Orientalism: The real versus the created

I would like to discuss Orientalism and the context in which it exists. Orientalism is a movement that occurred during the 19th century when the French government was occupying the Middle East. Orientalist artists, Westerners, would generally portray subjects of Middle Eastern descent with little personal knowledge of the cultures and actual history of that social group. On the contrary, they are known to portray Middle Eastern citizens they believed their lives to be. A typical Oriental piece lacks three main ingredients that would otherwise lead the viewer to a more realistic view of the actual happenings. They lack the presence of history, the presence of Westerners and the presence of art. Jean-Léon Gérôme is a famous Orientalist artist who painted Snake Charmer, 1883. In this piece, the viewer sees a middle east audience viewing a naked boy who is handling a large snake, being charmed by the flutist, to the right. The piece lacks history because there is no reference as to when the event may have taken place. It lacks any evidence of Western presence, which indeed was taking place at this time by the French invasion of the region. The piece also lacks art, or any evidence that the painting is indeed a portrayal by an artist as opposed to a photographic depiction of an actual event.

Americans today are inundated with an Orientalism style of art and/or propaganda. "Reality" television is a perfect example of this. Reality TV began with MTV's The Real World. The cameras followed around a houseful of everyday people and edited their interactions to create dramatic and interesting television. The phenomena carried on from there and now there are "reality" based programs that depict average people supposedly acting naturally, low to middle income citizens struggling to meet certain goals and celebrities going about their everyday lives. Most of these television programs are limiting the viewers to only certain aspects of the actual events and, in some cases, producers are playing a role in the outcomes of particular situations (in effect, making decisions for the "real" person). These television programs are glamorizing certain aspects of a situation that will benefit the propaganda of that particular show. In the meantime, they are editing the show to often show the characters as being materialistic, under educated and self centered. The viewer is being shown only what the creator wants them to see! The viewer is lacking important information that might otherwise influence their own opinion of that person or of that event.

Orientalism depicts Middle Easterners in a very close minded and stereotypical way. It shows Middle Eastern living without regard to the actual substance of that society. Through "Reality" television, Hollywood is currently exposing American culture in the same way. Unfortunately for Americans, it seems that this Hollywood movement of supposed realism is affecting what is culturally important and what is culturally accepted as appropriate or normal behavior.