It was a great pleasure, as it always is for me, to watch The Son of Sinbad on Tuesday. Please read the 2 assigned articles (they are on OASIS, and you can find the list of readings on OASIS, too, if you didn't get the handout in class) and answer the following questions by 5 pm on Monday, 1 October:
1. In Ellen Strain's "Defining the Tourist Gaze," Strain makes the argument that anthropology, film, and tourism are all linked.
a) Describe how the links between the three fields work.
b) Where do you see an anthropologist's perspective or a tourist's perspective in The Son of Sinbad?
c) Where do you see a Son of Sinbad-type perspective (a cinematic influence) in scientific or historical or journalistic accounts of the East (Near, Middle, or Far)?
d) Where do you see a Son of Sinbad-type perspective (a cinematic influence) in Westerners' touristic journeys to the East (Near, Middle, or Far)?
2. Ella Shohat's "Gender in Hollywood's Orient" states that Orientalist films "superimposed the visual traces of civilizations as diverse as Arab, Persian, Chinese and Indian into a single portrayal of the exotic Orient, treating cultural plurality as if it were a monolith." I made an argument on Tuesday that Son of Sinbad is in part a response to the Korean War, a fantasy that fulfills some sublimated, repressed wishes aroused by that conflict. What traces of Korea (South or North) or China, or any other Eastern nations or peoples, did you notice in Son of Sinbad? (These "traces" aren't necessarily literal, they can be metaphorical.)
3. Shohat also discusses the "Western rescue fantasy" in Orientalist films.
a) What does she mean by "Western rescue fantasy"?
b) Do you interpret Son of Sinbad to be a Western rescue fantasy in any way?
c) Do you see the Western rescue fantasy still at work in any recent films or TV shows that you can think of? In what media texts have you seen this fantasy included?
17 comments:
1.a)Strain postulates that tourism is a shallow examination of a foreign culture for the purpose of creating the contrasts necessary to define your culture, making it cousin in method to anthropology, whose systemic examination of cultures is created by marked methods in the double-consciousness of scientific awareness and immersion; of these two practices, film is host to an original interest in documenting foreign cultures for those who cannot go abroad, and were created in the service of romanticized anthropologists, permitting theater tourists the opportunity to see a foreign culture in their own context and create the contrasts necessary for self-definition and vicarious cultural conquest by documentation.
b) The anthropologist's perspective is present when the culture is laid open for examination in very science-fiction style exposition scenes that describe the methods by which Greek Fire is produced or the heads of enemies are mounted on the wall. The tourists perspective is most present in the dazzling show of dances, colorful, half Playboy half National Geographic photography direction, with exemplary dance displays or market scenes.
c) SoS probably has its photography roots in historical films of the period produced for the interest of the west in the Middle East, a land that produced no realistic human artistic depictions. Because of films heritage in its historical fascination with the Middle East, there is an entire tradition of muddling and sometimes fascinating film to follow.
d) It looks like what it is: a good-bad exploitation film made by none other than one of America's most famous womanizers. It creates an exotic element for Westerners to template for fantasies, fetishising an invented East in order to master its already present role in their lives. It's a further level of abstraction in an ever sharpening picture of the East in the mind's eye of America's popular cinema.
2. The traces are those explored in class, consisting of the use of advanced technology to obliterate the Mongol hordes, ala MacArthur's plan for Korea. We feel a little bit of WWII in the support of a lesser evil in the hopes of survival, and like America's experience of the Cold War immediately following, pay for our alliance with distasteful dictators by a commitment to defend their regimes, putting Sinbad, son of Sinbad, in the place America always reserves for itself in cinema: the dashing, rescuing hero who comes through at the very last minute. Portrayals of culture directly include market scenes, palaces, cave-fortresses, and costumes that seem to have more in common with India and Southeast Asia than the Middle East.
3.
a) The rescue fantasy is one where Western civilization and male power saves the East, Eastern femininity and fragility or just Eastern women from the lasciviousness of Eastern men or backward nature of their culture, and is paradoxically rewarded with total surrender, usually sexually, and in the group service situation from which Western culture had to free the East.
b) Only in the way that the daughters of the forty thieves are rescued from themselves and their possible independence. Aside from the final rescue sequence, the film depicts only Western women in invented by costume designers Eastern drag for the pleasure of Hughes and anyone else with a pair of 3D glasses, and serving at the leisure of Westerners from the beginning of the film to the end.
c) The Western rescue fantasy is the bread and butter of our modern popular TV adventure genre. Every time I watch a drama depicting any conflict, any military involvement, or even some law dramas cut after classic forms, there is usually a woman who needs to be rescued from herself or her abusive partner. Constant manipulation make the intervening power figure a benevolent rescuer who serves despite under appreciation and resentment from the non-white or non-American (rarely are whites seen as foreign) people who need rescuing, usually using for victims traditional symbols of weakness and vulnerability: women and children.
1. If you wanted to look at the less complex ways that anthropology, film and tourism are linked, all you need to know is it seems to work in that order. Anthropology, or the study of human life, started the interest in other cultures, but when their studies reached museums or other forms of media (other than film at this point) through the curiosity of other civilizations. It then helped to form films projecting images of countries that are, for example, outside of the United States. Once showing these images, viewers are then compelled to explore the very scenes they experienced through the films they went to see. I feel it can also be seen as tourism leading to films. Sights of other cultures viewed through traveling and having an impact on film makers inspired them to make movies of the cultures they experienced.
