’ have claimed that earlier and modern Hollywood movies that stereotyped Arabs identified them as ‘Arab Others,’ thus, in turn alienating the Middle East, and helping to justify US (and other Western) dominion in these areas. It is only in the recent times that we notice various critics speaking against these movies and the misrepresentation of Orientals in Hollywood. In order to understand the actual motive behind these misrepresentations, it is indeed necessary to view the dominant cinema’s representations of people outside the ‘west’ through Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism, which establishes a clear link between Arab stereotyped roles in Hollywood movies and US imperial ambitions. References Bernstein, M., and Studlar, G., 1997. Visions of the East: orientalism in film. NJ: Rutgers University Press. Hagedorn, J., 1997. “Asian women in film: No joy, no luck.” In, S. Biagi & M. Kern Foxworth (Eds.), Facing difference: Race, gender, and mass media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 32–37. Irwin, R., 2007. Lust of Knowing: the orientalists and their enemies.  London: Penguin Books. Khatib, L., 2006. Filming the Modern Middle East: Politics in the Cinemas in Hollywood and the Arab World. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. Kolker, R., 1988. A Cinema of Loneliness (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. McAlister, M., 2001. Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, & U.S Interests in the Middle East since 1945. California: University of California Press. McEwan, C., 2009. Postcolonialism and development. NY: Taylor & Francis. Media Education Foundation Transcript, 2005. Edward Said On ‘Orientalism.’ Retrieved from,  http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/403/transcript_403.pdf. Reel Bad Arabs- How Hollywood Vilifies a People, 2010. Youtube. Retrieved from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWb7LoMtw9g Said, E, 2007. On Orientalism. YouTube, retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwCOSkXR_Cw Said, E., 1998. Islam through Western eyes. The Nation. Retrieved from, http://www.thenation.com/article/islam-through-western-eyes Said, E., 1978. Orientalism. London: Pantheon Books. Shaheen, G., 2000. Hollywood’s Muslim Arabs. Muslim World, 90(1&2): 22-42. Shaheen, G., 2001. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Canada: Olive Branch Press. Shohat, E., and Stam, R., 1994. Unthinking Eurocentrism. NY: Routledge. Stam, R., and Spence, L., 2004. “Colonialism, Racism and Representation: an introduction.” In, L. Braudy & M. Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism. Oxford: OUP. Tajima, R., 1989. “Lotus blossoms don’t bleed: Images of Asian women.” In, Asian Women United of California (Ed.), Making waves: An anthology of writings by and about Asian American women. Boston: Beacon, 308–317. Read More