What is Orientalism, and why is it bad?
What is Orientalism, and why is it bad?
In this post I will explain what Orientalism is, with examples of SWANA (formerly MENA) characters specifically, and why Orientalism is a harmful trope in media.
What is Orientalism?
In my own terms, Orientalism is a depiction of the east through a very White western lens and often ends up being offensive to the very people it is portraying.
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Examples of Orientalism for SWANA:
That annoying yellow filter onscreen whenever the scene depicts a SWANA or Islamic setting.
Example used: still from Disney's 2010 Prince of Persia. Most of the scenes were yellow in that movie.
Kudos to movie The Old Guard movie on Netflix for NOT using a yellow filter on the scenes filmed in Morocco. Stop using yellow filter, Hollywood!
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2. Aladdin
Often these fairy tale depictions in western media fall back on mythical settings as an excuse to not base their story in a real place, therefore shirking all accountability of providing good representation for the people depicted.
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3. Sinbad The Sailor
I mean just look at the poster for one of the more famous movies:
Also the cast were nearly all white people in fake tan, not actually SWANA actors at all.
(One small mercy: at least back then, Hollywood hadn't developed the annoying yellow filter yet.)
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4. Prince of Persia.
You should see the theme by now. More exoticized characters in skimpy costumes, with magical powers, under a yellow filter.
And more white actors and non SWANA actors in fake tan.
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Let's show a quick example of Disney's SWANA princesses:
Neither of the actresses are SWANA or Muslim, they're both British and Christian.
Naomi Scott who played Jasmine is British-Indian background, not Muslim, and as you can see is very light skinned. Hiring her over a darker skinned actress is colorism (favoring western standards of beauty, i.e. lighter skin, western features).
Gemma Arterton who played Tamina is simply white British.
Disney made both these movies ten years apart with virtually no other SWANA representation in between. Isn't that pathetic?
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These are actually the few crumbs we get in movies, especially for SWANA and Muslim characters depicted as the 'good guys'.
Lucky us, we get to choose between Orientalism or being the 'baddies'. It's always one or the other, nothing else. (Maybe a hacker if we're very lucky.)
Why is Orientalism harmful?
Because when you're a living, breathing person, a regular human being like anyone else, it actually sucks when the only times you see depictions of yourself/your background onscreen is as a magical, mythical, skimpy costume wearing creature whose presence is merely there to titillate a white audience.
It's othering.
Exoticizing real people in media is a bad trope. Bad tropes affect and harm real people, because those bad tropes affect other people's perceptions of us and affect their attitudes towards us.
It's terrible, really. Hollywood either shows SWANA as seductive, scantily clad, Seven Veils dancing, magical temptresses for women, or silent-yet-angry action men/angry terrorists for men. There is rarely an in between here.
And then the worst part of all those harmful tropes is Hollywood/mainstream media will still perpetuate colorism by hiring white, non SWANA, non Muslim, light skinned actors for the 'good guy' roles, then at the same time only hiring SWANA, Muslim and brown or dark skinned actors for 'baddie' roles.
A perfect example of colorism in major Hollywood casting is happening right now. WB/DC movie Wonder Woman 1984 depicts Arabs and Muslims as 'the baddies' (eye roll to infinity) and hired brown actors for those baddie roles who 'look' Muslim.
Meanwhile rival media company Disney/Marvel is still making a right old mess of the Ms. Marvel supporting cast by hiring mainly white, light skinned, Christian and non Muslim actors for the 'good guy' roles.
You see the issue here? Hollywood will hire us to play baddies, but not to play goodies.
There is a blatant agenda at play, and that agenda is rooted in racism.
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Next time you see a SWANA or Muslim character onscreen, ask these questions:
1. Are they a 'good guy' and if so are they being exoticized in some way? Costume, magical abilities or magical props? How light is their skin? Would they 'pass' as white? Is the actor playing them SWANA or Muslim?
2. Or are they a cardboard cut-out villain? In which case, how brown is their skin? Is the actor playing them SWANA or Muslim?
3. What is the storyline? Is it being told through a white lens? Is it a white savior narrative? Who wrote it, who made it? Where was it filmed?
4. Is there a yellow filter (I hope not!)
Just these basic questions usually tell you what you need to know if a piece of media is participating in harmful tropes toward SWANA or not.
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As a parting note, shout out once again to The Old Guard movie for not falling into as many traps as most Hollywood movies do.
For comparison, here is a quick side by side of actor Marwan Kenzari, who plays both Jafar in Aladdin and also Joe in The Old Guard.
On the left, every example of Orientalism on display. That yellow filter. The exoticized costume. Magical props, talking animal, and magical abilities. It's basically a Pantomime character. He looks more like the stage-show version of Jafar than a live action blockbuster movie released in 2019 should look.
On the right, Kenzari looks virtually the same out of costume (I'm so glad they let him be a good guy with facial hair! Usually facial hair = villain when it comes to SWANA). There's no silly yellow filter. He is a regular looking human being, and yet his character still possesses magical abilities in this movie.
The difference is he isn't being exoticized in The Old Guard.
Can we get more rep like Joe in The Old Guard, please?
And before anyone says I'm coming after Pantomime characters, I'm not. I saw the stage show Aladdin, I enjoy bawdy theatre as much as the next person.
I must reiterate that the reason Orientalism is bad is that it's virtually the only representation SWANA and Muslims have of themselves on the big screen.
If there was MORE representation in general, and MORE nuanced depictions of SWANA and Muslims in media, then the sporadic racist movies Disney churns out wouldn't matter as much because they wouldn't be THE ONLY rep.
And that's why I was so relieved to see The Old Guard pave the way to better representation.
I'm not saying it was a perfect movie either. I'm saying that it shows better representation is possible.
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Read my post on Muslim good guys recs.