In Son of Sinbad I saw an anthropologist’s perspective in the government structure of having a single ruler and their having a harem. It showed having a central governing body, or reality, which perhaps is more studied more in depth by someone studying the everyday life of other cultures. Seeing things from a tourist’s perspective is, in my opinion more of the costuming and the look of the characters. The costuming is more provocative to inspire the fantasies of the viewer and may not be entirely correct. The film maker also used white women instead of using Middle Eastern women in depicting the many females in this story. I think that by using the white female is to add not only to the fantasy of beautiful women in other countries, but also to add to the curiosity of this other, unfamiliar culture.
Cinematic influence in scientific, historical, or journalistic accounts in the East reflects the fears of war. In Son of Sinbad the thought of the Persian king having a powerful weapon for battle is the same fear we hold with the Eastern countries having a nuclear bomb. The film reminds us that not only is China, another Eastern country, capable of having massively destructive warfare but other Eastern countries can get powerful weapons to gain control. Also we see and read every day the same form of negativity in the journalistic world. Writers write about the suspicions of massively destructive weapons which could very well have started with films depicting the East as being power hungry cultures that do not need to be trusted with any form or control. I think that because of the films made about the Eastern cultures, the West develop a curiosity for what the East holds, and there for we feel the need to go there. I know more recently several young American’s have developed a fascination with both the Chinese and Japanese cultures. I believe it is because of the way that they are shown in several American films with the exquisite costuming and enchanting scenery. Before that movies like Son of Sinbad encouraged curiosity in the Mid East through sexuality, showing how beautiful the women are, and how beautiful their dress can be, which seems to leave very little to the imagination.
2. I noticed Son of Sinbad there is a recurring message of the Chinese wanting complete control over other nations and their women just like it was displayed in The Mask of Fu Manchu. They are depicted as a power hungry culture wanting to use any form of destructive technology to get what they want. Women also are not positively depicted. By this I mean, they are portrayed at first as seductive and cannot be trusted. The only highlight of this movie is when the audience learns that the infamous Forty Thieves are in fact women warriors who can over through an army of men. And yet, by the end of the movie they are once again portrayed as beings that cannot survive without the companionship of a man. We also get to experience the feeling of Middle Eastern rulers to be aggressive and ruthless of their decisions, especially in the case of life or death. This type of feelings toward the Middle Eastern ruler is a notion that still is engraved deep into our current mental psyche.
3. I think that the term “Western rescue fantasy” is a polite way of saying that the west feels the need to rescue the east from their “tyrant” leaders; in other words it is like the “Knight in Shining Armor” syndrome. We want to free the damsel in distress. Ells Shohat states, “She, as a metaphor for her land, becomes available for Western penetration and domination.” What I feel that to mean is that Westerners feel the need to go through with any means necessary to “swoop” in and save the country from all of the “bad things” hurting “her”. I feel that The Son of Sinbad is Not an interpretation of “Western rescue fantasy,” if anything I believe it is the opposite. For example, when the female Forty Thieves over come the Chinese warriors they are given the opportunity to stay in their hiding place and have Sinbad and his posy stay with them, they are showing they still have control over the entire situation. Then, because the poet tells them they can live with man again, they suddenly forget they are brave warriors and are reminded that they are indeed “only women.” Up until this point they are strong and can live without the interference of men, but once they are told they can be with them again, they turn away from their warrior ways and become servant women again. I think that if they were trying to create the image of “Western rescue fantasy,” they would have either made the Forty Thieves men going in to save the women, or they would have left the women to live on as they were, just as strong as the men.
There is still the over whelming feel of “Western rescue fantasy” in the world of film, television and any other form of media out there, especially in the world of news. In television and film it is an obvious pull of “man must go out to save damsel.” It seems that any movie has that conflict where, even if the female is strong and unwavering to what she needs to accomplish, there is still a male lurking in the shadows behind her waiting to save the day. Outside of the movies there is still the use of propaganda through news pieces. There is a constant need to show the women of Eastern cultures in a light of abused and mistreated. We hardly ever get to see the Eastern life style in a positive light. It might be easier to see civilizations we are at war with in a negative light than to understand them, but by doing this we give off the feeling of being, yet again the “Knight in Shinning Armor” syndrome kicks in and the West must go in to save the East from their rulers.
Lisa
1.a) I agree with Strain that Anthropology,film,and tourism are all linked. I think that it is through an Anthropologists perspective we see various cultures for all their beauty. It is through their documentaries that we gain insight to other forms of religon, and cultural beliefs.
b.)A tourists prespective is present at the very begining of Son of Sinbad when we see a shady fortune teller, colorful outfits and women parading around in barely anything.
c.) I think the movie represents an interest in the middle east. Especially with the costumes and colors. Not to mention the art form that went into making the props and sceneray.
d.) this film defibatly has a western tourism vibe; women were expolited for their beauty and were portrayed with vulnerabilty. they were shown as beautful and fragile and dominating and strong.
