Universitas Indonesia 1

Universitas Indonesia

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Oposisi biner ..., Vina Fabiola, FIB UI, 2013


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Binary Opposition of East and West Potrayed in Eat Pray Love

Vina Fabiola (0906528404), Harumi Manik Ayu Yamin

English Studies Program, Faculty of Humanities

E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRAK Pembahasan ini difokuskan pada persepsi seorang wanita dari Amerika, Elizabeth Gilbert,

terhadap negara tujuannya: Italia (West), India dan Indonesia (East) dalam pencarian jati dirinya dalam film Eat

Pray Love karya Elizabeth Gilbert yang merupakan kisah nyata penulis novel yang berjudul sama dengan

filmnya. Pembahasan ini bertujuan untuk menjawab apakah terdapat oposisi biner dari Timur dan Barat dan

mengapa Gilbert menemukan 'jati diri'nya ketika dia berada di Timur, bukan negaranya sendiri, Amerika Serikat.

Makalah ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif dan teoritis yang berfokus pada teori orientalisme dan

oposisi biner dari Timur dan Barat. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa teori Edward Said dibantah dalam film ini, karena

dalam Eat Pray Love, Gilbert "meminjam" budaya Barat dari negara Timur untuk menemukan kebahagiaan

sendiri, identitas dan kesenangan karena ia tidak dapat menemukannya di negaranya sendiri.

Kata Kunci : Identitas; Eat Pray Love; ruang dan tempat; oposisi biner; Timur dan Barat poskolonialisme;

Orientalisme

ABSTRACT This paper finds that there are particularities that show the binary opposition of the East and

West, and questions why Elizabeth Gilbert, who went to a yearlong journey to Italy (West), India and Bali

(East), in search for her identity, inner peace, pleasure, and a balance between outward and worldly happiness

after her depressing divorce, finds her „true self‟ when she went abroad to the East, instead of her own country,

the U.S. According to Edward Said‟s Orientalism, Orientalist discourses built on binary oppositions contrasting

the „typical‟ features of East and West, dichotomies that were unequal in praising the West as more „progressive‟

while viewing the Orient as static, non-progressive, or even backward. This paper, grounded in qualitative and

theoretical research on orientalism and the binary opposition of East and West in the movie, concludes that the

theory of Said was rebutted in this film that in Eat Pray Love, Gilbert “borrow” the culture of the East countries

to find her own happiness, identity and pleasure because she cannot find it in her own country.

Key Words: Identity; Eat Pray Love; East and West; Space and Place; Binary Opposition; Post-colonialism;

Orientalism


mailto:[email protected]


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Introduction

The aim of this writing is to analyze how binary opposition of East and West is

potrayed in the movie Eat Pray Love, a movie which is based on a true story of a writer that

went to three countries in a search of her „true self‟. For example, the way the writer or the

main character in the movie, Elizabeth Gilbert, seeks for pleasure in Italy, wholeness in India,

and balance in Bali leaves a number of questions in mind: why did Gilbert have to go to Italy,

India and Bali to learn „eat, pray, love‟? Are there any circumtances why someone like

Gilbert, who is considered successful, upper-middle class woman in the American society

cannot find her freedom in her own country? This paper is concerned about the internal

conflict in Gilbert‟s mind due to the process in finding her identity, and how the spaces and

places she visited play a part in her journey. Moreover, the paper will find the relation

between post-colonial study with Gilbert‟s choice by going to the East to find peace, whereas

Gilbert lived in a developed country, USA.

The paper pins itself to the concept of post-colonialism, a theory which has existed

since around 20th century, after colonialism. Postcolonialism is often defined as

deconstructive dualist-method way of thinking (binary) due to its idea that settles to the

intellectual studies of Europian colonizations, especially towards Middle East (Moore-Gilbert,

1997). The study firstly attempted to focus on the interactions between European nations and

the societies they colonized in the modern period. Constantly, colonial literature had

continuously put the West as a subject that has a superior position compared to the inferior

East. In this case, postcolonialism re-examines the binary opposition between Gilbert‟s

motherland and her destinations. In addition to binary opposition, it is a system that divides

the world into two related categories. For example, category A is considered right or valid,

just because it is not in category B, and the other way around. Therefore, I will look into the

main character‟s identity through the post-colonial study and the relation between the identity

and places of the designated countries.

