Edward Said’s Concept of “Orientalism”, Essay Example

I have decided to take this course because of a lifelong interest in art. I wanted to expand my knowledge of the area, since my interests are quite specific. For example, I am a lover of foreign films as well as Japanese manga and anime. By taking this course, I hope to be able to articulate my interests from a more conceptual and historical viewpoint, which will, in turn, lead me to perhaps notice things I previously did not regarding art in general and specific works of art.

Edward Said’s concept of “Orientalism” is about the control of how we represent things. For Said, much of Western writing about the Orient is accordingly conditioned by Western eyes, more specifically, imperialism and colonialism. Thus, we must be careful to discern that the representations presented, for example, in the media, are themselves dictated by a very specific viewpoint and interests. This ties in with Bell Hooks’ concept that all representations are meaningful. This means that even when we see something banal like a television commercial, there are specific representations and normativities being placed in the message: for example, that being thin is the ideal or that certain material goods will make one happy, thereby promoting the deeper ideology of capitalism and consumerist culture. In much the same way, Berger says that every image is a way of seeing: we have to understand who is dictating the way of seeing and grasp that it is not always objective. There are agendas, specific norms and struggles for power that are contained in every representation. In essence, thinking about representation is learning about decoding meaning and thereby becoming a critical thinker instead of merely passively accepting all representations in the media as well as art as some type of objective portrayal of reality.