2. I got a sense that Asia, or areas of China were present through the costumes, jewerly,artistry,palace,the town.
3.a.I think what Shohat meant by "Western rescue fantasy" is a common "damsel in distress" act. Wanting to be so submissive and vulnerable that you need and want to be saved by the greater being.
b. Son of Sinbad reminds me of a western rescue fantasy because throughout the movie the women are strong and opionated but then they are in awe when given the oppurtunity to bear children, and have a man take care of them.
c. Western Rescue Fantasy is what American movies are made on. You will always find someone that is portrayed as weak and in need of a strong person to come rescue her/him. Someone that relys on another being to take them and show them a better life etc. It's all about depending on someone other then yourself that Western Rescue Fantasy is created.
1.
a)In her article, Strain states that tourism is a shallow examination of a foreign culture for the purpose of creating the contrasts necessary to define your culture and this ties into anthropology because it is the the study of human life/culture/behavior in a scientific way. I think film comes in hand because there are so many documentaries of different cultures and about anthropologist where the averagae viewer can just learn about all these different areas areas and views. Culture is apart of human life and I feel that we should all have some knowledge of different cultures outside of our own.
b.) I see a tourist's perspective in The Son of Sinbad in the costumes, dances, and the depiction of women and how they were just treated more so like vixens. The whole scene of belly dancing shows put on by the women in skimpy attire all ties in w/ that. In terms of the anthropologist's perspective i'm not quite sure to be honest. I would probably have to say the the women are treated and the roles the play as well as the gov't structure and how it is a dicatorship w/ one ruler.
c.) I actually notice it is as how here in the U.S., we are always concerned about what the countries in asia getting nuclear warfare and using it possibly against us. I feel that it is kind of the same thing in SofS because the concern was that Persia was becoming a powerhouse and a threat to the side that Sinbad was fighting for. In countries like japan or china i feel the u.s. has a concern for them based on historical facts and events that occured in the past.
d.) I feel that westerners almost expect to see that type of atmosphere when they journey out to the middle east. A lot of times people get caught up in how they see a culture being depicted in a film (in this case Son of Sinbad) and forgot that this is hollywood and sometimes the truth is a little over-exaggerated. In SoS I kind of feel thought that a lot of instances women are being treated like that and are looked upon as just vixens.
2.) I'm not sure exactly in terms of traces but I think in the way the women were treated. How they are basically lessor than their superiors(men)and are just around for mere amusement. On the flip side of this though they turn out to be saviours of there empire but are quickly downgraded to being the "slaves" of men only good for parading and dancing in skimpy outfits.
3.
a) She is basically saying that the west is the saviour for the east. Daddy is coming to rescue his child from harms way. Being the big protector and saving the day. I feel that the western countries feel that it is there duty (particularly the U.S.) to interfere and "rescue" eastern countries as if they do not know how to handle there own situations.
b.)No because when I think of someone being the protector and hero I often see a male figure and in Son of Sinbad clearly the brave and fearless warriors were a band of females! I thought it was just awesome how the forty thieves turned out to be women. Although after everything was all said and done they quickly were downgraded to helpless beauty queens, they still showed up and put the men to shame.
c.) Television is so funny to me because everything seems to be a double standard and just predicatable. I have to say that I do not watch tv nearly as much as I use to back in high school but i'm sure things are pretty much the same. Men are still playing the hero and usually rescuing some lame female in distress. I can't really site any shows off hand because I don't watch tv unless its an awards show or sporting events or the news every now and then.
1.
a) It depends how you look at them. Initially an anthropologist is a tourist that can shoot film and pictures and what not. What really links them is that all three are observed at a distance instead of being completely immersed into the culture or area. It can be argued that anthropologists do participate in that culture, some do, others sit back and observe the happenings.
b) We’re being showed this exotic world from a safe distance. It is showed by showing the dressings of the culture, the music, the palace and the harems, we see the outer layer of the things that are put up there to show us, but we don’t have any knowledge of the reasons behind their customs, we’re just seeing them as they are played out.
c) I don’t know really. I mean it always seems like our news or things like that show that the East needs to be saved, they need to be civilized and we think that we can just go in there and do it and expect them to embrace us with open arms when in reality shit like that rarely happens. It seems like we know what’s better.
d) I’m not sure if I understand this question. Is this based on a westerner viewing a film like Sinbad and getting the culture and everything from the film itself or actually going outside the States to that said country. Well, I guess both are kind of the same except for the physical distance. The emotional distance is pretty much the same. We’re not living that life. We’re just going through, seeing how things are, how they live, and have that superiority over the locals because you live a more civilized life. You are interested and dazzled by the exotic things that aren’t normal to you, but are normal to the people in that certain location.
2. The mogul horde that threatens the kingdom seems to be pretty much on the dot about what we’re talking about. They are portrayed as ruthless barbaric people. Then Sinbad and the forty thieves must rely on the secrets of ancient greek fire, which is a form of technology on its own. Everyone is after the girl who holds this secret and she is always getting caught by the moguls and must be freed by Sinbad. It seems they feared that the Moguls will get hold and take over other lands so they had to quickly destroy them before they could corrupt the rest of the world.
