Cultural appropriation, misrepresentations, and stereotypes are a hot topic in popular culture, but how long has it been an issue?
This week many of us were introduced were introduced to the work of Edward Said through his works The Politics of Knowledge and most prominently Orientalism. His intellectual writing style was a wake up call, requiring close reading and analyzing historical conquest.
In seminar, we looked at Orientalist representations from both past and present. As a historical example, we observed French artist Émile Vernet-Lecomte’s painting Berber Woman, while in the present day we looked at the music video for “Hymm for the Weekend” by Coldplay and Beyonce.
In the case of the music video, it depicted a part of Indian culture but misrepresented the reality of the situation. The video shows children running through the streets, throwing celebratory paint all over Chris Martin, the main singer. Although the paint throwing ceremony is from Holi, an Indian festival, it does not occur in daily life like the video paints it out to be. Instances like that are what Orientalism is: painting non-Western cultures as exotic and different through exaggerated descriptions.
I had always thought of the word “Orient” as relating to the far east and places like China or India. As it turns out, Said’s main focus for Orientalism would be on the Middle East with other Asian countries being a part of that umbrella term as well. I am a first-generation American, with my parents having immigrated from Iran to the US before I was born. When I learned about Said’s main focus for Orientalism, I decided to delve further and see how Persian influence is depicted in popular culture.
The most prominent example of anything Persian in American popular culture is the hit Bravo reality show Shahs of Sunset. The show follows around a group of obscenely wealthy Iranian-Americans living in Beverly Hills and takes viewers through the lives and activities of these socialites. Picture Catching Up With the Kardashians but with Persians instead of Khloe and Kim.
The show paints a picture of Iranians as a group of entitled, wealthy, arrogant, and flashy people, who love to flaunt their wealth and treat themselves to the finest things. Viewers are treated to a woman named MJ saying: “I love flying private and I feel sorry for people that have to fly any other way.” America is treated to a new time zone called “Persian Standard Time,” where characters David and MJ say “They’re on PST. Persian Standard Time. They’ll be here in two and a half hours.”
Although the show perpetuates negative or condescending stereotypes of Iranian-Americans, it can be argued that the show has done more to show Persian culture than anything else in modern times. Through the reality drama and the pomp and circumstance of the uber-wealthy people the show follows, the show illustrates aspects of life for Iranian-Americans. Persian New Year is brought up, as well as other aspects of Iranian culture like art, music, cuisine, and more. Over 1.5 million Americans watch Shahs, and I would wager that a majority of them would not be aware of Persian culture whatsoever without the show.
Although these people are getting the Orientalist view of Persian culture, they are being exposed to it nonetheless, which goes back to the dilemma posed in the beginning. Is it beneficial to have a skewed perspective of something or not to be aware of it at all? Said tells us the reason for Orientalism comes from the binary relationship between the Orient and the Occident, and how the Occident is always the superior. Until that changes, the only view of Oriental cultures the West gets will be an Orientalist one.
Works Cited:
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Penguin, 1978.
Nededog, Jethro. “Bravo Renews ‘Shahs of Sunset’ for Second Season.” The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Oct. 2018, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/shahs-of-sunset-bravo-second-season-ratings-313020.
“The Quotes of Sunset.” Bravo TV Official Site, 30 Apr. 2015, http://www.bravotv.com/shahs-of-sunset/photos/the-quotes-of-sunset.
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