In his book Orientalism, Dr. Edward Said wrote about the influence of material culture – journalism, literature, art – on how people perceive the “Other”. Specifically, he focused on the way that people from the “West” view the “Orient.” He wrote, “The phenomenon of Orientalism as I study it here deals… with the internal consistency of Orientalism and its ideas about the Orient… despite or beyond any correspondence, or lack thereof, with a real “Orient” (Said 71). Dr. Said wrote about how Orientalism, through material culture, encouraged, legitimized and even enabled the British domination of great portions of the East by emphasizing, exaggerating and distorting differences between Arab peoples and the cultures of the North America and Europe (Said 69). Orientalism often portrays Arab culture as mysterious, exotic, backward, uncivilized, or dangerous, creating stereotypes that have been reinforced throughout recorded history. Today, in the Digital Age (where information is only a click or two away, movies are in “high-def,” and phones can act as a calculator, a camera and a GPS), there has been a huge shift of economic interest towards computer-based technology and new media. These have since become a huge part of modern culture. According to the Entertainment Software Association’s 2012 sales, demographic and usage report, fifty-eight percent of Americans play video games, and thirty-two percent of these are under the age of 18; an earlier study reported that the average gamer in America plays about eight hours each week (“2013 Sales” 2). There is a psychological phenomenon called the “mere-exposure effect.” It describes how humans tend to feel an unexplainable preference for people or things that they are familiar with (Fourni... ... middle of paper ... ...layers (Howard). When choosing what sort of character to play as in the beginning of the game, it is easy to see aspects of Orientalism from the depictions and descriptions of each playable “race”. The races that were created for the gamers to play almost seem too realistic – many of them satisfy specific stereotypes that are associated with actual ethnicities found around the world. The Khajiit, based on the Romani people, and the Redguard, who have much in common with Arab and North African cultures, are often subject to racism and mistrust from other characters in the game (Bethesda Game Studios). These peoples tend to be stereotyped in the game in the same way that their “base” cultures are stereotyped in the real world. The most “Oriental” race in-game is the Redguard. Redguard names, apparel, tribal, and city structures are, due to the influence of Orientalism
We cannot deny the fact that, as Americans, racial realism has always affected us and our way of thinking. In my personal experience, being an Asian, I have had
Orientalism is the way that the Middle East is depicted by its’ friendly acquaintances over in the West. In other terms, it is a “racist discourse which constructs the orient for Western aggrandizement.” The way that the Afghans are depicted in the film alongside Rambo makes the audience sympathize with them. The little boy also looks up to Rambo. He looks up to him a masculine father-figure. Using th...
It is often said that history is written by the victor, and in the race to industrialization of the past two centuries, Western Europe and the United States have emerged as the victors. This enabled them to write a history in which their rise to power was preordained and inevitable and in which Eastern cultures are viewed as backward and intolerant. These Eurocentric histories have so fully permeated the global psyche that the stereotypes they have perpetuated inform our cultural interactions to this day. However, an unbiased look at the premodern history of Asia and the Middle East reveals the inaccuracy of the Eurocentric paradigm. Contrary to the Eurocentric view, there is nothing inherently intolerant about Islam or Middle Eastern and East Asian culture. In fact, many of the societies that have existed in the East have been extraordinarily tolerant and heterogeneous.
- Asian American history is the history of ethnic and “racial groups in the United States who are of Asian descent. Spickard (2007) shows that the ‘Asian American’ was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together the Chinese, Japanese, and the Filipino Americans for strategic political purposes”. Soon other Asian-origin groups, such as Koreans, Vietnamese, Hmongs, and South Asian Americans, were added."For example,
In term of ideology, Orientalism has been defined as the framing of prejudices that bolster a sense of European superiority over the East and thus implicitly or explicitly legitimate imperialism and colonialism, the exploitation of subjugated people deemed culturally or racially inferior to the dominant culture. To emphasize this ideology, the movie made the main character a Westerner and ended with the same old plot, a white man saves the day. Keanu Reeves starred as Kai, a half-breed who was adopted by the benevolent Lord Asano Naganori and in love with Asano’s daughter, Mika, while others samurai sneered and looked down at him. There are two contradict reasons that can be explain why the main cast turned out to be a European which completely vanished the sense of Japanese. First, no one can deny that Keanu Reeves is one of the most famous actors in the United States and of course, his reputation would attract more audiences to pay for the movie. It is noticeable that the movie tries to stress the fact that during the feudal period foreigners are not welcomed or accepted by Japanese people as well as Kai who cannot be a samurai because of his mixed ancestry. The samurai insulted and disdained Kai, but after the unjust death of their lord, surprisingly, they need to ask for Kai’s help so that they can defeat the enemies. In this case, it seems that the purpose of this movie is to broaden Japanese people’s perspective that it is unjustified for the foreigner to be considered as an unlucky charm or misfortune object. On the other hand, it does not sound right for a half-white character teaching the Japanese how to use a sword, defeat the Japanese demons, and lead to the true nature of bushido. While the group of ronin strictly believed in spiritual and tradition, Kai set himself along the line of logical and rational. Besides, it is Kai who is able to defeat a powerful witch
Orientalism, which became famous as a term after Edward Said’s book written in 1978, explains a power relation between the Orient and the Occident inspiring from the Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge and
One particular topic mentioned was that of Orientalism. The theory pertains to foreign views on one another. An example would be what Gallimard says to Toulon in M. Butterfly: “The Orientals simply want to be associated with whoever shows the most strength and power” (36). The East is seen as the weaker race by the West and is often referred to as feminine. Because they are seen as weaker, they would obviously want ...
