Looking through Others' Eyes: A Double Perspective in Literary and Film Studies

An outsider's perspective is often illuminating and enlightening, as he or she perceives the world differently from us, and sees things that insiders tend to miss. While an outsider's views are fresh and penetrating, an insider's vision is often banal and myopic. Although outsiders' perspectives may not be quite right at times, they always shed light and provide insight, allowing us to reevaluate the conventional interpretations of our literature and folktales. In order to prevent our own understanding and knowledge from growing stale and narrow-minded, we should endeavor to consider outsiders' opinions and view all things from multiple angles. When reading literary or cultural texts, therefore, we need to read through others' eyes because it provides alternative perspectives. And we should learn to co-exist with others and see things from others' eyes. In his celebrated novel, My Name Is Red, Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Nobel Laureate, explores the themes of clashes between the East and the West, the young and the old, and conservatism and radicalism. The confrontation between the stubborn defenders of tradition and the self-righteous innovators ultimately results in bigotry, hatred and murder. As Pamuk aptly perceives in his novel, the inevitable outcome of such uncompromising conflict is degradation of humanity and annihilation of human civilization. That is precisely why we need to embrace others who are different from us and learn to look through others' eyes. Sometimes, we fear other voices and different perspectives. As the movie "The Others" suggests, however, there is no reason for us to be afraid of others.