Japanese Animation and Identity Essay - 3705 Words

Japanese Animation and Identity In Orientalism, Edward Said claims that, â€Å"as much as the West itself, the Orient is an idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that have given it reality and presence in and for the West† (5). The complex network of political, economical, academic, cultural, or geographical realities of the Orient called â€Å"Orientalism† is a way of coming to terms with the Orient, or to be less geographically specific, the Other. Although Said defines Orientalism to be specifically Franco-British experience in the Arab world, his basic arguments can be applied to the process of Othering in a more general sense. Especially his idea of â€Å"representation† plays a central role in the†¦show more content†¦In other words, not only construction but deconstruction of the dubious entity â€Å"Orient† require the West (the Orient’s agent) to speak for the Orient. Another problem is what Said calls â€Å"a triumph of Orientalism† (323) today, the major source of which is no longer Britain or France, but the United States, the democratically totalizing economy power. It means cultural domination on the one hand (â€Å"Orientals† educated in the United States repeat the Orientalist clichà ©), and economic absorption of poor nations on the other (consumerism in the Orient). A simple example Said takes up is â€Å"the paradox of an Arab regarding himself as an ‘Arab’ of the sort put out by Hollywood† (325). The Orient, in short, playacts its image as imagined by the West. This is far more problematic than the former form of Orientalism because the subject position of an â€Å"Oriental† is now realized only as the subject that (re-)presents itself as the Other before the Western eyes, as imagined by the West: and this Western gaze is what the Oriental subject identifies her/himself. It is disappointing in a sense that Said does not develop his arguments more than the idea that this phenomenon of cultural domination is only the Orient’sShow MoreRelatedBackground and Global Influence of Japanese animation1540 Words   |  7 Pagesthe biggest animation industry in the world. As an animation superpower, Japan has surpassed the United States in animation export and become the world’s largest exporter of animation (Guo, 2013). The globalization of Japanese animation has huge development in recent two decades. Animation brings huge economic benefits to Japan. 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