ORIENTALISM AND THE KING AND I.

ORIENTALISM AND THE KING AND I. The King and I has won a Tony award for the best revival of a musical. I mentioned to Mary Jane when I saw the news that I had never been a fan of the musical. Then, thinking about it, I remarked that I was troubled by the presentation of the king of Thailand—for example, all the “Is a puzzlement” portrayals of his use of English, a second language for him. I thought of Edward Said and looked up Orientalism on wikipedia. I found this entry and this quote: “Since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term “Orientalism” to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies.”