Discussion on Orientalism (Essay Sample)

Orientalism
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Orientalism
America is one of the superpowers and has a major influence on other nations. The world’s largest economy does influence thoughts, assumption and it is easy to see why most of the trends from the United States spread to the rest of the world. America is widely a religious driven country even though there has been an increase of atheist in the region, religion still accounts to the huge number of individuals. There has been a disproportionate negative representation of the Muslim religion in the region for a long time. The events of the 9/11 did not make the situation much better either, as since the incident representation of the Muslim identity has been negative. Acknowledging the existing oppression, the government, religious ministers, and people in the societies are trying to destabilize the trend by educating people and removing the negative conclusion on the religion. One of the common methods is through the media. Considering the great consumption of the American media, it is logical to use the same to combat the negative image created. It is therefore also important to have a cultural production that is positive and appeals to the younger generations. A feasible example is the Marvel rebranding of the comic book Ms. Marvel that features a sixteen-year-old protagonist (Pakistani-American) from Jersey.
The comic is a representation of various Muslims characters that in real life do exist in our American society. The project was based on partial representation and headed by two Muslim females: Willow Wilson a white woman who had previously converted into Islam and Sana Amanat the Pakistan American editor. In the comic, they both try to fight the ideas of orientalism that is saturated in the West and flooded in the societies. It does not only blame the West but also partly put the blame on individuals as it touches on self-Orientalism. It plays a huge role in Orientalism. Edward Said in his article Orientalism observed that there is an extraordinary disinclination existing among us blurring us from discussing the existing problems of Orientalism in ethical, epistemological, and political contexts.[Said, Edward. "Orientalism, Nueva York." Pantheon (1978): 31-73.]
Said outlines one of the main problems as the concern of being self-righteous with a superiority complex of the white observer from the West who willingly freezes the Orient in time and prevents it from temporal and contextual dynamism. Focusing on the above problem, Ms. Marvel touches on the Orientals' capacity for self-representation. Kamal has a different world representation as far as the other foreign Muslim identity is concerned. The sixteen-year-old girl lives with her parents and Amir the older brother. Unlike other Muslim girls, Kamal does not cover her hair excepts during prayers at the mosque. She is often in Pakistan dresses and brightly colored leggings. She is also fond of using Urdu words and this allows the story to narrate itself.[Said, Edward. "Orientalism, Nueva York." Pantheon (1978): 31-73.]
Superheroes have a humanizing aspect to them that is meant to create a human experience for the audience, for Kamal one of her humanizing experience was the challenge of being a brown girl in a white-dominated world. Her powers, polymorphism allows her to be a shapeshifter. Hence, she can easily reverberate being an offspring of an immigrant who dwell in both mentally and physical spaces. This aspect allows Kamala to grow into a superhero, with a signature dress code of high boots that reach her thighs and tight custom. Reading through, Kamala growth process is inhibited by a sensitive period where she reconciles her insecurities with ethnicity and religion.[Willow Wilson, Ms. Marvel, October 15, 2014, https://www.comixology.com/Ms-Marvel-Vol-1-No-Normal/digital-comic/150745?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy. ]
The supporting characters such as Aamir Kamala's brother and her father also represent diverse figures and are well conceptualized in the story. Kamala has two men who are in her life that is the father who is more relaxed in his religious ways and the older brother who seems more devoted to his Muslim religion. Aamir is depicted as a prayerful man, who attends lectures at the local mosque and says prayers during meals. He is also shown questioning his father about working at the bank as it is against the teaching for he is handing usury that is prohibited in Islam. The father dismisses and scolds him for being unemployed and yet has the guts to question his work. This shows a father figure that is gentle and yet authoritative.[Willow Wilson, Ms. Marvel, October 15, 2014]
Kamala has two women in her life that are her mother and her Turkish-American best friend Nakia. Both wear hijab. In a gesture pseudo-liberalness, Kamala does compliment Nakia for her headscarf but she immediately inquires if she wore it out of will or she was pressured by her father who she portrays as offensive. She, however, explains it is her choice and her father actually wants her to wear it. Zoe their friend is shocked and she comments that cultures can be interesting sometimes. The comic portrays Nakia to be more strong headed and mature than Kamala; she is not comfortable with people calling her by the Anglicised nickname, as she prefers her real name. Kamala, however, prefers to be referred to with a normal name like Layla or Jasmine she tells her father. The comic makes Nakia a strong-headed woman than Kamala influencing the assumption of a non-Muslim reader might have.[Khoja-Moolji, Shenila S., and Alyssa D. Niccolini. "Comics as Public Pedagogy: Reading Muslim Masculinities through Muslim Femininities in Ms. Marvel." Girlhood Studies 8, no. 3 (2015): 23-39.]
Ms. Marvel is not a regular comic book, unlike many narratives on color that take an apologetic approach and in most cases end up focusing on the white redemption. Nevertheless, the comic is not shy about observing t