Orientalism, Orientalism Everywhere

According to Edward Said, orientalism is a cultural misrepresentation of the east, including the Middle East and Far East countries. In nicer terms, it can be seen as the stereotypical romanticsism of the east, where the east is seen as exotic, mystic, religious, primitive, etc. The east is seen by the west as an "other," and by defining this other, the westerners are better able to understand themselves. This goes back to Derrida's idea of defferment; everything is defined by its binary. The west is able to understand what it means to be a westerner by defining what it means to not be a westerner. This in turn creates some sort of definition for the easterner as well. Those defined by orientalism internalize some of the stereotypes about themselves and in some way it becomes them.

We can think of Orientalism in two ways: the middle east as the orient, and the far east as the orient. Although both types of cultures are lumped into the same category, we often see them as very different. We view the far easterner as more technologically advanced (like China), business oriented, smart, and even give them some sort of respect. The middle easterner, however, is often demonized and seen as evil, religiously extreme.



We see these stereotypical portrayals in everything; music, movies, comics, books. You might think that Orientalism is a thing of the past in movies like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (made in 1958), but we are still seeing it today from mainstream performers like Nicki Minaj.