Orientalism
The concept of Orientalism has been present since before Said put it into a thoughtful concept. It is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies, cultures, languages, and people, by the western scholars. The use of Orientalism has been ever-present in a lot of western media by depicting or categorising them into stories, stereotypical characters and plots. The understanding of this side of the world is manipulated by western media to keep themselves on a cultural pedestal. The contradictory part to this understanding is that there isn’t a relation to the real “Orient” itself. The mass information relies on perpetuating the present but not new information to build the concept of Orientalism.
Undermining the workings of, or mimicking a culture will not lead to morally appropriate knowledge, this is emphasised by Said, he mentions that to understand the Orient, we have to first break down the power struggle between the Occident and the Orient. This complex hegemony relies on the rather vast capture of the eastern civilisations by the west. The current times dictate that the effects of this complex relationship have been affecting the way these countries tend to interact with each other. The conversation is sometimes felt as though to be put down, the orient is treated beneath the occident and allows for this to happen due to the concept of feeling of Orientalism. Recent examples of this is the uptake of islamophobia present in the US, the feeling of the culture is cluttered through media in the public sphere allowing for an unchanging opinion that’s been present for hundreds and hundreds of years.
The visibility of the Orient is not dependant upon the representation of them by the western society. This being said, the consensus that is agreed upon is excluding the most important factor of it all which is the oriental culture itself. The information has to flow from a starting point, the meaning of corresponding reality in this context is the apparent fact that these theories did emerge from somewhere hence it can’t be excluded from the pool of information. The apparent fact that there lies some truth in the concept of orientalism is not to be ignored. The west has exaggerated, twisted all kinds tales and stories that resemble some form of truth to it, this is done through movies, stories, books or any form of content. Yes, it can be very offensive but also at times, it’s not a lie. This portrayal stands on a very grey scale of appropriate, in the world we live in; most of the times some people find something offensive whereas others might find it funny. Said also mention that we must never assume the concept of Orientalism is not just a structure of lies, start with the precedent that it is all a lie and then work your way towards understanding if there are any corresponding realities present.