The paper is organized into several parts. The first part explains about the movie Eat

Pray Love and a brief synopsis of its plot. The second part elaborates further about the

theories of postcolonialism, space and place, and how it relates to the achivement of Gilbert‟s

identity. The third part examines the issues and conflicts that the story brings up and analyzes

the meaning behind the title itself. In addition, I will explain why the writer chose the words

„Eat, Pray, Love‟ to represent her story. The explanation will be followed by the analysis of

the main conflicts in the movie and findings that I found from the movie. Finally, the last part



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of the paper concludes the binary opposition between East and West in Eat Pray Love. This

paper will be entailed with affiliated theories and citations from articles that are related to the

identity finding issue discussed in this paper.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Originally, post-colonialism is a study that is interwined to the concept of relationship

issue that is shaped by „superior and inferior‟. The term „superior‟ and „inferior‟ particularly

can be addressed to the term „The Man‟ and „The Other‟, as what Edward Said stated in his

book Orientalism (Said, 1994). The Western people believe that they are the perfect figure or

perfect human that God has ever created, so they are supposed to have the right to expand

their nation and colonize the other nation, which is usually entitled as „The Other‟. According

to Spivak (1967), Edward Said‟s theory of orientalism is a theoritical statement that is aimed

to deconstruct the viewpoint of the West colonialists (also known as the Orientalists) that

despise the East and the colonized society (qtd. In Space, Place and Identity).

Moore-Gilbert explains that post-colonial criticism brings together some of the most

important critical writings in the field, and aims to present a clearer overview of, and

introduction to, one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of contemporary

literary criticism (1997). Post-colonial criticism charts the development of the field both

historically and conceptually, from its beginnings in the early post-war period to the present

day (Moore-Gilbert, 1997). Orientalism, however, is a fundamental concept in Post-colonial

study. In his book, Edward Said defines the term „Orientalism‟ as a condition of false

assumptions based on the Western attitudes toward the Middle East. Said focuses on the

differences between the East and the West. In his book, Said states that Western nations think

they have control over the East; therefore, the western nations reserve the right to colonize the

East nations. In addition to that, Said says “Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of

reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, West, "us") and

the strange (the Orient, the East, "them")” (Edward Said, 1994). Also, "Orientalism" is the

term academic historians and literary scholars like Edward Said have used to describe this

age-old pattern of depicting Middle and Far Easterners as primitive Others.

Both East and West are places where people put themselves among a society which

potray the levels that define the people who live in certain communities. For example, when

western people go to the East countries, they are usually served better and praised by the local


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world


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people. In contrast, when East people go to the West countries, the discrimination is still bold.

To illustrate, if we go to the West, but cannot speak English, they might probably ignore us.

However, if western people go to th East, Bali for instead, they use their English as they want

and expect the local people to understand them.

Talking about places of where people put themselves among a society, the theory of

„Space and Place‟ can be relevant to this phenomenon of the „level‟ of people when they go to

the East or the West countries. Spaces and places take a big role in human‟s life. Space, in

studies on popular culture, is a product of a certain culture conditions, and it is not only an

arena for activity but also a part of an activity and cognition of such interaction (Saraswati,

2009 : 144). In addition, space is where a person puts himself in a position based on how he

interprets the function of the space. In the movie, spaces and places have a great role in the

search of Gilbert‟s identity. In addition, every country Gilbert went to had different cultures.

It was her interpretation of the function each culture and each country that can help her

discover things that „missing‟ in her life. The writer, Elizabeth Gilbert sees Italy as a place of

finding pleasure, India is a space of spirituality, and Bali as a place to help her find balance

with the help of Wayan Ketut—will be explained in the next chapter.

Both theories of post-colonialism and space and place stated above play a role to the

finding of Gilbert‟s identity and the pursuit the Gilbert‟s aim in Eat Pray Love, in this case,

inner peace of one‟s self. This paper will analyze the connection between the destined places

of Elizabeth Gilbert and the theory of Orientalism, which has been mentioned above. The

following explanation will be explicated through the whole of this paper.

