Analysis Of 'The West's Orientals'

Adding to the essay, ‘The West’s’ depiction of the Orientals was such that they were always mythically thought to be wealthy and exotic. The part in the video where all the female background dancers are surrounding the two leads reflect Harem. According to the concept of harem, men are forbidden in the women’s quarters. In spite of this, the video features Diplo being present in the traditionally restricted area, hence standing as a representation of a coloniser and as someone who is naturally superior or above the traditions of the inferior. He is seen amongst all the Indian background dancers who are dancing sultrily around the huge bath. Since according to many scholarly readings, colonisation is the reason race exists, people from the west
It designates that collection of dreams, images and vocabularies available to anyone who has tried to talk about what lies east of the dividing line” (Said cited in Hall, 2000). Over the discourse of Orientalism it is established that there is a distinctive line between The West and The Rest. There is a certain way in which the Occident looks at the rest of the world. When colonisation happened and the colonisers explored the other side of the world, they contacted and conquered these ‘new people’. On encountering and understanding the new eastern culture, the western world realised how different both the cultures were. They had to make the ‘new society’ understand that there are different lifestyles in the world and how their cultures are different. The history of the discourse of Orientalism takes us through a journey of ever changing and evolving cultures, which began from the end of Medieval Ages. The depiction of the ‘other world’ were done according to the mythic believes of the
In the above video, Diplo might come off as a coloniser who exploits the country and its historical culture. To support this argument, the evidence is in the form of the mentioned video. It is filmed in a royal setting which has also been given a tone of a holy ambience of a temple, as mentioned already. Indian history dates us back to the era of Middle Ages when India was divided into many kingdoms which were ruled by their individual kings. India is also famously known for its spiritual background which takes us through the religious history. Stereotypically speaking, India is quite often represented as a land of temples and where people go to seek spiritual enlightening. India is a culturally diverse country boasting of more than two hundred languages which originate from different cultural backgrounds. The cultural diversity of the country is depicted in the video through the miss match of depictions that is happening throughout the three minutes of the video. The part in the video where the cast is shown dancing in a bus is a representation of the Indian cinema industry, as mentioned earlier. The vibrant colours of the bus represent psychedelia, which is also a significant part of Indian cultural history. All these representations are derived from the existing ideologies which saw the genesis of race and the stereotypes linked to