3.
a) Western men usually want to be the courageous knight in shining armor that saves the day. This is also America as a whole too, in a way all of us want to save some lesser fortunate race. Like the women in the Middle East who where veils over their faces, they must be liberated, women should be equals and other things like that.
b), I do. You’ve got a seemingly white male who battles a mogul horde and frees the women that make up the 40 thieves. Sinbad was the liberator that saves Baghdad from being taken over.
c) The women that need rescuing from the men, the “lesser” race needs to be saved from themselves by the white man. Nothing specific comes to mind besides movies like Indiana Jones, James Bond, Sahara, and other similar movies.
1a.)Anthropology is basically the study of humans and human works. Film is a human work, and tourism in film is seen in almost every film ever made, professional and amateur. From what I can make out tourism occurs in film when a foreign culture is portrayed and the audience is being immersed in the visual and exotic ways of a new place.
1b.)In Son of Sinbad both perspectives can be seen all through the movie.First off the scantily clad woman opens the movie up, by dancing in public and there are con artist and thieves as normal members of this forein society. That is not the normal order of things here in America, and those aspects of the film give us the role of the tourists.
1c.)The fact that men in the Middle East are allowed to have more than one woman, and are superior to their women fits to the Son of Sinbad perspective almost perfectly. Sinbad doesn't have a wife, but he does have many, many women. People looking in from the outside put Sinbad and Middle Eastern men in the same category concerning women. They also put women in the Middle East at a level lower than American women. Women in America, at that time, would never have danced and shown so much skin in public, and an American woman would never accept a husband who was with multiple women, knowingly. However the Son of Sinbad perspective makes the women in the Middle East socially acceptable and secretly desireable.
1d.)I see a womanizer, making a film about another womanizer who also happens to be a hero. There are many action films that follow that trend; James Bond, a hero and a womanizer, Indiana Jones, a hero and a womanizer. It seems like that was what every guy wanted but only a select few manly men, were able to achieve, and the only way to achieve it was to venture off to the East, because the women there didn't have any morals.
2.I saw traces of any enemy of America, from any part of the East. The super-explosive magic that they used in the film, reminded me of North Korea concerning the fact that they have nuclear weapons. North Korea is being made out to look like a serious threat, concerning nuclear warfare. Sinbad chose to help the Sultan out even though the Sultan was a terrible and weak leader. That reminds me of the soldiers who agreed to fight the War in Iraq. Basically the movie villains are the same villains we have today.
3a.)The Western Rescue fantasy is basically the belief that; at the end of the day, with all the immoral and backwards ways of the eastern culture, and shameful treatment of eastern women, western males will come in and save the day, by rescuing the brain washed women from their evil, feminine, tyrannical masters, using western methods of heroism, and "Real Man Power" Often being rewarded at the end with sexual favors, which are all the women of the East can offer thier male American counterparts.
3b.)I see Son of Sinbad as the pinnacle of the Western rescue fantasy. Even though in the movie, Sinbad is supposedly from foreign country and wears a turbin, and funny pointed shoes. American Men relate closer to him than any Middle Eastern man ever could. First off, Sinbad is played by a white man who doesn't even attempt to fake a middle eastern accent. He sounds more like a good ol' American Cowboy. Most of the other men in the movie could pass for Middle Eastern, but they are all playing shady secondary characters. So of course the one obviously American character will end up saving the day and rescuing the women in the process.
3c.)Today, the women are a bit more powerful, in all media. Female heroines like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, or Trinity from the Matrix, help establish women as powerful foes to be reconned with, but also throw in their sex appeal by providing them an unnecessary provocative scene. Whether it be a rip on their shirt exposing a zoomed in cleavege shot, or a shower scene exposing their entire very sensual, very womanly body. Then at some point a man is needed for, sex, or help, or something. So today even though there are still those films that have women as pretty brainless dolls, from what I've seen I see more films that empower women, and somewhat turn from that Western Rescue fantasy. On the flip side of that. The war in Iraq have Americans under the belief that the women their need to be saved from their out of date, ignorant and wrong culture, so they feel they, being American men, need to liberate them. Other than that Women here and in the East can pretty much fend for themselves.
1. A)Well it all involves the "shaping and sharing" of cultures and what you can SEE from them, from the outside in.
B)Well I think an anthropoplogist whould want to know more about how it came to be, where as a tourist just wants to become a small part of it or just watch and try and understand it the way it is now.
C)Since I'm a photo major I see a lot of pictures of the middle east that has some form of a woman under a vail. If someone were to only go on that it would seem like all the woman are extremely repressed and slave-like. The Son of Sinbad had it as the women were mere tools and were slaves and that a man, being more powerful, could have more than one wife. The impact on the women here in the 50s must have been a pretty big. Watching S.O.S and seeing them as sex slaves but still so alluring that they are in someway 'the ones wearing the pants' in the relationships must have got American women thinking a bit more about their relationships with me.
D)A lot of movies about Japan seems to make it appear still very rural and classical Japan,but also very advanced in technology. Where everyone knows some form of martial arts and the new chemical bombs and weapons of mass distruction are manufactured. "Made in China"
2. I'm confused about this question, is it how far eastern nations did I notice in the gender and the movie? Or just the movie itself?