Methodology

In order to reach the aims of the paper; to analyze how binary opposition of East and

West is potrayed in Eat Pray Love, and the role of places that help Elizabeth Gilbert‟s finding

of identity, this research will be occupied with qualitative method. To support the writer‟s

thesis, related datas, concepts, and theories from some articles, journals, or research papers

will be combined in this paper. The main reference used in this paper to support the analysis

is “Orientalism” by Edward Said. To get back to the movie Eat Pray Love, in which

Elizabeth Gilbert‟s finding of identity by seeking for pleasure in Italy, wholeness in India, and

balance in Bali. The analysis will be scrutinized chronologically. In this case, how the main

character (Elizabeth Gilbert) communicated with other characters, how she behaved during

her journey, her expression and how she saw spaces and places that can help her find her



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inner peace. Also, I will divide the analysis of the places; Italy, India, Bali in different

sections. The contribution of each country towards Gilbert‟s finding of identity will be

analyzed in order and separatedly. Regarding to the correlation between the movie and

Orientalism theory that this paper uses, this paper will examine the reason why the main

character finally finds her „true self‟ while going abroad to the East, instead of staying in her

own country, the US. Above all, a library-research is considered more descriptive to

collecting and analyzing data ; therefore, a library-research method is applied. The research

consisted of a survey of important articles, books, internet and other sources relevant to the

research topic.

Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey

Eat Pray Love is a movie that tells about a true story of art personal life of Elizabeth

Gilbert, who was also the writer of the novel Eat Pray Love that had everything that she

wanted for worldly pleasure. She had everything that an ambitious American woman has

always dreamt of for their lives, such as a husband, a house, and a successful career.

However, around the time Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-storming midlife

crisis. Gilbert was driven by anxiety, mental suffering, and confusion, instead of feeling

happy and fulfilled with her life. She went through a divorce, that caused a crushing

depression and the extermination of everything she ever thought she was supposed to have

and supposed to be. As the impact, she felt distress, fear, unsatisfied and other unhappy

feelings; therefore, there was no balance between her outer and inner wealth.

Gilbert took a breakthough decision in order to move on from her suffering life. She

left her loved ones and her belongings behind, she quit her job, and went to a yearlong

journey around the world, experiencing new and “other” cultures by herself with a purpose of

finding her identity and inner peace. Eat Pray Love chronicled her journey year, which is to

visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature to find her inner

peace. In Italy, Gilbert learnt the art of pleasure. She was taught by a friend to speak Italian

and even gained the thirty-happiest pounds of her life. The next country was India. India was

for the art of faithfulness. With the help of a native guru and a wise cowboy from Texas, she

undertook four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. The last destination was Bali,

Indonesia. In Bali, she found the art of balance between worldly relish and almighty

superiority. She was given lessons of life from an elderly medicine man, Wayan Ketut.

Wayan taught her to look deeper into herself and looked for her tranquility and peace until she



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finally realized who she really was and what she really wanted in her life. In addition, in Bali,

Gilbert also unexpectedly fell in love with a man who could bring the best of her. All in all,

this movie tells about the story of Gilbert‟s journey and explorations of three different

cultures, in an effort to find balance in her life. According to the destinations Gilbert chose

namely Italy (west), India and Bali (east), in this discussion, I want to analyze how post-

colonialism and binary opposition of East and West are potrayed in Eat Pray Love.

