Critical Essay on Orientalism by Edward Said

Introduction

The movie Orientalism by Edward Said comprehensively portray a world with independent states that are no longer under colonisation. While many films have depicted colonisation as a thing of the past and non-nonexistent in the present world, Said has a different perception. Fascinatingly, Edward thinks colonialism exists in the current world. He explains that colonisation is not direct because it exists as a form of imitation. Such form of imitation of the European culture occurs regarding dressing, language, trade and education systems and is consequently termed as modern colonialism. Said's analysis in the film relies considerably on the thoughts of Michel Foucault as well as his thoughts on the concept of discourse and the power equation. As part of this analysis, Said dramatically offers insight on the idea of hegemony, which is primarily derived from the philosophy of the Antonio Gramsci. Through this terminology and his film, Said reveals the manner in which Orientalism served as a representation system that attempted to bring together the West's authority and the supremacy over the East. Just like Foucault, Said relates the images, ideas and the texts in his book to the actual actions of various governments as well as subjecting the employed with the aim of controlling millions of people in the non-white society.

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In the film, Said further illuminates the fact that Europe has succeeded in dividing the world into two parts and these include the west and the east. This kind of division as brought about misunderstandings in between different countries in the world. The result of these misunderstandings is war, racism and terrorism. Edward said emphasises on the racism in the United States against the Arabs. In most bombings and terror attacks in the United States are blamed on the Arabian countries. For instance, the Oklahoma bombing was at first termed as an Arabian type of attack. Later, it was discovered that the attack was carried out by an American citizen and not the Arabs as the FBI earlier stated it. While Said's film explicitly portrays racism, the modern films have a different divergent illustration on the issues of racism and discrimination. Such movies and movies are not easily understood merely because discrimination based on the race is believed to be a solved issue. For example, films like the colour purple and Remember the Titans have directly addressed racism. In my view, such movies are supposed to pass a message that should be perceived from the perspective of finding a long-lasting solution for the racism issue.

Conclusion

Watching the film by Edward Said about his book changes the perception of today`s world. Undeniably, it provides more profound insights regarding the current situation in the world out the world as it is and addresses significant issues that movies and films have failed to address directly. The films improve the viewer's understanding about the manner in which racism has affected the relationship between different nations. While racial discrimination used to be the providence of the extremist political parties, it has now emerged to become an integral component of the present democratic systems and is associated with the fight of terrorism across the world. Presently, the evolution of an international consensus on racism has moved from accepting racial discrimination as a way of life, billions of people across the globe still suffer the effects of racism that emanates from the states, government and private agencies.