Monty Python, Garter Snakes, and Edward Said

Last night my dad and I rented and watched Monty Python's "The Life of Brian." Irreverent and bordering sacrilege, the film's parody of Jerusalem at the time of Christ made us shake our heads in disapproval while launching us into knee-slapping laughter. Perhaps the characters most relevant to Said's study of Orientalism are the members of the Jewish Liberation Front, a Hebrew terrorist organization incapacitated by indecision that eventually hails Brian as a martyr instead of rescuing him from crucifixion.

After last night's amusement, my dad tuned into NPR's "Car Talk" this morning. One of the callers told the hosts how his son had brought a garter snake into the car as a prank, and now the snake eluded capture by slithering from the back seat to the dashboard. This snake managed to make appearances at the most inopportune moments, making excursions up the driver's pants while waiting in traffic. The hosts jokingly suggested that the caller procure an oboe and attempt to charm the snake out of its hiding place.

These experiences illustrate the easy dissemenation of stereotypes in today's "electronic, postmodern world" that influences Westerners' views of Asians, particularly Middle Easterners. The Monty Python episode generates particular interest. Major events that have unfolded in the past eight years-- the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq-- have both exposed the Middle Eastern terrorist to the American consciousness and continued to spread general distrust and stereotypes about Arabs. I think that these perceptions and attitudes could not have had the same potency without the influence of the media-- namely television, newspapers, and the Internet. Obviously, our political interests in the Middle East have skyrocketed, and this has not failed to interact with our culture's constructs.

I think most of us would scoff at those who would lament the supposed political incorrectness of the snake charmer comment. After all, we've seen videos on YouTube of this performance and can vouch for its authenticity, right? However, I think that we associate this innocuous image with a general perception of the Middle East as someplace exotic, dangerous, and even seductive. We connect the snake charmer's music with veiled belly dancers and harems . . . and the list goes on. Although these ideas may have some distant basis in truth, they are nevertheless exaggerations that manage to infiltrate our thinking as Westerners.

Edward Said also mentions the fact that the West has used these images as justification for imperialism. I easily accept this statement, especially in light of 19th century English literature and the swelling of the British Empire that occurred under Queen Victoria. However, I would have to do some honest soul-searching before I could admit that the United States has continued to use these images to defend recent policy. While the images have changed but have also persisted since Victorian England, I would have to disagree with those who say that our (perhaps failed?) occupation of Iraq was motivated out of racist ideologies. Nobody's arguing that the war wasn't somehow political, though, and I can admit that the invasion was motivated by national superiority, if we define that as liberty, confidence in democracy, and a desire to prevent terrorist attacks. I could continue to analyze this further, but I'd be here for the next week.

In any case, Said's text definitely opened my eyes to the connections between literature's portrayal of characters and situations and the justification of political and economic interests in the Middle East and other colonized countries, both past and present.