Subsequently, in Edward Said’s Orientalism discusses about the West’s patronizing perceptions and illusory depiction of the East, which connects why white men had stereotypes of other races. According to Said:
After the tragedy and chaos of September 11th, 2001 there was an expectation for the United States to respond with aggression. In his address to the nation, President George W. Bush stated “The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts…We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” It became apparent that the perpetrators were affiliates of the radical Muslim group Al-Qaida, and with Al-Qaida as the espoused target the War on Terror in the Middle East began. War was presented as the only course of action. The attacks on the World Trade Center elicited fear in the US public and a post-9/11 state of emergency regarding homeland security made war … It started in Afghanistan and eventually transitioned into Iraq. I will discuss how an Orientalist discourse used by politicians and the media framed and justified the War on Terror . Through this discourse an inferior “other” was created and that alienated dehumanized the East and its people in the US public consciousness, internationally and within the United States.
Many people still wrongly use “being Asian” as a catch-all explanation for certain qualities that only some Asians possess. For example, not all Asians excel at math. I happened to score a five on my Calc BC exam, but that’s because I studied hard – a time-tested approach used by people of all races across the globe. And I’m certainly, and most importantly, not tiny because I’m Asian. 100% of the reason why I’m tiny is because you’re white.
Race is a prevalent issue within the United States that frames or categorizes an individual or identity because of their physical appearance. In fact, their social, economical, and political standpoints have also influenced people’s perception on placing themselves within these categories. Guest has defined race as a “ Flawed system of classification, created, and re-created overtime that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population…”(197). As a result, race has created different types of patterns that have cause inequality. Moreover, like the United States, many countries have succumbed to classifying people based on race. As mentioned, anthropologists’ purpose when studying culture is to explore numerous ways in which race has been constructed in numerous places.
Omi and Winant (1986) stated that Racial categories often consolidate its meaning by the particular social relations and history context(p.19). Bonilla-Silva(2003) purported that the early colonizer from the Europe named the people in the land which they invaded as “negro” and “Indian” to distinguish them from the noble European (p.34) In the early stages of United State, the race introduced as the tool for the slaveholder and other white class to legitimized the practice of slavery and disenfranchised the natural rights of African Americans. Even the other white immigrants were considered as an individual race when they first migrate to the United State. Thus the meaning of race are constantly shifting within the change of social relation and political background. For example, in the article written by M.Lee, the 1900 census has only five race categories comparing to the 1990 census which has more than ten race option, which means the conception of race are continuously shifting(p.4). Beside the social relations, we also discern race through the preemptive notion of what each racial groups looks like. The African American are generally portrayed as the people who have thick lips and black skin. An Asian American usually have small eyes and feeble physique. Those stereotypes about the people 's physical appearance forge the content of race and become the common way which we utilize to confirm one 's race
In the book, Beyond the Pale, Kipling quotes that “East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet”(Kipling, 33). According to a recent panel talk at Lehigh, Kipling's quote about the East and the West is the “best summary of the Orientalist mindset” The stereotypes assigned to Oriental cultures are that they are oppressive and restrictive when it comes to power and dishonest and obsequious when it comes to being placed in high positions (Singh, An Introduction to Edward Said, Orientalism, and Postcolonial Literary Studies). As an imperialist Kipling only wants the best for his country, but becomes a racist when he calls the east orientals and believes that other cultures are corrupt and will corrupt his country if they were to mix.
In a society driven by technology, video games are becoming more popular each and everyday. People of all ages enjoy video games in their free time; these games allow the player to become an athlete, a soldier, or a professional fighter at the tip of their fingers. The biggest problem with these video games is that they are becoming too violent. In today’s society, children often brag about the new video game they bought, and the number of people they have managed to kill while playing these games. Video games have become realistic, causing them to intrigue a larger amount of children. Many of these violent video games encourage killing and fighting of enemies, or strangers in the game. Each year a new game system, and hundreds of video games are released, and millions of kids go out and buy them and spend hours playing. Video games have a large effect on school performance and time spent with family. Children would prefer to play their games than sit down and talk with their parents (Saleem, 2012).
Orientalism is a tradition of Western representations of the Orient, created in the context of Western political dominance over the Orient, which understand and master the inferior.