The paper is to focus on Said’s theory of Orientalism, namely what Said considers the false image of the Orient fabricated by Western thinkers as the primitive “other” in contrast with the civilized West. For this week’s written assignment, I would like you to put Said’s theory to the test! You should pick any cultural product and critically examine Said’s theory to see whether it could be effectively applied to that specific artistic creation. You could turn your focus to a painting (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/euor/hd_euor.htm), a poem (Cooleridge’s “Kubla Khan” perhaps, although a bit outside our middle eastern/islamic cultural millieu; Byron’s

“Giaour” etc.), a piece of music (plenty of really bad rap music, most of it with explicit lyrics; lots of good classical music, however, of the 19th century), a movie clip (a scene from “Lawrence of Arabia” perhaps, or some other contemporary adventure movie … or even the “Big Lebowski”!), almost anything artistic that interests you and could be used to examine our critical term. The length is 3pages, with a separate bibliography page, bringing the total page number to 4, and the due date, Saturday, February 25, 8pm Central time.
Please use Chicago/Turabian Style citation.
Also, use Said’s book to help support your stance by referencing various themes/parts. Be sure to cite within the text of the paper.