Edward Said is one of the forefathers of Orientalism and thus he pushed that East

played a major role in shaping the West. Next, he would go on to write a book called

“Orientalism” in which he claimed that Asia and India gave false justification to the West

which made them want to capture and colonize Eastern countries. Two main arguments

that Said claimed was that the East and the West were divided into two separate

boundaries of the world. Said also felt that it was the job of the West to civilize the East.

The West was considered to be the civilized boundary and the East was uncivilized.

Finally he believed that stereotypes would give false justification towards Western

boundaries about the East.

Said believed that it was the job of the West who were the civilized people to

educate and change the uncivilized. He felt that East needed guidance and help in order

to stay a float as a country and be successful. You see that in the movie Madame

Butterfly Said’s ideas played a major role in it. You can say that in the movie René

Gallimard played the role of the West and Song Liling represents the East. Throughout

the play you can see Said’s main ideas run through the love affair of René and Song.

You watch as Song tries to teach René ancient riddles and traditions. She tried to show

him the good in the East by having him explore the mysteriousness of he arts. Then on

the other hand you see René try and civilize Song. He tries to teach her about politics

and international affairs. The times you see René with his real wife you realize his true

feelings and that is that the Easterners are years behind the West. He feels that he is

another world when he first arrives in the East. You also see Said’s ideas of the West

trying to civilize the East with the use of politics. When René is asked if he believes the

U.S. should be sent in to control the country he without hesitation says that they need to

help move the East into current times like France. Another main idea of Said is the type of ethnic stereotypes there are in the East.

He believes that because the West is civilizing the East they are therefore superior and

They have the right to say things about the East wither it be good or bad. You see in the

movie that Said’s ideas of stereotypes are very strong. An example would be when René

is talking to his real wife about attending an Asian Opera. Her response back to him was

why would you want to go see a play that sounds like people are just squawking like

animals. Another is that all Asian women are like little dolls and their only purpose is for

them to dress up and take orders from the men. They also make them out to be a sex idol

in which they are a mysterious treasure that the Western man cant have. Said also

believed that they played a helpless women. An example of that would be in the movie

when René talks to Butterfly about the U.S. going into Vietnam and soon after he ask for

her opinion but when she tells him he just ends up joking around with her about it

because he believes “Little Schoolgirl” doesn’t need to worry about manners like that.

From this you see that the Said’s ideas are prevalent throughout the whole movie

of Butterfly. His two main ideas that stuck out though were the that it was the job of the

West to civilize the East and the justification of stereotypes on the Eastern people. Said’s

ideas were very much portrayed in this movie and in some cases were very unjust.