...Orientalism in Films There have been many uses and abuses in Western view of the Eastern cultural and social concept of orientalism. This paper discusses how orientalism relates to the three films namely M. Butterfly, Madame Butterfly, and Lost in Translation. Like the title, "M. Butterfly" basically was playing about transformation. This is the first of the Giacomo Puccini opera metamorphosis that was famous, in which "Madame Butterfly" became the modern geopolitical argument to understand the culture. In this film, through love relations that really did not make sense between a French diplomat and the Chinese opera singer he believed the man became the woman, how could the failure for the wish to be separated from reality result in the deception and the tragedy. Gallimard changed Sole from "only humankind" in the "Perfect Woman". Due to his insecurity about his own masculinity, Gallimard needs to create Song in the image of the perfect Asian woman, which is exotic, sensual, and acquiescent, in order to feel wholly male. Although he seeks to confine Sole within the context of his fantasy, Gallimard poster vulnerability and need actually free Sole by providing her with an outlet to flee the Orientalist representation of Asian people. Gallimard transforms Sole into a butterfly, boots instead of transforming him into one of the butterfly. Whereas Gallimard, is actually the one who eventually ends up trapped by his own fantasy. Through an analysis of Gallimard practice cultural...
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...Orientalism in Disney’s Pocahontas While the name suggests an allusion to only Eastern Asia, or the Orient, Orientalism is a branch of Cultural Studies, an area of literary criticism that has applications in various mediums. The school of critical theory, created by Edward Said, is applicable to novels, essays, social situations, films, and epics alike. One film, to which Orientalism is applicable, is Disney’s Pocahontas. To understand how Orientalism is applicable to a film that takes place in the Western world, far away from the Orient, a foundation detailing the components of Orientalism must be constructed. Traditionally, Orientalism’s focus is the depiction of Eastern cultures, or places considered a part of the Orient, such as India, China, and the Middle East by western writers, or writers from the Occident. Defined, Orientalism is “a style of thought based upon ontological and epistemological distinctions made between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident’” (1867). Based upon this definition, many people “have accepted the basic distinction between the East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions and political accounts covering the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny, and so on”(1867). With the acceptance of distinctions between the East and the West, came a theory of literary criticism that “deals” with the Orient. Orientalism, in short, is a “Western style for dominating, restructuring...
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...Persepolis is a movie about girl, Marjane and her struggle to identify her true identity within the confines of eastern and western views. Marjane and her family’s lifestyle in this film are seen to be challenging the dynamics of orientalism. Their progressive, educated and liberal outlook builds the foundation of breaking down Western’s pre conceived notions about the people of Iran. It is evidently proven by the perception, style and actions of Marjane and her family’s that the orientalist view of Iran being backwards, restricted and dogmatic is not entirely true. This film presents a convincing challenge to the concept of orientalism and it showed how the stereotypical images set by the western of the orient are not entirely correct. This is evident through the scene when Marjane is about to marry, her mother is found crying the bathroom because she is upset over the fact that her daughter is giving her life away when she wanted her to be liberated, literate and independent. This shows that even though Marjane was in an Iranian society and was forced to veil herself and follow the set of Islamic rules, the film challenges the orientalist impression of Marjane being completely suppressed or controlled in the society, which would be expected by the western audience. In fact, Marjane is seen to have a liberal and supportive family, her mother and grandmother at several instances are seen to encourage her to stand up for herself and make a future for herself by being...
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...Orientalism James Berardino Canon Formation 2B: Orientalism Final Copy Orientalism can be best defined as an ill-conceived notion that befalls the ignorant and misconstrues their perception of most, if not all, people belonging to a race or ethnic group that is different than their own. It does so in a manner that perpetuates the perception of individuals from different races, cultures or ethnicities as grotesque, frightening or somehow inferior in the eyes of individuals who have already completely assimilated themselves culturally into the pre-existing social strata of the region in which they inhabit. In other words, orientalism is a social “virus” that is often perpetuated, or “spread”, by fear of the unknown; a virus which insidiously promotes discrimination and segregation based off differences in both culture and appearance, flourishes amongst the ignorant and is prevalent throughout both America’s distant and recent history, as well as in the archives of world history. A parent to ignorance and the culprit to the divisive vices of racial prejudice of all creeds, a lack of sufficient education, along with blatant disregard for one’s global community, is the underlying reason why Orientalism is a recurring theme in history that has yet to be abolished entirely. However, there exist scholars and filmmakers, such as Le Espiritu, Sucheng Chan, Wakako Yamauchi, etcetera, who give hope to the fight against such ignorance by using their work to inform and...