3.A) She means the classic 'romance' tale: Girl trapped in a problem and western white man swoops down and saves her from her crisis and they fall in love and live happily ever after. Unrealistic, but it's a fantasy.
B)Yes, He goes to save the woman in a sense. Once the battle starts he takes charge, even if the 40 theives daughters have been living out of civilization and taking care of themselves their whole lives. The male has to be the leader in the western rescue fantasy so he can take all the credit for doing something that can take and entire group.
C)Well I read a lot of the cheap and cheesey Wal-mart romance novels and they are packed full of it. But as for television and movies go, most action flicks are geared toward men, so there are a lot of women and emotionless action. The Bourne Identity is one example, even though the man (Matt Damon) is doing his own thing (trying to figure out who he is) he's still trying to keep the innocent and fragile woman (Franka Potente) safe and out of harms way.
1.
A.) The tourist, the anthropologist, and the film viewer look at things from a strictly 3rd person perspective. They are not apart of the world that that are viewing, therefore they see things that are presented to them at face value and must translate the situation based on their own experiences and knowledge of what they are viewing.
B.) For example in “The Son of Sinbad” the intended audience is not a part of the world that is created on screen; therefore they must view this strange and exotic world and base its reality off of their own. What this does, in this instance, is deepen the mystery of the culture that is presented to the audience, because they have little to no reference about this time and place, especially in the era that this movie was created.
C.) When explorers first traveled to the East, the brought back with them strange artifacts and even stranger tales of what they had seen. Upon his return to Europe from his travels in China, Marco Polo told incredible stories of what he had seen. So incredible and strange they were to the Europeans of that time that they did not believe him. Also when monks traveled to China to try and convert people to Christianity they recounted tales of the society they saw there. The class structure baffled them as did the strange day to day rituals they observed. Their accounts were written down in journals and sent back to Europe.
D.) Once can see a tourist view of the East almost every day on the travel channel. The East (near, middle, or far) is still interesting and mysterious to the every day westerner that these shows are still wildly popular. These shoes, like “Son of Sinbad” offer a view into the world of the orient that most people in the west never get to see, although these shows are for more truthful and considerably less racist than the Howard Hughes movie.
2. Apart from the obvious traces of eastern people in terms of the actual characters presented, there are many other representations of eastern people and their culture. There is a very strong sense of a male dominated society, which was present in eastern cultures of that time and still, very much, today. For example all the harem girls doing the bidding of the king, the dances done by many of the girls specifically to please men, The 40 thieves who were good at fighting still needing Sinbad’s help to save them, etc. The “Monolith” of eastern people is represented in the Mongol horde, while seemingly far eastern, were never actually pinpointed in terms of race. It’s the same way in “The Mask of Fu-Manchu” the Mongol horde was eastern in nationality but represented the middle, near, and Far East.
3.
A.) The western rescue fantasy in terms of orientalist films portrays the East as a female in need of rescue from the male west. Rescue not only from outside oppressors, but also and most importantly rescue from herself or as Shohat puts it “saved from her own destructiveness.” Put differently in these films the west has to come in and save the east from its own destructive ways. The east being backwards ancient and wrong, and the west being modern and rational and indeed the savior.
B.) The Son of Sinbad does seem like a western rescue movie in many ways. While most of the other characters in this movie seem, or are at least portrayed as eastern in race and culture, Sinbad himself seems very western. No accent, no strange rituals, lighter skin tone than many of the other characters. So its very much a western rescue movie if one views it in terms of the western Sinbad swooping in to rescue the eastern girls, the eastern kingdom, and destroy the evil eastern Mongol hordes.
C.) There are many western rescue movies and texts that are still present in today’s society. One that pops into my mind right off the bat is the movie 300, where an army of Greek soldiers pushes back a larger army of Persians. Where the Greeks here represent the west and the Persian army (consisting of many different eastern stereotypes once again creating a cultural monolith) represents the east.
1)
a.) Strain says that anthropology, film, and tourism are all linked. Anthropology is the study of humanity. Filmmakers, intrigued by the exotic cultures being studied, create these marvelous worlds as their interpretation of the culture. People see these films and are transported to these places without ever having to leave their city. People not only "travel" to far away places but they also learn something about a foreign culture.
b.) A tourists perspective would be in the beginning where Omar is walking through the streets looking for Sinbad seeing all of the elaborate shops and dances. The anthropologists perspective can also be seen in this scene. Not only does it show an exotic world but it also shows how the normal, average person lives in that culture.
c.) Son of Sinbad shows a cinematic influence in history by showing the west, Persia, fighting the east, Mongols. It also shows that the west has a powerful weapon that the Mongols don't have yet and wants and will do anything to get it. This is a lot like the Cold War and how the Soviets used espionage to steal the plans for a nuclear bomb.
d.) It creates this fantasy world full of exotic beauties dancing in a seductive manner. The grand palace with all of its riches. It shows how anyone could get anything if they had the money. With all the exotic things tempting people it also shows the cons that were rampant.
2) I found that Son of Sinbad is a lot like the Korean War. When the American forces were almost annihilated the thought of a super weapon that the enemy doesn't possess seems as a possible solution if used in a controlled way.
