Representation of the orient in Pasolini's Arabian Nights

Abstract

This article aims at studying the representation of the Orient in Pasolini's film Arabian Nights(1974). Since this film is a faithful adaptation of Thousand and One Nights it will be examined as carrying the same ideology which the text carries. The text of Thousand and One Nights established and legitimized orientalism in the west. Thus the movie follows suit in institutionalizing Orientalism. This is obtained by a close watching analysis and by looking at the images of the Orient, the plot itself, potential stylistic features which expresses images or attitudes in this regard. Our hypothesis is that the Orient in this movie is portrayed in accordance with notions of representation of the Other being depicted as, amongst other aspects, exotic, sexual, erotic and as a homogenous mass. Pasolini portrays Oriental men and woman as bodies in the duality of mind and body, and portrays them as a homogenous mass this is merely due to their belonging to a particular culture or race. The film represents the Oriental men and women as having a defining interest in sex and eroticism. It displays an exoticising Western view of the Oriental culture.