Assignment
Name : Nishtha Makwana
Submitted to the Department of English, MKBU.
Roll No. 15
Paper : The Postcolonial Literature
Topic : Orientalism and some literary illustrations.
Words : 1423
Abstract :
Postcolonialism is an umbrella term which refers to all the cultures affected by the imperial process from the time of colonization to present time. Postcolonial literature examines the ongoing issues and debates between East and West. It analyzes the post period of independence and the resistance against British Empire. It is about the restoration of the identity of those countries which were once colonized by British Empire. These countries are also known as Third World Countries.
Orientalism is a term coined by Edward Said. This term is used to see how Westerners look at third world countries. Here we will discuss some literary text in which we examine how western writers portray orient people. As well as some movies from Hollywood and Bollywood.
Research Questions :
This assignment will follow these questions
How do Western writers portray orient people or native people?
How do Hollywood and Bollywood movies portray Islamic Countries?
Research Methodology :
This assignment follows the simple method of research. Here I have taken some references from literary works and referred to Edward Said's Orientalism to examine those literary texts. As well as I have taken examples of one Hollywood movie and some Bollywood movies to see how people are portraying Islamic countries.
Introduction
As Jaques Derrida has remarked, there is always binary opposition. Like this we have this binary of Western and Eastern. One feels always superior to the other, and behind this there is a role play of literary text and movies also. It can be true also that there are terrorism in Islamic or Eastern countries. But what about those people who are totally innocent. Who even doesn't know about terror. The way Eastern are portrayed in Western culture is far from reality.
'Orientalism' is a book by Edward Said written in 1978. In this book Said has given the term Orientalism. In which he explains this term as a misconception of western countries about Eastern countries. He talks about the west's common portrayal of the East. Westerns think they are more civilized than Eastern country's people. Now the question is which are these East countries. The countries inhabit the places of
Asia
North Africa
Middle East
The sense of Western about the Eastern world is negative and inferior. We can find the colonial impact. Arab culture is created by French, Britishers and later Americans. Said also remarks the role of western media and movies to portray Islamic countries more negatively. The book Orientalism is a cultural criticism.
About the author :
Knowledge is not innocent it is always operated by power
-Edward Said
The founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies, Edward Said was a professor of Literature at Columbia University. His native place is Palestine, where he was born and grew up. Then he moved to America and lives there. He always find otherness in America because he was a Palestinian. He also gives this phrase 'Other' in the sense of Postcolonialism. He was influenced by Michel Foucault's theory of knowledge and power.
What is Orientalism?
Said defines this term in his book as the acceptance in the West of
“the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”
Well, this is a 19th century theory, where people of the West have negative thinking toward the East. Further he says..
Orientalism expresses and represents that part
culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting
institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, and even colonial
bureaucracies and colonial styles.
Orientalism analyzes the mindset of Western people towards the Eastern people. It examines what western population thought about orient. Western paintings of the 19th and 20th century are evidence of the thinking of western artists and people about Arabian and Islamic countries. The way they were painted the Cultural dimension was totally differ from reality. Here are examples of several paintings.
Jean - Leon Gerome, The Snake Charmer 1879
This is an imaginative painting of oriental traditions and culture. Then we have another painting which is again an imaginative painting about sensuality, feminine and submission.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque 1815
Thus, we can say western people have Imaginative misconceptions about the tradition and culture of the Eastern people.
Gayatri Spivak - Subaltern
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the most significant and important critics. She is known for her theory of..
'Subaltern'
Subaltern means 'Lower rank' and she derived this term from Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci'. She was influenced by Derrida and his theories. She is the translation of the preface of Derrida's
'Of Grammatology'
She is best known for her essay 'Can the Subaltern speak?' She has become the voice of voiceless people. She also attacked the attitude of Westerners toward third world countries. She joins Edward Said in his theory of Orientalism.
Literary Illustration :
Orientalism criticizes the attitude of Westerners towards orient people. The way Orient is represented is very negative. There are some literary illustrations where we find how consciously and unconsciously western writers portray Eastern countries, culture, traditions and heritage.
'Heart of Darkness'
-Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness is a novel by Joseph Conrad in which he portrays the exploration of natives by Britishers. It was published in 1899. There is an orient woman who is described by Marlowe. The way Conrad represents the nude orient women who are encountered by Marlowe shows that how western writers portrayed eastern women and they have misconceptions.
'A Passage To India'
-E.M. Foster
In this novel we can also find stereotypes. The character Aziz had done nothing bad though Mrs. Adela on a trip of Marabar Caves claimed that he attempted to rape her. So, the stereotype of Indian is that they are rapists. Westerns think that They are more civilized persons and India needs to be civilized by them. The West thinks that they can civilize Indian people because their culture is superior to the East.
Hollywood And Bollywood Movies :
Nowadays movies are like popular literature. Larger number of people like to watch movies for the sake of entanglement. And it is very interesting to examine how movies represent the country.
'Iron Man'
Iron Man is a Hollywood American movie. Based on the Marvel Comic character of the same name.
Directed by Jon Favreau
Produced by Avi Arad, Kevin Feige
Production Company : Marvel Studios
Staring by Robert Downey Jr.
This is the movie about Superhero who saves the whole world. But the savior of the world was kidnapped by Iranian or Russian people. Who were trying to kill him. In this movie we also find the negative repetitions of Iranian and Russian people.
Baaghi 3
Directed by Ahmed Khan
Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala
Staring : Tiger Shroff, Shradhha Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh
Based on Vettai(2012) by N. Linguswamy
In this movie we can see the representation of Syria country and terror attacks. Westerns are also portrayed Islamic countries as they all are terrorists (there are terrorism in Islamic countries that is also true, but terrorism is everywhere) But as an Indian we have also this misconceptions that all Islamic countries are bad. And we are also afraiding to visit these types of countries. When this type of movie also portrayed them as terror then our misconceptions become more strong.
Conclusion :
Thus, here one can say that the imaginative representation of one's culture and traditions can be harmful to the native people. All are not bad and all are not so good. Every country has their own problem, and when people are portraying us very negatively we have problems with them and we start hating them. The best idea is to resist through literature and language. But when people get frustrated then they start violating.
Here we discussed Edward Said's Orientalism with the lenses of postcolonial theory, as well as some illustrations from literature and movies.
work Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Edited by Robert Hampson and Owen Knowles, Penguin Classics, 2007.
Forster, E M, and Oliver Stallybrass. A Passage to India. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985.
Kumar, Piyush. "The Oriental Imagination in ‘A Passage to India’ and ‘Siddhartha’." Qrius, 30 May 2016, qrius.com/oriental-imagination-passage-india-siddhartha/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020.
Morris, Rosalind C, and Gayatri C. Spivak. Can the Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea. , 2010.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
References
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_opposition
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