Aladdin and Me
You might wonder why the title of this section matches the title of our site. It's not a bad question to ask. The answer has to do with our very purpose, which is to instruct students, parents, teachers, and - most of all - fans, on the didactic content and value of the film. We want to more precisely define what it is that you can take home from Aladdin. And rest assured, the goods are positive and plenty.
Much of contemporary criticism for Aladdin is directed at the live action adaptation, which, at this time of writing, is set to release next year in 2019. The struggle of the film makers to find singing, dancing actors of Middle Eastern or Indian descent has drawn the ire of prominent figures in the industry such as Lexi Alaxander, an Academy Award nominated director, who laments the Western preference for actors-of-color being of substantial reputation. It's a call for Guy Ritchie, the director of the remake, to consider less reputable actors with sufficient talent. We view this criticism as part of a larger campaign of oversight concerning Aladdin's portrayal of the Arabic world - a campaign that began long before 2019, to appear most prominently in the reaction of Dr. Jack Shaheen to the 1992 release of Aladdin. The writer, lecturer, and critic of racio-ethnic stereotypes pointed to a lyric in the original soundtrack that read, "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face," and accused the film of perpetuating an "abhorrent Arabic stereotype." This is reinforced by another lyric, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home", which only further reinforces the stereotype of the Middle East as an uncivilized and cruel place. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also cited a discrepancy between the Westernized, English features of the protagonist and deuteragonist, Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively, and the cynical, hard-nosed inhabitants of Agrabah.
Much of contemporary criticism for Aladdin is directed at the live action adaptation, which, at this time of writing, is set to release next year in 2019. The struggle of the film makers to find singing, dancing actors of Middle Eastern or Indian descent has drawn the ire of prominent figures in the industry such as Lexi Alaxander, an Academy Award nominated director, who laments the Western preference for actors-of-color being of substantial reputation. It's a call for Guy Ritchie, the director of the remake, to consider less reputable actors with sufficient talent. We view this criticism as part of a larger campaign of oversight concerning Aladdin's portrayal of the Arabic world - a campaign that began long before 2019, to appear most prominently in the reaction of Dr. Jack Shaheen to the 1992 release of Aladdin. The writer, lecturer, and critic of racio-ethnic stereotypes pointed to a lyric in the original soundtrack that read, "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face," and accused the film of perpetuating an "abhorrent Arabic stereotype." This is reinforced by another lyric, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home", which only further reinforces the stereotype of the Middle East as an uncivilized and cruel place. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also cited a discrepancy between the Westernized, English features of the protagonist and deuteragonist, Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively, and the cynical, hard-nosed inhabitants of Agrabah.
Perhaps Farouk might fit this description - he's the apple-vendor who nearly chops off Jasmine's hand after assuming that she is stealing from him. His authority to do so isn't addressed in the movie, leading one to imagine the consequences had he indeed followed through with the action. One might argue that this proclivity for drastic punishment of crime might fall into the category of perpetuating a stereotype. But this one detail in the movie, or even the other details that support it, and their overarching message - that there are harsh, impulsive people in the world, and that they need not only be Arabic - is an easy, universal message to digest. It isn't perpetuating a stereotype to state that there are harsh, impulsive people in the world; it is perpetuating a stereotype to imply that the harsh, impulsive people in the world are predominantly Arabic. As Aladdin makes a claim for the former, it is absolved in this case.
|
To further prove our point, we'd like to point to the sultan - a portly, kind-hearted, but weak-willed old man who is routinely hypnotized and manipulated by Jafar to fulfill his wishes. The difficulty in Jasmine's story can almost be exclusively attributed to the sultan's ignorance and obstinacy. Of course...there's the whole issue with Jafar wanting to become the evil sultan of Agrabah and everything...but we're talking about the original sultan here. He institutes a law requiring the princess to marry one of many suitors who routinely visit her and ask for her hand in marriage. It's a patriarchal law that brings about Jasmine's frustration, exhibited by her rejecting every prince that visits the palace.
Yet, by the end of the movie, the sultan realizes that Jasmine loves not a prince but a street thief, and so changes the law to allow the matrimony to take place. As we've said...the sultan's a bit slow. But we'll overlook that fact to say this much: the spirit behind the sultan's decision, however delayed, is a positive one. It promotes freedom by giving women power to choose their marriages. Teachers and parents can consequently use this example to teach children about compassion, self-determination (guess we came full circle on this one!) and possibly empathy.
|
Aladdin gives the veggies with the dessert, as there are positive and negative qualities in every society and in every culture. To say otherwise is to give an inaccurate representation of the human condition throughout the world. That being said, we still advocate for a fair assessment of the world's cultures, especially those underrepresented in the media. Choosing which positive and negative qualities of a populace to address can be difficult, but it is a necessary process, and relates substantially to morality. And now, with that being said, let's transition to the last element of this discussion.
The role that Disney plays in imparting virtues to children has experienced some level of controversy, but it is a general consensus that the film-making company must choose topics upon which clear, child-friendly, ethical lessons can be conveyed. When this implicit expectation is not met, Disney faces substantive backlash, and a potential drop in both reputation and revenue forces the company to acknowledge the criticism in some form. In strictly moral situations, this rule is closely followed. However, in a more ambiguous environment such as that of culture, Disney's stance is less defined. The company must still strive to treat racio-ethnic groups fairly, as was demonstrated in the cultural shift between Moana (2016) and Pocahontas (1995). That's an entirely different conversation on its own, but the gist of it is that Disney needed to illustrate the dimensions, struggles, and conflicts of a culture with greater specificity. This can be somewhat summed up with the term cultural sensitivity. In Moana, Disney film directors learned to incorporate more authentic elements of a culture in a film, rather than to align with generic, evasive, stereotypical trends. You can read more about this by visiting our Resources page.
The role that Disney plays in imparting virtues to children has experienced some level of controversy, but it is a general consensus that the film-making company must choose topics upon which clear, child-friendly, ethical lessons can be conveyed. When this implicit expectation is not met, Disney faces substantive backlash, and a potential drop in both reputation and revenue forces the company to acknowledge the criticism in some form. In strictly moral situations, this rule is closely followed. However, in a more ambiguous environment such as that of culture, Disney's stance is less defined. The company must still strive to treat racio-ethnic groups fairly, as was demonstrated in the cultural shift between Moana (2016) and Pocahontas (1995). That's an entirely different conversation on its own, but the gist of it is that Disney needed to illustrate the dimensions, struggles, and conflicts of a culture with greater specificity. This can be somewhat summed up with the term cultural sensitivity. In Moana, Disney film directors learned to incorporate more authentic elements of a culture in a film, rather than to align with generic, evasive, stereotypical trends. You can read more about this by visiting our Resources page.