The Meaning Behind Its Title “Eat Pray Love”

In order to find the balance of life, she examines three elements of the happiness in

life, „Eat‟, „Pray‟ and „Love‟ in her journey. Each word of the title represents each country she

went to, which has different meaning to her journey of searching her identity. „Eat‟ is a

symbol of corporal‟s primary needs. People get energy to do activities from eating. Thus, the

primary needs has to be fulfilled. The message of this word is to favor the amusement of

physical life, to submerge oneself into the pleasure-seeking world, and explore what makes

people feel good. Enjoying food brings pleasure and fills people with happiness. The movie

represents food as a pleasure and primary needs of people‟s life. The movie also represents

„Eat‟ as Gilbert‟s discovery of pleasure. The second word is „Pray‟. Pray is a symbol of

spiritual sustance that is used for the bridgework of people‟s life. Spiritual sustance, any kind

of religions, gives the knowledge of where people belong in life and what their life‟s purposes

or goals are. Pray is a spiritual aspect that helps you to remove the confusion in mind. It helps

to make people become more positive and appreciate their life. In the movie, „Pray‟

also represents Gilbert‟s discovery of spiritual sustance. The empowerment to do this made

Gilbert finally learnt and understood that God was always within herself She had to learn how

to let go and forgive herself and the experiences that had hurt her, in order to find her inner

peace back. The last word „Love‟, is a complementary in life. Love is not always about

finding a life partner to marry and have children with. Love is so much more. Love can also

be devoted to food, love against God, and love for other people as well. In the movie,

„Love‟ represents Gilbert‟s discovery of true love rooted in trust. In the movie, Gilbert did not

only find unconditional love from those she met, but she also healed her heart and freed

herself from old beliefs about love. The process allowed her to recognize and accept the true

love she meets. Through these explanations, I will analyze the function of each word in the

title and what does the relation of Gilbert‟s aim in finding her „true self‟

Gilbert in Italy : Representation of „Eat‟



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Gilbert‟s first destination, Italy, Rome, is a place where Gilbert found her pleasure. In

New York, she had lost her taste for life due to her lack of passion life. On the other hand,

when in Rome, she studied the art of pleasure by savoring Italy's buffet of delights, such as

the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine, and dashing conversation partners. She studied

Italian and gained the thirty-happiest pounds of her life. There is an image that marks her

evolution, her new ability to finally enjoy food again. As Gilbert left Italy, she proclaimed to

be free from her crushing depression and ready to move on with her life. Talking about Italy

and America, both are actually western country. However, Italy could be said as not as

western as America, for there is some kind of exoticism in Italy. To illustrate, in this movie

Italy could be called a transition time for Gilbert. Refering to Edward Said‟s Orientalism, „the

colonizers‟ sense of moral superiority, their sexualizing of the colonized culture and their use

of its „otherness‟ to define themselves and their own culture.” (qtd. in „Taking‟ Italy, web).

Said‟s statement about westerners using „the other‟ to define themselves is relevant to the

idea of a writer of „Taking‟ Italy in The American Magazine, as Madeleine Johnson states,

“Like old style colonials, Gilbert finds happy natives, who speak a musical

language, eat exotic food, perform strange rituals and live simple lives

uncorrupted by modern evils. However, „Taking‟ is what colonial writers such

as Gilbert do. They "take" Italy's culture and history — its most significant

natural resources — with the same singleness of purpose as colonists took

African gold, Argentine grazing lands or Asian plantation labor.” (2010).

From what has been quoted in Said‟s Orientalism and what Johnson stated above, it

could be interpreted that there is an orientalism factor that makes Gilbert chose Italy to find

pleasure. The perception that Gilbert used when she saw Italy was that Italy seemed to be a

country where people could find pleasure because the citizens were completely bounding, and

the atmosphere was not as busy and stressful as New York. Even though Italy and America

are technically western countries, there are some differences of both America and Italy as they

are compared by Gilbert‟s Italian friend, Luca Spagetthi. He said “Americans know

entertainment but they do not know pleasure” (min. 00:36:41 ). What he meant is that

Americans are too busy stressing out their life by working too hard, walking too fast in busy

and rushing time, while they should enjoy every moment their life like Italians do.

Due to this phenomenon, Gilbert, an American woman seemed to „borrow‟ Italian

culture to enjoy her life. What Johnson means by „taking‟ Italy is that because Gilbert, a

western woman, went to Italy to find her pleasure it shows that she implicitly „took‟ the



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Italian culture because she could not find it in her own country. Johnson illustrates Gilbert‟s

behaviors like colonists who took African gold, Argentine grazing lands or Asian plantation

labor because they could not do it or did not have them in their homeland (2010).

