{"id":39,"date":"2017-11-16T10:56:17","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T15:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/postcolonialstarwars\/?page_id=39"},"modified":"2017-12-08T10:31:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T15:31:37","slug":"ali-sadek","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/postcolonialstarwars\/anthology\/fall-2017\/ali-sadek\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Sadek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galactic Orientalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there existed what we have come to know as Orientalism. This is a phenomenon described by Edward Said as \u201ca kind of intellectual authority over the Orient within Western culture”. This authority must in large part be the subject of any description of Orientalism.[1]<\/a> This translates to a group of people who are trapped in an imaginative bubble, sterile of any real interaction with those outside this \u201cimaginative\u201d geographical boundary. Then with the help of prevalent media and propaganda these ignorant people with no other source of valid information are led to believe in a, usually negative, stereotypical depiction of the \u201cothers\u201d. Those would be cultures and civilizations outside this imaginary \u201cbubble\u201d which are only encountered by the masses through the lenses of popular literature and arts portraying them as backwards, inferior and unlike the reality which is purposely blurred by those who seek to benefit off of these misconceptions. Why this matters is found in the seeds of ignorance, sown by Orientalism, deep within the psyche of all the participants and observers of conflicts and imperialism of this world.Whether it is through killings or determination of wars, by the end of this article you shall understand how these seeds of misconception whether sown through academic literature or leisurely yet orientalist media such as Star Wars<\/em> can become a force of damage.<\/p>\n

The first of these misconceptions is noticeable from the very second scene of Star Wars<\/em>. We can actually see the direct consequences of such stereotyping in the way the outer rim planet \u2018Tatooine\u2019 is depicted. It is known as a desert planet and could be argued is the Middle East of the space saga with filming taking place in the North African country of Tunisia[2]<\/a> and being named after a Tunisian village.[3]<\/a> Other references are present in the portrayal of the building\u2019s architecture and markets representing \u201cclassical Orientalist models\u201d[4]<\/a> of the region\u2019s setting which when in fact most modern Arabian buildings are not sand huts. Nor do most Middle Eastern people do their shopping in a bazaar style market.<\/p>\n

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Fig.1 Arab Market at Jaffa, Gustav Bauernfeind, 1877<\/b><\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n

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Figure 2<\/span><\/b> Tatooine’s Market<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Thus as you can see from the above images, this representation is from an outdated and therefore backwards inspiration. In fact, the Middle East happens to be home to the fifth largest modern mall in the world and the tallest skyscraper as well.[5]<\/a> [6]<\/a> Even the \u201cnatives\u201d of the desert planet are seen as wearing robes comparable to the traditional white \u201cJallabiya\u201d worn by people in the Arabic & Middle Eastern world.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Fig.3 Traditional Jallabiya worn by North African farmers <\/span><\/b>Fig.4 Sand People Native to Tatooine<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

This brings me to my next point, the natives. They mainly consists of the Tusken Raiders (originally known as \u2018sand people\u2019), which are portrayed as being inferior to the human colonizers of Tatooine. If it was not bad enough that they are portrayed as being barbaric and non-understanding in every appearance within the movies, they also are shown to wield primitive weapons compared to their human counterpart. Even the language spoken by the Tusken Raiders is portrayed as being an aggressive and unappealing one based on growling and helps this representation stray even further from being human. [8]<\/a><\/p>\n