I was 10 when i watched the Disney live action “Aladdin” (2019) and loved it! As a brown girl growing up i loved Disney princess movies but Aladdin was different, it felt more personal because it looked familiar, it looked like home.
What was originally a story stolen and plagiarized by Disney turned into a sick orientalist fantasy for white people to enjoy. In this article i will break down how Aladdin simplifies and disrespects the culture of Arabia and South Asia.
The original “Aladdin” was story rooted in the One Thousand and One Nights tales. The original film by Disney came out in 1991 and is so incredibly offensive you won’t believe it. So let me tell you about just a few of them:
As the movie starts, it pans over a huge desert as music plays in the background among the lyrics of the song is the like
“Where they cut off your ear, its barbaric but hey its home” this line is just the start of potraying Arabs as violent cruel people.
You must have noticed i am using the word “Arabs” instead of naming the country on which the movie is based. Well its because the movie is a haphazard mix of whatever the fuck the white creators thought “middle east” was like.
In the movie their is a scene in which Jasmine gives a little kid a apple off a vendor’s stall and when the vendor sees it, he pulls out a huge knife and pins her hand down to chop it off. Again re establishing the belief of violent Arabs.
Women in this movie are so overtly sexualized, its sad. One time Aladdin is surrounded by prostitutes in a brothel (yes this is a kid’s movie) while one of the dancers grinds on his crotch.
The by far the WORST, There is a scene in this movie where while dancing and singing the genie pulls out a long sheet from Aladdin's ear as a trick and wipes his butt with it…. The sheet had Quran verses written on them.
And of course, Princess Jasmine’s attire being a revealing sexy outfit that is not suitable for a princess at all. Compare to other Disney princess Jasmine is much more sexualized.
The first movie was very extremely offensive in its portrayal and you’d think the live action would have corrected the mistakes made but oh lord you would be so wrong.
While watching the original and live remake you will see a disturbing pattern where the creators treat the culture of Arabian peninsular as the same as the South Asian subcontinent. Throughout the movie Arab people’s attire, music, turbans, food, physical setting, traditions and much more is switched with Indians.
And and will talk about this deeply in each category’s personal section but it shows how our culture doesn’t matter to them as long as it makes money, its good.
The movie is filled with people wearing Indian clothing and men wearing turbans native to India. This kind of ignorance would be expected if it was the old version but the 2019 remake does the same fucking thing.
You tell me the picture above doesn’t look like a Indian Mughal emperor, this is supposed to be the Arabian Sultan. And I know a lot of people will make the argument that “Mughals” were Persian descendants but they ruled for over 500 years, most of it is a unique blend of Indian and Persian culture which ultimately is a part of Indian history not Persian.
The feather on the top of the turban is a Indian attire as well as the outfit he is wearing.
The genie himself is wearing an Indian costume and the jewel in middle of the turban is again Indian adornment.
Again wtf is this outfit? Please name me ONE country in Arabia where this is the traditional attire because i am not aware of it. The bright colours, the pattern, the embroidery it all looks like a cheap copy of a Lehenga.
Both the movies are filled with basic orientalist desert music but what is baffling is that the 2019 version does not have a SINGLE Arab composer for the movie. Like imagine the audacity to make a movie about a certain group of people and completely to ignore their actual practice and traditions. All of the composures were either white or brown but no Arabs.
There is a scene in the movie where Jasmine plays the Oud which is a traditional middle eastern instrument and she plays it like a fucking guitar, I mean the sound out of the instrument sounds like acoustic guitar yall i can’t with this fuckass film.
In the original movie as weird as it was, Jasmine wasn’t a dumb scared girl. Yes the tropes were offensive but there was a effort to present Jasmine as a strong fierce princess. Unlike the live remake which equates her strength with singing songs and fighting with her father, the original does it more subtly.
There is a point in the movie where Aladdin and Jasmine are running aways from the city guards and while crossing over houses there is a big gap. Aladdin gives Jasmine his hand but instead of following him she vaults across the houses using a stick. So badass. But in the remake when Aladdin calls her across she stumbles and says that she can’t do it. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Another one is when during the climax Jaafar (villain) uses magic to freeze sultan and everyone else into air including Jasmine leaving her to his mercy. Everyone except Aladdin so of course he swoops in and saves the damsel in distress. I mean there could have been so many ways to re write this scene but nope they exaggerated the damsel in distress trope, something that is opposite to everything that Jasmine’s character stands for.
Yes there is more.
The movie shows many practices that are Indian but presents them as Arabian.
A scene includes a man swallowing fire and spitting it out, which is a traditional Hindu practice to showcase devotion to gods but was later stolen by the British as a showman trick.
The bazaar in the movie may look like a Middle Eastern market at first, but when you get a closer look, they are filled with Indian gulal (colors) similar to one used on Holi.
There are random shots of people in the street doing yoga as well.
The architecture of the palace in the original movie is closer to Mughal architecture with a circular dome at the top, but more than that, it is similar to Russian architecture predominantly seen in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Another crazy thing is that while dancing in the palace, they break into kind of a bollywood dance number with cringy stereotypical moves
Also the actress playing Jasmine, Naomi Scott is half white, half Indian compared to her lady in waiting Nasim Pedrad who is an Iranian actress and a much better choice in my opinion for the role but eh what do i know.
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used to describe the Western world’s patronizing, stereotyped, and often exoticized depictions of Eastern culture.
When I watched Aladdin for the first time, I was mesmerized because I thought it was India and not another country. That movie alone is responsible for propagating so many harmful stereotypes of brown people, such as “Arabs and Indians are the same,” or sexualizing belly dancing.
This movie is a very good case of how orientalism demeans and exploits eastern cultures and treats them with utter ignorance until they are profitable.
This may sound extreme, but this is a kid’s movie, and if young minds learn such ignorant representations of Arabia or India, it will create more harm for the next generation of brown kids.
Well now if you’ll excuse me, I have some videotapes to return
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.