Definitely, Gilbert‟s aim is to rediscover a sense of pleasure, as what she said in the

movie, “I want to marvel at something” (min. 00:24:52). She wanted to be in love, to enjoy

her food again, even better to enjoy her life.

Figure 1. Elizabeth Gilbert in one of the scenes in

Italy, saying “I‟m having relationship with my

pizza.” (min. 00:42:20)

The scene above shows that her decision to take a journey to Italy in order to feel

passion in her life again was the right thing to do, because in the end, she could finally enjoy

her life again. Also, she got back her long-lost appetite, the picture in Figure 1 showes that

Gilbert‟s is feeling the pleasure of life by simply eating pizza, which is one of Italians‟ ways

to enjoy the pleasure of life.

Gilbert in East; India : Pray

A spiritual journey is an ideal analogy for the spiritual life. It encourages people to see

through experiences as a movement towards transformation, wholeness, and holiness.

Gilbert‟s aim at the second place, India is to seek spiritual sustenance. India fits the „Pray‟

aspect of Gilbert‟s search in life. By seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in

India, Gilbert emulated the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still

her churning mind. In India Gilbert spent most of her time with a Texan, Richard, a man who

had made a deep trouble of his life. Richard persistently told Gilbert to empty her mind and

give up her guilty feelings. Because of him, Gilbert managed to meditate.

Another aspect that adds to her journey was Gilbert success in making friends with a

lovely Indian teen named Tulsi. Not long after they knew each other, Tulsi told Gilbert that

her family is forcing her into an unwanted marriage. It can be said that Tulsi‟s story about

arranged marriage was a representation of cultural practice in India that „violence‟ the



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freedom of a woman in choosing the life partner. This can be contrasted with U.S culture that

tend to emphasize the freedom of the citizens and one‟s choice of their lives. Tulsi could be

said as a victim of the arranged marriage, a domestic violence of India‟s culture which sounds

exotic to the ears of the Westerns who do not have this kind of culture in their country. There

is an egoistic in a way that Gilbert was able go abroad to find her own love and peace while in

the East country, while some people cannot do things as they want due to some circumtances,

such as lack of money, immigration status, culture tradition. From this, it can be seen that

Gilbert represented the „superiority‟ of Western woman who has freedom and adequate life

with money, autonomy, freedom of movement contrasted with the „inferior‟ Tulsi, a

powerless repressed Indian young woman who did not have such adequate life like Gilbert—

money, freedom of movement, and autonomy. Tulsi‟s freedom to choose was „violenced‟ by

the tradition that oppressed her to do arranged marriage that she could not do anything but

accepted the tradition. Orientalism is shown when the movie illustrated the backwardness of

Indian culture, which seems exotic and intriguing for those who are uncommon with this kind

of tradition.

Figure 2. Tulsi‟s marriage is one of the Indian cultures where

young ladies are arranged to marry men that their parents

choose.“It is the custom”, Tulsi explained to Gilbert (min.

01:00:28).

More over, from Figure 2, it could be seen that Tulsi only existed as the symbol of an

destined, arranged marriage. To talk about the main topic; Orientalism in India, Nisbet says

that orientalism can be seen by the tendency in Western literature and film to depict the near

East and India through the lens of well-worn stereotypes (2010). Another analysis stated in

Sex in the City Re-Dux: Eat, Pray, Love Draws Criticism for Stereotypes, “In the case of Eat

Pray, Love as Mask argues "the stereotype that the East is someplace timeless, otherworldly,

incomprehensible, waiting to be discovered by Westerners in search of self” (2010). Mia

Mask argues that Eat Pray Love is coined by the orientalism by Edward Said, the term refers

to the tendency in Western literature and film to depict the near East and India through the

lens of well-worn stereotypes. This term of Orientalism affects the Westerns‟ perceptions of



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the East, casting them outside of community representated as „the other‟. Often times, through

the movies that frame East and West in theme, I see that Western movies tend to have the

West as the focal point of the world of civilization, which makes them seem to be „superior‟

contrasted to the East. This statement refers to the statement in Edward Said‟s book

Orientalism,

“The Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image,

idea, personality, experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The

Orient is an integral part of European civilization and culture. Orientalism

expresses and represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of

discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery,

doctrines, even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles.”

