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Milwaukeeans need a movie palace to view independent, arthouse, and avant-garde films in lovely environs. The Oriental Theatre, long considered one of the centers of Milwaukee film culture, does not fulfill this need.
Despite many Milwaukeeans cherishing the Oriental Theatre as a place to gather and experience quality cinema, the Oriental’s name and design perpetuate racist exoticism of Asian, Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern cultures.
Milwaukee’s cinephiles deserve better.
I’m heartened Milwaukee Film has facilitated public discussion on the name and design of its theater. But at an event on Sept.11, it was hinted a “multi-year interrogation” on this topic is expected and would be a positive growing experience for Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Film’s artistic director stated we’re “at the beginning” of “a long conversation.”
But do the benefits of gradually interrogating Orientalism for the ignorant outweigh the benefits of closing a building that upholds colonial myth?
I don’t think so.
The “conversation” on the history and effect of the term “oriental” and Orientalist visual culture has been occurring for decades.
Do we really need a multi-year panoply of listening sessions, discussion circles and film events to boil down to the clear point: the term “oriental” is offensive, and manifestations of Orientalism should become relics.
I’m going to give Milwaukeeans the benefit of the doubt and say, overall, our community doesn’t need to be taken by the hand on this one.
The Oriental Theatre, in name and design, is a manifestation of living Orientalism. It is not a mere site to showcase historic architecture.
A major reason people attend screenings there is because of its grandeur, which to many (including, for a long time, this writer) is awe-inspiring.
But I echo Nancy Wang Yuen from the Milwaukee Film Sept. 11 talk: being awed by the Oriental is a major “uh-oh” moment.
Another speaker, Adam Carr, postulates one reason Milwaukeeans historically have enjoyed the Oriental is because its sweeping, ornate interiors are akin to Christian churches that many are familiar with and taken by.
I agree, but it also feeds a certain taste for the exotic many of us have been conditioned to have. It’s why Tiki bars remain popular. We’re more seeped in Orientalism and broader exoticized cultural reductionism than we’d care to think.
Manifestations of living Orientalism maintain stereotypes and fantasies that feed racism.
The Oriental Theatre remains a treasured site to so many because it evinces Orientalist fantasy. This should end.
I believe Orientalist material culture (buildings, books, ceramics, and so forth) should not be erased but rendered mere artifacts of a past era.
The Oriental Theatre should have that fate.
The City of Milwaukee should make it a historic landmark, the owners preserving a dormant space (a la Rome’s Colosseum), with limited opportunities for public access to ensure the building’s awe is put to rest.
Closing the Oriental Theatre will obviously leave a gaping hole for Milwaukee film screenings. That’s why the officialdom of Milwaukee’s film community and their wealthy patrons should build anew.
Having a beautiful, ornate theater to communally witness cinema is a community good. Constructing a new movie palace would be an opportunity to create another dynamic, inclusive space for Milwaukee.
I say build it away from the prosperous coast in a neighborhood off the hipster heatmap. Have stained glass by the likes of Kehinde Wiley (like “Go”in New York’s Moynihan Train Hall) and murals by Tia Richardson.
Maybe transfer over the Oriental’s old pipe organ as a nod to what was truly good. And provide concessions for a wider expanse of diets and tastes.
Visioning a new movie palace is a worthy subject for thorough community discussion and listening sessions – not interrogating an obviously problematic name and building.
Erecting a proper movie palace will cost a fortune. But if Milwaukee Film benefactor Chris Abele can buy a historic lakefront mansion only to tear down to build another, I’m sure he can write a hefty check in support of a more inclusive place.
And there are others like him.
I recognize all this will likely be a long way off, if it happens at all. But building a more inclusive center for viewing quality cinema is something Milwaukee really needs to do.
Dan Bomberg is a public servant in education who loves politics, parks, urban design, and ecstatic dance.
While I agree that the oriental theater is orientalist and that is a discussion to have, the suggestion to make a building in such a prime neighborhood dormant and have another theater replace is is so absurd it removes all credibility from this article
The Oriental theater impresses people not due to its orientalism but because it harkens to a time when theaters were really nice, as opposed to the depressing mall vibes of a multi plex. Suggesting that it be built outside of popular walkable neighborhoods with existing commercial infrastructure means that the venture would not only be expensive, but doomed to fail
Also, whats the view of Asian Americans who live in Milwaukee of all this? The quote here is written by a sociologist from California and isnt reflective of the views of the local asian american population necessarily. Unless this is something that continues as a microaggression against them and they are against it, this seems like a solution in search of a problem
In short, this is probably the worst possible article written on this matter
I’m in 100% agreement with everything, save for the need to construct a new theater. While I would love to see the home of MKE Film move to a less prosperous neighborhood, I don’t see the value in preserving the theater as it is. We are surrounded by reminders of our colonial violence that already don’t spur decolonization as it is; ignoring the practical/environmental/financial pitfalls of the idea, I regect the hypothesis that preserving the theater will meaningfully mitigate orientalism in our culture. I’d rather see an ongoing effort to grapple with the reality of our history and contemporary existence, some inentional archiving of the space as it is, and a robust remodel/renaming. Anyways, like you said, those of us who want action are likely to be waiting for a while; thanks for taking the time to share your perspective.
I was born in 1956. I was raised by my parents 3 blocks from the Oriental, and not once have I heard anyone talk about such crap that you are. You clearly have way too much time on your hands to dream up the nonsense you just wrote. Sober up and get a life. It is nice to know that you enjoy spending other people’s money.
How about you hop off, leave Milwaukee’s institutions alone. There are plenty of other issues for you to focus on rather than the name of a theater.
Why “ensure the building’s awe is put to rest” when the Oriental is one of the few movie palaces left in the country, let alone the city?
It offers a gorgeous escape from our grey skies and chilly weather. In a world of corporate-cold movie chains with obnoxious patrons, everyone can find sanctuary in the opulence and kitsch (yes, kitsch) or our cinematic crown jewel.
If a patron of the Oriental Theater is incapable of recognizing that the motifs are from a historic, albeit unelightened, period of grand movie theater building in this country, that we are lucky to still HAVE such an architectural artifact in our community, that an organization that focuses on film arts calls it home, AND that it still functions AS A THEATER nearly 100 years on, I fear all is lost.
This is an education opportunity, not a reason for relocation. To relegate the Oriental to the status of a historic tomb, while still completely capable a being the premier movie arts venue in Wisconsin, would be wrong.
Its a movie theater for gods sake, not a national monument. Been there as a kid and adult and its a beautiful building, why can’t we enjoy for just being that!!
Horrible article, misplaced and gentrified opinion. You can take your hefty check and shove it. The Oriental is a fantastic piece of history and your misguided and skewed view of what WE as people and Milwaukee wants can look elsewhere. Piss off.