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...Orientalism and India Introduction ”Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” (Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West) In his much quoted verse above Rudyard Kipling revealed something of the nucleus of the long-lived tradition of Orientalist thought. According to J. J. Clarke, the ambivalence of the West [1] towards the East is age-old. The ”rich cultures,” ”superior civilizations” and ”ancient wisdom” of the Orient have inspired many Westerners, but on the other hand, the threats of its ”monstrous mysteries” and ”absurd religions” hailing from its ”stagnant past” have abhorred at least as many. For many, the Orient has been a dominion of hordes and despots or spiritual mystics and exotic sensuality. Exaggeration and imagination together with a range of both positive and negative stereotypes connected to popular prejudices have been essential to these views. Encountering the East has been significant for the self-image of the West producing identities ranging from decadent European modernity to concepts of cultural, racial and moral superiority. (Clarke 1997, 3–4. See also Pieterse 1992 and Hottola 1999.) In his highly celebrated but also provoking book Orientalism [2], Edward Said (1935– 2003) embarks on describing a long European tradition ”of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience.” This tradition Said calls Orientalism [3]. Said concentrates mainly on...
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...Harvard Referencing System In your written work, when you are drawing or referring to or quoting from the ideas of another writer you must provide a reference following the guidelines laid out below. Always cite the author(s) of a book. If the book is an edited collection, you should cite the author(s) of the individual chapters you have used and NOT the editors(s) of the book. 1. Harvard method of citation in the text: (author year) When you are drawing from, paraphrasing or summarising another writer’s work, but NOT quoting directly from them, you must provide a reference as follows: 1.a. Single author of book or chapter: In a book by Said (1978) Orientalism was investigated as.... Orientalism was investigated (Said 1978) as.... When an author has published more than one cited document in the same year these are distinguished by adding lower case letters after the year within the brackets, which should also be used in the bibliography (see 4.i. below): Blunt (1994a) has discussed the impact of travel, gender and imperialism. He has also examined the impact of globalization on travel (Blunt 1994b). 1.b. Two or three authors: In the book by Driver and Rose (1992), ..... 1.c. More than three authors: Benner et al (1996) conclude that .... If more than one citation is referred to within a sentence, list them all in the following form, by date and then alphabetically: There are indications...
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...essentially spiritual (ie feminine) virtues; they must not, in other words, become essentially westernized.” - Partha Chatterjee, “The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s Question”* “What was gradually and carefully constituted, brick by brick, in the interaction between colonialism and nationalism is now so deeply embedded in the consciousness of the middle classes that ideas about the past have assumed the status of revealed truths…It has led to a narrow and limiting circle in which the image of Indian womanhood has become, both a shackle and a rhetorical device that nevertheless functions as a historical truth.” - Uma Chakravarti “Whatever happened to the Vedic Dasi?: Orientalism, Nationalism and a Script for the Past.”* Who/where is the Indian woman? Since this conference focuses on the theme “Identity, Difference and Conflict: Postcolonial Critique”, I think this question could well serve as a starter for our discussion on this issue from an Indian feminist perspective. In order to situate this question bringing into relief its complexities, I wish to begin this paper narrating an event recorded by Shobha De, a feminist writer and analyst. According to her report, a certain man in Orissa...
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...They believe that once you die everything else is gone except the tattoo it lives forever, “It tied the tribal people to nature, their individuality, and their spirituality” (Phamvk, 2017). When the Western part of the world invaded and colonialism (Erickson, 2017) the Pacific Islands, their traditions like tattooing was changed forever (Phamvk, 2017). Seeing non-native people getting traditional Polynesian tattoos could be seen as not only disrespectful, but a form of orientalism (Erickson, 2017). As the Western part of the world considerers themselves superior, it is here in the Pacific Islands that this art form comes from, and it being destroyed. As long as Westerners continue to appropriate these images through tattoos for their own use, they will destroy any meaning they once had. Image 3 – White people portraying Asian characters in film People within the Asian community have endured for years the whitewashing of their culture. So, they had the right to be upset when Scarlett Johansson who is a white woman was cast in the role, as a part of Japanese Anime character named Motoko Kusanagi, in Ghost in the...
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...Assignment 6 Final Draft Following the horrific events of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States has been unable to completely restore our trust in Middle Eastern nations and people for fear that they will plan another terrorist attack against us. In a post-9/11 world where Americans have become accustomed to associating Middle Easterners with terrorists, season 2 episode 1 of the television series 24 conveys this concept of otherness and the othering of Middle Easterners through its manipulation of time to show the dehumanization of Arabs as a threat to society and to stress the immediacy with which Americans must act against to such dangers. In this scene, 24 employs film analysis elements including windowing and time stamps to manipulate time in a way that emphasizes the immediacy of these actions and alters time as if it were real-time in order to show how Middle Easterners are often “othered” in a post-9/11 world. After the President of the United States has learned of the impending terrorist attack that is to occur in Los Angeles later that day, he says to a colleague that “there is a terrorist with his finger on a trigger, and [they’ve] got to get him.” While he is giving this statement, the episode employs a windowing effect in which the president is speaking in the top half of the screen and a Middle Eastern man, named Reza Naiyeer, is presented on the bottom half while he is driving in a convertible and speaking Arabic on the phone. The use...
