My Standpoint on Orientalism

It was truly a strange thing, the realization that the Orient does not exist. This is the type of realization that has you rolling up and down the aisles of your train of thought, screaming with a pillow clutched over your face. My mental image might seem odd to some, but it was the only thing I could concentrate on as I repeated over and over within my mind, “The Orient does not exist. The Orient does not EXIST.” What was the most confusing thing of all, upon this realization, was that the statement that the Orient does not exist is as truthful as the statement that the Orient does exist. And now you understand the true part of my dilemma when we were prompted to write in this blog about Orientalism.

Orientalism, in itself, defines the Orient, which I have already stated does not exist. I am only taking this position, mind you, because I have been studying Orientalism for the past two semesters. Though I still do not fully understand all that it implies, I understand where it came from and why it still affects us today. To simplify things, the Orient, which is where Orientalism originated, is just an idea. Basically, a bunch of European guys got together and decided what they wanted the East to be and fed that to the masses. From then on it piled up further and further, adjusting the views on the East even to today. The basic definition of Orientalism is stereotypes of the East, but it goes further than that to place the West in comparison to the East as the “self” and the “other.” Since we define ourselves off of others, Orientalism was the West’s way to define themselves by contrasting the East, and from there conquering the “other.”

Realizing all of this, I cannot really look at the different types of Asian theater and see it through the guise of Orientalism. Sure, it might appear to be odd, with dancers in a trance-like state stabbing themselves, but truly it is not. We simply do not have anything similar to that in America. I, personally, have seen far stranger things done in the West. Dance styles we have in the West could be recognized as the “other” from the Eastern perspective. Truly, we stand on equal ground. However, it cannot be ignored that Orientalism does affect the way we view the world. Everyone catches themselves indulging in stereotypes once in awhile, though we realize that they are false. The most we can do to defeat Orientalism’s hold on us is to learn more, to understand it as well as each other, and move past all differences.