this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR511iAedYU
This is a video specifically about orientalism and Middle Eastern music in films and games. I think seeing how orientalism warps and flattens a specific part of the art we're presented with is a good primer for exploring the concept further.
One thing I find difficult about orientalism as an aesthetic is that... it kind of slaps, doesn't it (as acknowledged in that video iirc). It's not just music either — so many great villains, settings, costumes etc etc. Like, it's completely understandable and right that you can't do Ming the Merciless anymore, but... that dude had a thing going on
Yeah, its natural for art to develop themes, tropes, styles, and shorthand. But our shorthand for, say, Europe's Middle age doesn't actually replace anyone's understanding of European history. Even if people don't know all that much about it, they'll understand that the art doesn't actually communicate much about that cultural or historical reality.
Yet as we start drifting outside that peninsula, that ability to distinguish artistic shorthand from real culture starts to drop off alarmingly.
That period is horrible misconstrued due to the victorian age propaganda. Half of the "medivial age" based media is a horrible mishmash of 17-19th century anglo-norman-centric cultural memory imposed on the 10th-13th century timeframe. Like there were regions of western europe that DIDNT have "feudalism" (which is an antiquated term nowdays) at all.
Of course its nothing compared to non-western cultures and their treatment (or complete erasure).