3)
a.) The western rescue fantasy is where the western man saves the day from the evil east and gets everything that he had ever wanted, including liberating the girl from her abusive eastern man.
b.) Yes, I do find Son of Sinbad to be a western rescue fantasy. In the end Sinbad saves the day and he does get everything he wanted.
c.) The western rescue fantasy is still at large in films and television. It can be found in just about any major action film being produced. One example could be 300. The western Greeks going off to protect their women from the evil eastern Persia.
a). Anthropology is the study of humans. In order to make a successful film you need to have a human perspective, especially if you are studying a culture you are not familiar with. Tourism falls into the same category. In order to capture a culture you need to visit and experience it first hand.
b) In the beginning of the movie I saw a tourist’s perspective. They used colorful Middle East outfits and recognizable clothing for that particular time and place. It almost looked as if someone took every stereotype they could think of and put it into the film.
c) I think any type of article in a magazine shows women in colorful outfits covering their faces, or problems occurring within the Middle East. It is hard to really say. I think that in general stereotypes are the cause.
d) I see a tourist perspective on the clothing and the way the women acted in this film. It seemed to incorporate stereotypes within the Middle East. I don’t think that this movie would have been as successful without those familiar stereotypes.
2. I saw a couple of familiar traces. The way the women were dressed, the scenery (desert, long curtains, bright colors), and the town itself. I definitely saw the Middle East being portrayed. It also reminded me of Morocco because of the clothing and the way the women acted/treated.
a.) I think Shohat means that these women wanted to be rescued. They wanted a strong and successful man to take them away from their own world. I think they thought by being rescued they would have a better life and live “happily ever after.”
b) Yes. Sinbad was portrayed as this strong and handsome man who could have any woman he wanted. Almost every woman who encountered him during this film thought that she could be the one to marry him and that he loved only her. That is a fantasy in its own way because it was obvious that he didn’t just want one woman. He enjoyed being the object of affection for multiple women. It was his way of holding power.
c) I think that the rescue fantasy will always be in films or TV shows. James Bond is a prime example of this. He is like Sinbad because he too can have any woman he wants. As far as other movies and television goes there will always be that “rescue fantasy.”
In Ellen Strain's "Defining the Tourist Gaze," Strain makes the argument that anthropology, film, and tourism are all linked.
a) Describe how the links between the three fields work.
b) Where do you see an anthropologist's perspective or a tourist's perspective in The Son of Sinbad?
c) Where do you see a Son of Sinbad-type perspective (a cinematic influence) in scientific or historical or journalistic accounts of the East (Near, Middle, or Far)?
d) Where do you see a Son of Sinbad-type perspective (a cinematic influence) in Westerners' touristic journeys to the East (Near, Middle, or Far)?
2. Ella Shohat's "Gender in Hollywood's Orient" states that Orientalist films "superimposed the visual traces of civilizations as diverse as Arab, Persian, Chinese and Indian into a single portrayal of the exotic Orient, treating cultural plurality as if it were a monolith." I made an argument on Tuesday that Son of Sinbad is in part a response to the Korean War, a fantasy that fulfills some sublimated, repressed wishes aroused by that conflict. What traces of Korea (South or North) or China, or any other Eastern nations or peoples, did you notice in Son of Sinbad? (These "traces" aren't necessarily literal, they can be metaphorical.)
3. Shohat also discusses the "Western rescue fantasy" in Orientalist films.
a) What does she mean by "Western rescue fantasy"?
b) Do you interpret Son of Sinbad to be a Western rescue fantasy in any way?
c) Do you see the Western rescue fantasy still at work in any recent films or TV shows that you can think of? In what media texts have you seen this fantasy included?
Whoops. here you go
1.a) Anthropology is the study of a people group, tourism brings up the non professional observations of that same culture and film can the represent of anything from that culture. Film, however, is the way that most of the society will be informed about the place.
I’d say there is quite a bit of that in Son of Sinbad. The first scene in the movie involves a belly dance, and there are lots of little incidents of deceptive people, such as the beggar and the mystic.
Thrown all over the news is this image of a war torn and desperate middle east. Or this feminine damsel in distress driven by a cruel dictator as portrayed in the movies. No matter how true the anthropologists’ side of things is supposed to be, I think there is still some influence from film.
d) How many times do people just assume that the orient is going to have belly dancers? I think that a lot of people expect this spice scented, colorful, exotic world that is visual candy when they traveled to orient a while ago (not now, thanks to the news where we just assume we are going to be blown up). We expect life to be like it is in the movies and as fate would have it, most films are fiction.
2. I think that the Mongol hoards were supposed to represent the eastern Asians that the United States were in conflict with at the time. The fact that perhaps through technology, we could have possibly won the Korean War and that perhaps we just needed a little more time. The fact that Sinbad looked extremely Caucasian, and the people who looked the most Asian were actually the Mongol peoples really reiterate the thought that America should be on Sinbad’s team and Korea is the Mongol hoards.
