Orientalism is a direction in Western culture mainly based on irrational and stereotypical ideas about the culture of the East. In art, the East is depicted vulgarly and exotically, which creates false ideas about Eastern culture in the recipient. Orientalism is widespread in many forms of art, including cinema and literature.
One of the vivid examples of false and stereotypical representations of the East is in the film Iron Man (2008). The first third of the film’s events occur in Kunar Province in Afghanistan. The image of the local landscape is a manifestation of Orientalism because it does not correspond to reality. The film depicts the province as a desert with no place for anything alive. Instead, Kunar is a rather picturesque area with a lot of greenery and mountains. This technique demonstrates “a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said, 1978, p. 3). Due to this, the viewer realizes the brutal nature of the inhabitants.
The people of Afghanistan are portrayed as terrorists who do not have a high level of knowledge and expertise in any of the fields and are only capable of destruction and torture. This nature of the image is especially noticeable because of Yinsen, who helps Tony Stark escape from imprisonment. This character is a westernized representative of the East. He is an educated engineer with a scientific degree, which is opposed to all other residents of the East. Other representatives of the East in the film seem even wilder. Moreover, the character himself is the personification of how much influence the West has on the so-called “enlightenment” of the East.
Thus, the supremacy of the West over the East is visible in the film. Ignorant theorists who are supposed to reflect the people of Afghanistan are opposed to the people of the West. Such an untrue depiction creates a misconception of the Orient in the viewer’s worldview. Moreover, it continues the Orientalist tradition in which the Orient is portrayed not through facts but based on stereotypes and established constructs.
References
Favreau, J. (2008). Iron Man [Film]. Marvel Studios.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Vintage Books.