The Representation of the Orient in Lawrence of Arabia

童鵬

Abstract： The epic film Lawrence of Arabia presents the audience a different Orient. The representation of the Orient in this film should be questioned. From the perspective of mise en scène， this paper aims to uncover the creation of the unreal Orient and explore its underlying reasons.

Key words： epic film; representation;Orient;mise;enscène

中圖分類號： G634 ? 文獻標識碼：A ? ? ? ?文章編號：1005-5312（2016）30-0271-02

Lawrence of Arabia is a great epic film directed by David Lean. The film mainly depicts T. E. Lawrences experiences in Arabia during World War I， in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. After seeing the film， what impresses the audience most would be the endless desert and the chaos of Arabia except for the Godlike Lawrence. This paper mainly concerns the representation of the Orient from the perspective of mise en scène， that is， setting， costume， lighting， and the behavior of the figures.

一、 Setting

Actually， the desert scenes were filmed in Jordan and Morocco， as well as Almería and Do？ana in Spain. However， in Lawrence of Arabia， all the desert scenes are cramped into Arabia. Thus it leaves an impression that the Arabian world is just filled with desert patches after patches. From this example， it can be clearly seen that the demarcation between the Orient and the Occident is less a fact of nature than it is a fact of human production. It is the geographical imagination that is central to the construction of the Orient. And the desert scene in this film fits in the Western collective imagination of the Orient in tradition. In this film， almost all of Lawrences adventures take place in the desert scene， which is a good setting for the adventures of Western heroes. Through the articulation of the different settings into the desert， the Orient is re-presented， which caters to the needs of the Western audience.

二、Costume

“Like setting， costume can have specific functions in the total film， and the range of possibilities is huge” （Bordwell and Thompson 176）. In Lawrence of Arabia， the contrast of costumes worn by the British army and the Arab tribes is made quite clear. The British army wears uniforms while the army made up of Arab tribes wears clothes and hoods of different colors. When progressing toward Damascus， the scene of the disciplined English soldiers by General Allenby and the scene of the muffled Arabian ones led by Lawrence are juxtaposed. This， in part， shows the non-disciplined Arabians， which in another aspect demonstrates that Arabia is a little people， especially in the eyes of English military officers like Colonel Brighton.

三、Lighting

The manipulation of lighting can give the audience much of the impact of an image. “Lighter and darker areas within the frame help create the overall composition of each shot and thus guide our attention to certain objects and actions” （Bordwell and Thompson 178）. In Lawrence of Arabia， the most successful scene in using the lighting may be the one that Lawrence kills Gasim. This scene happens at one night before attacking the Turkish garrison. Lawrence is stunned to discover that the murderer is Gasim， the man whose life he had saved， but he shoots him with no regard. In this scene， Lawrence wears the robes of Beni Wadji， whiter and brighter than anyone else. This kind of lighting may transfer all the audiences attention to Lawrence， who is Godlike and represents the law. The other people seem to be in the darker areas， which helps establish Lawrences Godlike image. Lawrence is just like God who brings light and hope to this area of darkness when he walks down the mound into the crowds. Through the contrast of costumes and lighting， it can be found that the inferiority of the Orient just serves as a foil to the superiority of the West. This is just a strategy for Westerners to manifest their superiority.

四、Behaviors of figures

In Lawrence of Arabia， most figures are re-presented as fools and savages. The Bedouin first appears in the desert with Lawrence is the first fool presented before the audience， which can be seen from his facial expressions when talking with Lawrence and the way he takes the pistol. Besides， though Prince Feisal in reality is a hero in Arabia， he still cannot avoid the representation of his foolishness. When the Turkish take an air strike at Feisals army， the scene is ridiculous that Feisal draws his sword and shouts “Stand and fight！ Stand and fight！ Fire back at them…” （19）. This scene demonstrates Feisals foolish valor for he simply does not know what modern weapons will do.

Auda abu Tayi， as a late steadfast supporter of Arab independence， is re-presented as a man only interested in loot and money. The typical scene is that he looks desperately for gold after they have successful taken Aqaba. He is also re-presented as a fool when he changes two lamps for a trashy clock and claims this fair bargain.

However， the most typical scene may be the one in the town hall of Damascus： the chaos of the crowd， many people sitting and treading on the desk. All this illustrate they are just desert tribesmen， ill-suited for such a task. Unable to maintain the electricity， telephones， and waterworks， and clashing constantly with each other， they soon abandon most of Damascus to the British.

In this film， the smearing of the images of Arabian heroes such as Prince Feisal and Auda abu Tayi， mainly through their behaviors， demonstrates once more the strategy of re-presenting the superiority of the West.

五、 Conclusion

In Lawrence of Arabia， the strategy of representation can be clearly seen from the perspective of mise en scène： setting， costume， lighting， and behaviors of the figures. From this， it can be inferred that it is the film director that wants you to see what he wants you to see. The director articulates and then encodes a text. This sometimes requires the audiences agency to decode what has been taken for granted. Therefore， the representation of the Orient in Lawrence of Arabia should be questioned. Through the analysis of the film Lawrence of Arabia from the perspective of mise en scène， it can be seen that the Orient in this text is not the real one but another one of Westerners production.

Works Cited：

[1]Bordwell， David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art： An Introduction. New York： McGraw-Hill Co.， 1997.

[2]Lean， David. Lawrence of Arabia. Transcription Kenneth Mooney. 27 April， 2009<http：//down.tingroom.com/download/play/734.html>.

Rose， Jacqueline. “Hamlet—the ‘Mona Lisa of Literature.” Context for Criticism. Ed. Donald Keesey. 2nd ed. California： Mayfield Publishing Co.， 1994.

[3]Said， Edward. Orientalism. London： Penguin， 1995.