Watching Disney’s Aladdin (1992) for the first time since beginning the course—since realizing how important it was to critically analyze Disney films and view them as more than just children’s entertainment—really made me see the movie in “a whole new world.” No longer did that world just center around the cute romance between Jasmine and Aladdin or the comical interaction between Abu and the Magic Carpet. Instead, I also noticed other, less magical elements such as cultural insensitivity and sexism.
For starters, as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee phrased it, the film only seemed to perpetuate the “tired stereotype of the Arab world as a place of deserts and camels, of arbitrary cruelty and barbarism.” For instance, in the marketplace when Jasmine inadvertently stole the apple, the owner of the market was ready to chop off her hand. This, to me, portrays Middle Eastern societies in an unfair, black-and-white sense where extreme Sharia law will always prevail. This inaccurate depiction can be extremely offensive to those viewers of Middle Eastern origin, for there is so much accomplishment and rich history concomitant to their cultural history that is blatantly ignored. In addition, another alarming element I noticed in the film was that while the “good guys” of the film, Aladdin and Jasmine, were depicted to have lighter skin tones, Anglicized features, and American accents, the villains such as Jafar and the palace guards tended to have Arabic accents and significantly darker skin tones. This is alarming, as it serves to reinforce notions of White superiority and puts forth the archaic idea that those of darker skin colors are innately more antagonistic/problematic than their paler counterparts. I wonder whether the animators purposely chose to illustrate the characters this way, or whether such a decision was the product of implicit bias. Either way, not the most culturally sensitive depiction to say the least….
Furthermore, I did appreciate how Jasmine was portrayed in a much more progressive light than the first-generation Disney princesses such as Snow White and Cinderella. For instance, I liked how Jasmine was a little fiesty and stood up against the misogynistic behaviors of the men in her life. For example, she didn’t passively sit by and just let her father decide her future husband. Instead, she cleverly drives the visiting princes whom she doesn’t like out of the palace with her rebellious behavior. Instead of unconditionally trying to please her father and obey the men in her life, Jasmine fights for her own desires and wishes. One of the lines that stood out most to me was when the Sultan, Aladdin, and Jafar were all arguing over the course of Jasmine’s future and Jasmine had the strength to assert that she was “not a prize to be won.” This iconic line helped shatter the sexist message suffused throughout the earlier text, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” that women were similar to material objects who could just be handed off to the highest bidder.
However, there were still problematic depictions of gender roles. One character that annoyed me greatly throughout the entire movie was the Sultan. Not only was he a completely ineffective and useless leader (idly lounging in his luxurious palace while many children on the streets were literally begging to even eat a stale piece of bread), but his views regarding the capability of females were completely patriarchal. For example, he treated Jasmine as if she was weak and clueless, unable to make it on her own in this world without a strong male figure by her side. When he told Jasmine, “I’m not going to be around forever, and I just want to make sure you’re taken care of and provided for,” I physically cringed. See Genie below for an accurate portrayal of my response.
In addition, another question I had regarding the Sultan that bothered me throughout the film was if he had the power to change the law at his pleasure (i.e. he was able to change the law at the end of the film so that a Prince no longer had to marry the Princess), why didn’t he just change the law from the get-go so that Jasmine could inherit the throne and rule Agrabah? Was the idea that women could be leaders just too revolutionary for the Disney franchise to endorse? If a dim-witted character such as the Sultan was allowed to rule over the kingdom, Jasmine certainly should have the opportunity to do so as well.
Well, to end on a more positive note, I was super excited when I realized Genie was wearing a Goofy hat at the end of the film because Goofy has always been one of my favorite cartoon characters!!! Overall, the movie was super enjoyable to watch minus the cultural insensitivity, minus the sexism, and minus the fact that the well-being of the poor villagers was utterly overlooked.
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