On Orientalism

Edward Said's "On Orientalism" provides an in-depth look into the perceptions of Muslims, the religion of Islam, Middle Easterners, and the Middle East itself that we have come to know and understand as fact in the United States. The news media and entertainment industry have taught us that Middle Easterners are violent, hateful, and extremists. These ideas are continuously upheld by these media and our country has accepted them as true, with almost no exception. Said explains that it is our lack of knowledge about that area of the world itself that is helping with upholding our misconceptions.

The main portrayal we see of Middle Easterners in film and on television is that of the fanatic terrorist. We are taught to believe that essentially all Middle Easterners and Muslims are suicide bombers, waiting to destroy the United States. This idea was already extremely prevalent in the 1980's and 1990's, but became even more enforced after the 9/11 attacks. Because we are only showed such a limited view of who and what Muslims are in the news and on television shows, we are to believe that what we are shown is true and this further stigmatizes Muslims and those from the Middle East. We are also generally shown men being the main perpetrators of these crimes and acts, so that leads us to absolutely believe that Middle Eastern men are extremely violent.

Another portrayal of Middle Easterns that we see is the hyper-sexualized subservient woman. The females we see are scantily clad, usually belly dancing, and generally always serving men. These women are also usually portrayed as deviant and not to be trusted. It is interesting to see how because the United States is upholding these stereotypes, we have familiar themes of sexism and objectification when dealing with the portrayal of women.

Something I found interesting is the idea of the movie "Aladdin". Growing up in the Disney generation of the 90's, I have seen "Aladdin" more times than I can count. I've only started noticing recently after re-watching it at an older age just how racist the portrayal of Middle Easterners are. Physically, they are mostly menacing-looking. Jafar himself is very scary-looking, as are all of the men who work security (I think that's what they're supposed to be doing). The men who work in the marketplace are all complete caricatures. The women in the film are either absolutely beautiful, with unrealistic bodies (a la Jasmine), or overweight and unappealing. There is no middle ground. Personality-wise, most of the characters seem devious and underhanded. It is just amazing to think about how all of the stereotypes we have been taught about Middle Easterners are all present in this one children's film, and we don't even realize it.

These stereotypes are allowed to be upheld, and are even accepted in our society, due to our lack of knowledge about the Middle East. We know nothing of the area itself, other than what we are taught on the news and in movies, and this information is misleading and racist. It is really astounding to see how our idea of the Other that Hall discusses has evolved and changed form over time, to not only include Middle Easterners and Muslims as the Other, but to perhaps now have replaced African Americans as the Other. We are still not attempting to learn about the Middle East or Islam, we are allowing them to stay separate - and as we are taught, below us - from us. As Said explains, we need to contextualize our history and their histories and learn to understand our history in terms of theirs. We need to stop comparing the histories as better or worse than the other, and accept Middle Easterners and Muslims as a part of our culture, rather than as the Other.