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But as Yussef Cole illustrates, the history of racism takes insidious forms, and in the process of trying to scrub those elements away, it unknowingly replicates the archetypes of the era, keeping allusions to those racist depictions while whitewashing their cultural origins.Ĭole focuses on Cuphead’s relationship to Jazz and Black America, but Cuphead also has similar troubles when it comes to Ancient Egyptian motifs.

Cuphead attempts to draw from early 20th century animation, while sidestepping its blatantly racist imagery. The intention behind these actions is irrelevant-each contributes to the project that Orientalizes these cultures, and in turn informs the way we think of them.Ī recent example of this sort of process can be seen in Cuphead. You can find Orientalism in our obsession with anime and the culture of Japan, in our modern practice of yoga, or people who take a trip to India to “find themselves.” You can find it in the “clash of culture” narrative that’s justified years of military intervention in the Middle East. Across several disciplines, consciously or not, Orientalism creates a canon that presents the West as a tradition that espouses progress, scientific thought, and civility, while the East trafficks in spirituality, mysticism and old traditions.

These depictions of Egypt often fall into the realm of what scholar Edward Said called Orientalism, an ongoing project by Europe and America to divide the world into opposing traditions of East and West.

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