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...distinction between women's and children's wear, the youthfulness of both being an important aspect of 20th century fashion. Demand by young women for her clothes, persuaded Jeanne Lanvin to open a couture house selling mother-daughter garments. Paul Iribe, the famous illustrator, created the Logo for the house of Lanvin, from a drawing by Jeanne of the bond between mother and daughter. Her daughter became the Comtesse de Polignac, and continued to wear her mother's beautiful gowns. In 1913 Lanvin created her famous "robes de style" based on 18th century designs. These small waisted, full skirted dresses remained popular for many years and were fore-runners of the New Look which Dior brought out just after World War II. In 1914 influenced by orientalism, she turned to exotic evening wear in Eastern-style velvets and satins. During the 20's Lanvin made a simple Chemise dress which later became the basic outline for the twenties. Over the following years, she introduced several interesting developments. In 1921 a Riviera collection introduced Aztec embroidery. In 1922 a Breton suit appeared in the Lanvin collection. This comprised a gently gathered skirt, a short braided jacket with lots of small...
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...McGee - Orientalism and Erotic Multiculturalism in Popular Culture Summary: In this article, McGee highlights the continued phenomenon of representing an imagined, eroticized Orient through the hybrid and creative choreographies and musical soundscapes by comparing Princess Rajah’s Oriental belly dance (1904) and The Pussycat Dolls’ music video “Buttons”. Princess Rajah performed an “Oriental” belly dance and a balancing chair act at the St Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Her act was one of many independent Orientalist dance solos inspired by contemporaneous currents in literature, painting, music, and theatre. The Princess Rajah film was recorded on Thomas Edison’s first film invention, the Kinetoscope. 159 short films were...
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...Whether depicted in Japanese Horror, Japanese Noodle Western, or Asian American Musicals, the importance of complex characterization with regard to the main female protagonist figure is vital to a successful plot development. In various genres relating to Asian film, particularly the ones mentioned above, the female figure is portrayed as somewhat of a troubled or helpless woman who is in need of rescue and assistance from a male counterpart. The larger theme of finding a strong sense of self-identity while battling internal conflicts, as well as the fears and anxieties that arise within Japanese culture, are universal elements of characterization and mise-en-scene directly portrayed in various types of Chinese and Japanese films. Further,...
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...PAPER 28 THE HISTORY OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT FROM THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT DAY READING LIST: 2012-13 C. A. Bayly cab1002@cam.ac.uk 1 The History of The Indian Subcontinent From The Late Eighteenth Century To The Present Day A fifth of the world's population lives in the Indian subcontinent. While today the region’s place in the global world order is widely recognised, this is in fact only the most recent chapter in a longer history. This paper offers an understanding of the part played by the Indian subcontinent role and its people in the making of the modern world. From the decline of the great empire of the Mughals and the rise of British hegemony, to the rise of nationalism, the coming of independence and partition, the consolidation of new nation states despite regional wars and conflicts, and the emergence of India as the largest democracy in the world, this paper is a comprehensive and analytical survey of the subcontinent's modern history. The dynamic and complex relationships between changing forms of political power and religious identities, economic transformations, and social and cultural change are studied in the period from 1757 to 2007. In normal circumstances students will be given 6 supervisions in groups of 1 or 2. Key themes and brief overview: The paper begins by examining the rise of British power in the context of economic developments indigenous to southern Asia; it analyses the role played by Indian polities and social groups...
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...rationalities and reasonings behind the villains. I felt this was a good basis for a paper as it was narrow enough to have specific talking points, while not being too specific. At the same time it was also not so broad that I could discuss anything and everything in Tolkien’s writing. I then started to do some research behind the topic which I found quite easy as there is a lot of information on both eurocentrism and the villains of Tolkien’s books. Because I had drawn inspiration from my anthropology class to create this thesis, I thought back to the readings I had done for that class and chose to use the reading which related to Tolkien’s writing the most. I had also been given a recommendation in class while researching of Edward Said’s Orientalism, which I found to relate a lot to my topic as well. Lastly I found another article which specifically addressed the orcs in The Lord of the Rings and how they portray human emotions but are misunderstood by both the characters and readers...
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...3106 Producing Africa: Take – Home Exam 1) The ‘real Africa’ is presumed to be filthy and miserable (Wainaina, 2005). Discuss. Representations of Africa in a global context have been largely negative, often presumed to be one country the continent is stigmatised as backwards, disease ridden, violent and in need of Western assistance. Although some positive imagery does emerge from Africa including that associated with Comic Relief, corporate campaigns such as Guinness’s stylish philosophy and in music videos like ‘Am I wrong’ by Nico and Vinz, Africa is subject to the use and re-use of negative imagery resulting in prominent stereotypes shaping our geographical imaginations of the continent. This is a similar concept to that of orientalism explored by Edward Said (1987). This essay will argue that presumptions of the ‘real Africa’ are largely negative, discussing how ‘Africanism’ and stereotypes of the continent are heavily influenced by colonial representations of people and place arguing that these assumptions are highly compatible with Western domination and power rooted in imperial attitudes. Jan Pieterse (1992:75) recognises that Africa has been depicted as the ‘Dark Continent’ plagued by stereotypes ‘which colonialism would build on and elaborate’. Imaginaries of childlike, savage, inhumane distant others who are dependent upon Western help dominate the way in which Africa is perceived. Campbell and Power (2010) suggest that a dominant scopic regime shapes our perception...
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