In the past, the far distances between countries and lack of communication were main barriers that prevented the West from understanding the East properly. In addition, American Palestinian scholar Edward Said, best known for describing and critiquing Orientalism, explained that Orientalism embodied distinctions between "East" and "West" precisely so the "West" could control and authorize views of the "East." He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe's and America's colonial and imperial ambitions.
Also, Said argues that the action of "othering" cultures, which occur when groups are labeled as different due to characteristics that distinguish them from the perceived norm, was reinforced by western powers and influential individuals such as social scientists and artists. Orientalist paintings, for example, depicted the “exotic” and therefore racialized, feminized, and often sexualized culture from a distant land. In addition, this form of art was considered as document, an authentic glimpse of a location and its inhabitants, to convince audiences by carefully mimicking a preexisting Oriental reality.
But even in the present time after disappearance of imperialism and availability of intercontinental traveling and internet, Orientalism still persists. I believe one of the main reasons is the use of the Orient as an exotic backdrop in movies and pop culture in general.
