Emily Gonzalez
One of the main reasons I signed up for the class was because I knew the course was going to discuss prejudices against the east and discuss various pieces of media in which we see the west’s perspective of the east. Growing up, I wasn’t aware of the controversy and problematic aspects of the film Aladdin. As I started to get older, I started to notice aspects and moments in the film that seemed off-putting and problematic. I was still unaware of what exactly was wrong with this film until I took this class. Before taking this class, I had thought that the negative portrayal of Middle Eastern countries evolved in the 20th and 21st centuries. In the course, I soon realized that I was wrong due to the readings of Said and Ernst.
Ernst introduced me to the term orientalism and the history of the separation of the “west” and the “east.” Ernst makes it extremely clear that the definition of the “west” is convoluted and that if we are going to use that word, we must understand that the foundations for the separation of the east and the west stemmed from Israelite prophecy, Revelation and Greek democracy. In his witting, Ernst established that religion was used as a means to justify colonization. When Ernst discussed the Crusades and the Spanish Reconquista, it made me realize that this was the very start of anti-Muslim sentiment. Ernst described how the French oversexualized the “East” and how the globalization of the European countries created the notion that “European culture and science are the apex of progress.” Said further discusses how Arthur James Balfour and Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, used the concepts of “knowledge” and “power” to justify their ideals of European imperialism and the “white man’s burden” in the 19th century. In reading and discovering the concepts presented by Ernst and Said, I was able to understand that the negative portrayal of the Middle East has been happening for centuries rather than just occurring for two centuries. This made me reflect on my understanding of the Middle East and my exposure to media in the Middle East. I believe that that my assumption was a result of the failure of the American education system. Throughout my life, I was barely taught about the Middle East, yet in countries of the “East,” students are expected to learn about the “West” and learn English. This reflection made me understand that the misconceptions and misinformation in regards to the Middle East are a result of the globalization of European countries, and the idea of “power” has influenced the education system.
As we watched Aladdin in class and the Thief of Baghdad, I began to analyze the signs and examples of anti-Middle Eastern sentiment and the oversexualization of Arabic women. It was really shocking to realize that, in my years of life, I hadn’t realized the immediate bashing of the Middle East at the very beginning of the song. The original version of Arabian Nights says, “Where they cut off your ears if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but it’s home. And then Disney changed it to “where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense, it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” Although the company changed it due to the protest of the Committee of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the lyrics still talk illy of a fictional world model after the Middle East. Even further in the song, there is a lyric that says, “More often than not, in a lot of good ways.” The very lyric alludes to the sex appeal of Middle Eastern women. We see the hyper sexualization of the women who are middle-eastern in Aladdin and The Thief in Baghdad. In both films, the princess clothing is inaccurate in accordance to Middle Eastern clothing. The princess’ clothing is reveling in the chest and in the midriff area. I started to realize that the oversexualization of Middle Eastern characters dates back to the French translation of the Arabian Nights, in which the French hypersexualized the characters. The sultan in both films is portrayed as childish. I wondered if this was an underlying racist commentary on Middle Eastern power structures and was influenced by the idea that the west needs to help the east rule. Analyzing both films and talking about the issues presented in both films truly helped me become more aware of the negative portrayal of the “East” in western media.
From reading pieces from Ernest, Edward Said, and Christine Staninger, I was able to learn and further develop my understanding of the idea of the “East and the West” and the portrayal of Middle Eastern people in writing, films, and history. This course has allowed me to gain a stronger understanding of how the “West” has portrayed the “East” to its desire for centuries. The course has opened my eyes in response to the East’s portrayal in western media. And as someone who one day hopes to go into politics, this is extremely insightful.