3. a) I think that Americans think that their way is the right way, no matter what. We want to rescue other countries from their “backwards ways and oppressive governments” and teach them the ways of freedom and democracy.
b)I think that to begin with we can all agree that Sinbad was supposed to represent America. So the idea that the obviously Caucasian man was able to not only steal the exotic women away from the Sultan character, he was also able to save the Sultan character from being over turned, all while rescuing the beautiful damsel in distress; the dream of any Western male.
c) I think any Sci-Fi show has a measure of this western rescue fantasy. The idea of there being one truth and one hero to convert the world.
1.)
A)Anthropology is the study of human beings and this relates to film are human beings stories captured and tourism is the opportunity for people to live out their experiences they've seen or heard about. To really be happy in a place one must research and understand a culture to truly soak in the experience.
B)I see the anthropologist's perspective when we see how the greek fire is made and we see a tourist's perspective because of the grandeur and exoticness of the east. we see the women dancing around in skimpy little outfits. we see it with the bright colors, magic lamps, spices and other oriental things. we see it also in the chosen locations and environments such as palaces, and the market places, and secret hideouts in the caves.
C)I'm not exactly sure but I think the scientific, historical, and journalistic accounts of the East seem to be interested in the east but also express a fear of the war.
D.)This movie definitely had a western tourism vibe in the exoticness of the location and the women pracncing around half naked. Also, as an audience member in the U.S at the time it was as if the audience members were travelling with the movie and going to the East experiencing it for themselves. I think this was done purposely for the movie makers knew that this was targeted primarily to audiences in the U.S. Also, you can see the western tourism thing in movies such as Indiana Jones and James Bond. WHere they depict the East as lands full of beautiful and vulnerable women who are submissive to men. And also lands full of servants and lives of luxury and splendor.
2.)I really only saw the Asian influence in the expulsion of the Mongols. And similar to all the other movies we've watched the women in the society are submissive to the men. And don't seem to play strong roles or if they do it is only for a small period of time. And then they revert to their old ways yet again.
3.)
A) By "western rescue fantasy" she means metaphorically that was the west(male) will always save the east and swoop in dramatically and save the east(female).
B) Yes I do. it may have just been me, but i thought that sinbad looked rather white in this movie and he (while a womanizer)seems to do no wrong and ends up "saving Bagdad" and that the 40 thieves end up being "rescued" and brought back to civilization so they can meet men.
C)Well like I said before I saw it in films like Indiana Jones, and James Bond, but I also see it in the new movie "The Kingdom" which is about an american team that is doing an investigation in Saudi Arabia because they dont think Saudi officials can handle it. As for media texts I cant really think of any.
(ONE)
A general link that holds anthropology, film, and tourism together is the Western mentality towards viewing exotic, primitive, or simply different cultures. Anthropology is a science that uses a scientific frame of mind, taking data and applying to a theory or idea. In many ways both film and tourism take the same approach to a new or interesting culture. Western observers, as Strain argues, are frequently pulling themselves away from a culture, keeping themselves in a happy, safe, western place even while immersed in a foreign land. Taking pictures, viewing the land through bus and train windows, and watching from the comfort of our own couch sustain the comfort of home in a “mental bubble” while fetishizing the world cookie cut and placed before them. The Son of Sinbad was a vivid representation of the anthropological gaze. Sinbad, Son of Sinbad, is an obviously western actor, and his role, although turban topped, was that of the West as a whole. He came in and put right the cultural tendencies that seemed too foreign to be correct to a western mind. The women were shown freedom, the terrible ruler was put in his place, and the Mongol hoards were destroyed with the help of superior military technology. Points of the Eastern society were targeted by an almost political anthropological mind and corrected as they saw was more correct. Media will capture a distant land in one of two ways. The media will take the most shocking aspects of a culture and display them at their fiercest or they will simply take the photogenic, beauty and wonder aspects and pretty them up as best they can. It is this way with film and journalism. This draws tourism to tourist destinations where they can be where they have seen in media and prove it through photographs. Sadly, although entertained, the public is left with a narrow view of a foreign culture, but that is OK because that leaves plenty of room for a Western imagination to roam.
(TWO)
After the angst of a tie the American public realized its own mortality and evidently didn’t enjoy the feeling. The superhero-like abilities of Sinbad promised the public a flawless victory against the East and its many difficulties. The summarized East present in Son of Sinbad, from costume design to setting and language, gives the dreamy idea that “We’ve got that covered” in reference to the East. “Our superiority is still in tact.” It brought the public back to the days when the East was a far tribe that could be easily entered and taken by Western explorers, who would often view the culture as a “cute idea,” take some pictures and begin telling the Orient what to do. Sinbad has complete manipulative power over anyone he chooses.
(THREE)
People make period films to exaggerate modern social conflicts, like women’s rights and immigration. This idea moves beyond film and into real life occurrences overseas. People will consult their memories of history class and recall the wrongdoings that used to occur. It is always our “forefathers” who came in and did the right thing. They fought for their modern idea that is now cliché. As Western civilization views these same old fashion ideas, often mistaken, in other cultures they feel a strong urge to do as their forefathers did and be a historic hero. This mentality has, I think, been very popular in the War on Terror. The womanizing, Bible clothes wearing “Evildoers” need to be introduced to a modern idea. How else would a Western power do this other than by brute force? We are doing the right thing, being the heroes, just like our forefathers. There has been a mass production of films placed into the Middle East and its war, the latest being The Kingdom. These films are said to be OK as far as political correctness goes, because there is a Middle Eastern man, woman, or child with the heroes, a quick fix to any ideas that it is a racist film.
