Orientalism Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Orientalism - Movie Review Example In â€Å"Orientalism,† Edward Said, wanted to explain to the western world, especially the United States, some of the cultural and ideological differences between the â€Å"orient,† by which he means the Middle East, and the United States. Said’s â€Å"Orientalism† is divided into six sections, and in each section, he tackles one of the significant aspects of the relationship between the Middle East, representing the East, and the United States, representing the West. The five sections of â€Å"Orientalism† are designed under the titles: â€Å"The Repertory of orientalism,† â€Å"Orietalism and Empire,† â€Å"American orientalism,† â€Å"Orientalism Today : The Demonization of lslam in the News and Popular Culture,† â€Å"Oklahoma city Bombing,† and â€Å"Orientalism and Palestinian Question.† The dominating theme in the six sections is the notion that Orientalism constitutes a package of thoughts , beliefs, cultures, and traditions that are unique to the orient, and have to be adequately absorbed and understood by the East. According to Said, Orientalism does not connote a political or a social aspect alone. Rather, to understand the concept of Orientalis m according to Said, one has to develop deep understanding of many aspects that are unique to the orient. This idea is clearly expressed by Said when he introduces Orientalism as â€Å"a distribution of geopolitical awareness into aesthetic scholarly, economic, sociological, historical, and philological texts.† (Chapter 4) So, by using this set of â€Å"aspects,† Said approaches Orientalism as â€Å"a whole series of ‘interests’,† not a single entity. Among the various aspects of Orientalism, the cultural aspect remains the most distinguished and unique to the orient. The diversity of the cultures of the orient is stressed by Said, who believes that â€Å"cultural strength is not something we can discuss very easily.† Said declared that New York "plays an important role in the kind of