Gilbert in East, Bali-Indonesia : Balance

Gilbert‟s last destination was Bali, which placed in Indonesia. As well as India, Bali is

located in the East. In her last destination, Gilbert finally found her balance and unexpectedly

found the love of her life as well. However, how Bali was pictured in the movie is different

from Bali that people nowadays know. In the movie, the camera only captured the exotic side

of Bali. For instance, the scenery such as paddy field, and the Balinese with colorful cultural

props, such as local women carrying fruit on their heads, merchants, a couple of men with

their roosters. In contrast, today, not only people see Bali as a getaway place for holiday that

give such a beautiful view of sunset and beaches, but also Bali is known as the most-wanted

place to visit for international tourists. The movie did not show the other side Bali, especially

the modern ones, such as Kuta nor Nusa Dua.

In addition, Eat Pray Love portrayed Bali as a sacred place that is full of cultural

richness, peace and beliefs. For example, the main reason that Gilbert came to Bali was

because she wanted to meet an elderly man who can read fortunes, Wayan Ketut. There was a

belief amongst people who live in Bali that an elderly fortuneteller or could be called

medicine man, could heal people‟s suffering soul and telling their fortunes. Actually, the

fundamental lesson that Ketut gave to the people who come to him was only telling them to

look deeper to their soul: What are their purposes for life? What do they want for their live?

Do what they have now make them happy? Also, a complicated question, who are they? In



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order to get the answers, the people need to concentrate, could be by meditating, to seek into

themselves.

Nicholas Yong, a journalist in The Sunday Times argued that the pretty scenery, an

Indonesian medicine man who reads the fortune of a wandering American divorcee and a

Balinese healer who gives her love advice in Eat Pray Love are not the reality (Yong, 2010).

Academics and cultural experts Life Style spoke to referred to this phenomenon as

Orientalism, or a prejudiced Western depiction of the East shaped by European imperialism,

which began when Westerners first set sail and encountered Asian countries, a far-off land to

them (Yong, 2010).

The thing about Orientalism in Eat Pray Love in this depiction of Eastern countries

such as India and Indonesia, is they give people an idea of what is going in that country, and

somehow it is different from the real recent contidion. For instance, India and Bali was

pictured as a rural place, through the way the camera shot the places such as paddy field and

public market (Moore, 2010). As what is shown in the movie, India actually not as rural as

what Gilbert described. The movie indeed tries to show the exotic parts of India, so the

richness of its culture thickly seen. This can be said a form of orientalism as well, as the

movie only gives pictures or perceptions from the Westerns‟ eyes.

Potrayals of Easteners by the Westerner

Figure 3 Figure 4

Concerning the characters in Bali, Wayan Ketut, the fortuneteller (Figure 3), and

Wayan Nuriasih (Figure 4) who is a divorced imperiled brown woman who lives in poverty

and struggles to support her young daughter. However, in the end she was helped by Gilbert

with the donation from Gilbert and her friends to build Wayan Nuriasih‟s house. In the movie,

both Wayan Ketut and Wayan Nuriasih spoke broken English. Too often, the local culture and

people in the East country are marginalized, disparaged, or made to seem ridiculous to add



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humor to the narrative, in order to entertain the audinces. The local people whose language

are other than English are regularly criticized for their accents, pronunciation, or peculiar

expressions when they speak in broken English.

Nevertheless, the movie did not show any Balinese doing anything modern. The

movie also did not show any men, other than an old, toothless soothsayer whose name is

Wayan Ketut, whom Gilbert even jokingly refers to him as Yoda, a character in the Star

Wars universe (min. 00:25:54). Wayan Ketut who is considered as a fortune teller which is

respected by local people in Bali, is humanized by Gilbert when she compares him with an

alien figure. From these explanations, it can be stated that Eat Pray Love shows Orientalism

in which Bali is pre-modernized, as well as tourists would like to imagine it.