The news of the past few years, whether intentionally or not, has brought out these feelings in many of the people I have talked to about it.
1A Anthropology discovered the history of the location, film brings it to life and glamorizes certain aspects, and then tourists want to go visit it and spend money their money there.
1B I think you see the perspective well in the background of all the shots. The kind of clothing they wore, how they talked, the settings. The best scene is at night when the caravan is gathered around the watering hole.
1C I believe that you find many references in there about not wanting to go to war (fighting the horde), letting go some of their roots for rights (The forty thieves).
2 The most noticeable trace hat to be the fact that everyone of the bad guys had a giant Fu Manchu style mustache along with their desire to kill everyone and take their women.
3A Westerners always view themselves as the heroes coming to the east to save the women from the Arabs and their own destruction.
3B Yes a little bit but only because Sinbad lets all the women come back to work for him and be free of their illegal ways.
3C I’m pretty out of the loop right now. It’s basically 10 bucks a ticket to go see a movie at the theater near me. The last time I even went to the movie theater was to go see hot fuzz and there wasn’t anything like the western rescue in there.
1.
a) As far as film and tourism are concerned, I believe it heavily relies on anthropology for answers and resources. Where one can't be a tourist, they rely on film and it's interpretation, when the interpretation seems askew, one can rely on anthropology. All in all, all three serves for a vicarious purpose.
b) A tourist's perspective are apparent during most establishing shots, the palace, the fortune teller, the areas full of harems, primarily the “exotic” areas that were shot. As far as an anthropologist's perspective it seems quite lacking, but if I were an anthropologist I'd question the castle exterior skull hangings, how that particular area would've been any relevant to the discovery of Greek fire, or anything Greek for that matter.
c) I would say it borders both, the only thing remotely scientific was the use of Greek fire, combining different combinations of whatever were in those tiny jugs. Not remotely historical or journalistic, if the 40 Thieves were real, this Sinbad would've killed their hype.
d) Exploited women, the dumbing down of women, the gender hierarchy, the social hierarchy, the Middle Easts treatment of people, their one man justice system and their social control (where it seems like the art of dance and music is only enjoyed by the king and those fortunate to be around).
2. The sword fights, the magic control over fire, arrows, the magical caves, and exotic palace seemed to be all influenced by the Asian culture. The only people that were close to looking “oriental” were the bad guys, the palace leaders, the servants and people of the area. The good guys, the forty thieves, and the harems were all Caucasian. Leaving me to think that the people in the movie that are desirables, dominant, and justifiable, are people that are Caucasian. An overwhelming sense of racial pride that cost America to lose the orient to Communism. If it were for the a-bomb America wouldn't have had a chance anywhere in Asia. And this film seems to try to hold up America's pride and value at that time, a time where America was losing it's grounds in the east.
3.
a) The poor helpless girl awaits her knight in shining armor, or in this case her Persian Prince in naked armor to come to rescue her, because she is weak, and unable to think and save herself from her predicament. This character is usually one of the most attractive of women characters, submissive, average brain cell count, and she can charm the protagonist, and that is about it.
b) It screams Western rescue fantasy, it wasn't just one woman rescued, Sinbad and crew rescued the entire gang of the 40 Thieves! A gang of 40 thieves were unable to stop the Persian army, due to the stereotypical fact that they didn't have a male in their team, because of course any women platoon is only competent if they have a male leader. And the male leader happens to be a Sinbad, a white male, a cheesy sweet talker, not his buddy Khayam whom happens to be the intelligent one, the well spoken one, and the one that seems most fit for the job, but not as fit as the brawn before brains Sinbad. Sinbad is the bad ass, the take the bulls by the horns type of guy, he is the alpha male that all the women in the bar want to be rescued by.
c) When I think of Western rescue fantasy, I think of the many Disney movies and the many super hero flicks and shows. I don't watch much tv, but the Western rescue fantasy can be picked out easily on almost any movie or show.
1.) When I think of a tourist or tourism, I think of mobs of people who don't at all look like locals and don't even try to blend in at all. They wear fanny packs, shirts that state fully that they are HUGE fans of the place they are in, and they have a collection of pamphlets that tell them where to go. You could say that a tourist spends his or her whole day like a half-assed anthropologist, wanting so badly to be a part of the visited place, but yet doesn't in any way want to just delve right in and get lost or meet the locals. You could say that these people would have probably been better off watching a documentary at home. That's where film comes in. Some film is basically that tourist experience for people who are too afraid or too different to experience those things in real life.
b)The anthropologist's perspective would come from the story of SoS. The legend of his father, the antics of the 2 main characters, the Greek Fire, the culture etc. The tourists perspective would have more to do with the costumes and dancing.
c) You can see them on the news. Any kind of shallow depiction of the middle east. The whole idea of tourism exists in international media.
d)Any kind of film about americans in the middle east. There's alot of them coming out these days. Most of them are about American military conflicts in the middle east.
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