In this case, it can be said that the stereotypes of cultures that tend to be ignored for

the purposes of being entertained and looking exotic. A sociologist once says, “Exoticism

definitely sells, because people are always intrigued by what they do not know” (qtd. in „Is It

Really Bali?‟). In addition, as Robinson said in her article that Eat Pray Love using foreign

lands as a metaphor for Westerners‟ inner transformation goes back far in time and people

only can look around the neighborhood multiplex to see other films currently employing the

same strategy. (2010) Robinson also states, “though there are a token few “native” characters

who are humanized during these parts of the film, the narrative is so wrapped up in Julia‟s

character‟s point of view that one can easily forget the crushing poverty and suffering of

urban India and rural Indonesia” (2010).

CONCLUSION

To conclude, this writing offers a new perspective of binary opposition of East and

West. To illustrate, this movies shared a story of a modern Western woman who went to the

East countries to find her inner peace. From Gilbert‟s story, one can be said that there is a

case in which some of Western people cannot find pleasure in their country and “borrow”

other cultures, in this case the East, to seek the true self. Occupied with qualitative method of

research, the paper concludes the correlation between the movie and Orientalism theory that

this paper uses, and examine the reason why the main character finally finds her „true self‟

while going abroad to the East, instead of staying in her own country, the US. Moreover, with

the help of Edward Said‟s theory Orientalism, the stereotype of postcolonialism, which says

that the West has everything and they do not need the East, is rebutted in this movie. It can be

seen when Gilbert, a successful modern American woman who considered had „everything‟ in


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_universe


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her life, could not be happy with material things she had achieved. However, by traveling to

other countries, specifically the East, she finally found the pleasure, spiritual sustance, and

balance of life. From this case, referring to Said‟s theory orientalism, it can be said that the

Westerns indeed need the Easterns in order to experience the other side of their lives and help

them find what has been „missing‟ in their lives.

Furthermore, from the analysis about each country, it can be seen that the movie Eat

Pray Love “borrow” the culture of the East countries to find Gilbert‟s happiness, identity and

pleasure. Orientalism is still boldly shown when the movie describes the countries only by

the frames that the camera captured to look exotic. Westerners imagine “the other” or

Easterners in distant places that are still exotic. The set up in the movie about the East

ultimately defies many readers‟ expectations by presenting “the view of the East” as an

essential part of the story, which mostly showed the poverty and rural society of the

Easterners. The “other” is exoticized and commodified. The Western writer takes what she

wants from another culture, such as food, language, spiritual teachings, art, images, and

repackages it for her personal profit.

The exotic portrayal of the Easterns in Eat Pray Love exists for the purpose of helping

rich, modern American woman to find herself. In the movie, Gilbert's memoir is basically

about how she, a white woman from the US, learned valuable lessons about life and herself

with the help of various natives of Italy, India and Indonesia, which are existed as props,

objects and set dressings. “I want to go where I can marvel at something”, Gilbert

complained in the start of the movie (min. 0:24:52). The movie, however, instead of giving

any of the foreign countries some real depth to the world, it seems that the countries in her

journey, Italy, India and Indonesia, are only objects to be marveled at, which were „left

behind‟ by Gilbert after she fulfilled her primary aim, to find pleasure and inner peace. The

relationship between the East and West is in accordance with Said‟s concept of „Us‟ (The

West) and the „The Other‟ (the Orient, the East). The Eastern people are exoticized and often

reduced to the level of objects. As Said himself states, one cannot get around or pretend that

this binary opposition does not exist. Therefore, regardless of the „function‟ of the East as the

place where Gilbert found her identity and inner peace, it cannot be disregarded that the

Orientalist distinction between „Us‟ and „Them‟, in the case of East and West, will always

follow.



16

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Eat Pray Love and Orientalism. 2010.

http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/6808834.html?thread=418948866

Eat Pray Love (2010; 133mins) Sutradara : Ryan Murphy; Ditulis oleh:

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Bardem dan Richard Jenkins ; Tanggal peluncuran : 13 October 2010 (Indonesia)


http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/6808834.html?thread=418948866

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614682/





http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879870/releaseinfo

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