MovieChat Forums > Aladdin (1992) Discussion > Honest question - What do Arabs think ab...

Honest question - What do Arabs think about the themes of this movie?

posted 9 years ago by Szabu
8 replies | jump to latest

Disclaimer #1: Aladdin is my favorite movie of all time. It gave me a very inspirational role model as a kid, its energy, optimism and messages helped me through the hardest time of my life (being a teenager), and as an adult I can't stop being amazed by how well written, well paced, well acted and simply beautiful this movie is.

Disclaimer #2: I am not trying to be incendiary or racist here. I am genuinely curious. I know some of my questions may come off as flame bait to some, but let's keep it civil.

So with that said... here is a movie with an Arab (and canonivally Muslim, they say "praise Allah" in the movie after all) hero and heroine, which should be appealing, but the messages in the movie are very, very Western minded and individualistic, which (from what I've seen and heard) aren't very popular among most Muslims.

Aladdin promotes many Western values like
- freedom, and challenging your fate (both for Aladdin and Jasmine)
- free love (which should be the base for marriage)
- self-acceptance (and not in an "accept your place in thr world" way, rather as "you can fulfill your dreams no matter who you are")
- women's equality and self-determination (not to mention the sexy, skimpy clothes and once again, kissing and more before marriage)
- critical thinking and tearing down traditions (the Sultan changes an old, important, but obsolete law in the end)

So please if you are Arab/Muslim and have seen this movie, or have such a friend, tell me your opinion. Do you like the movie despite or because of all this? Do you agree with the messages and think they provide good morals for children?

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

someone who said Aladdin is inaccurate

So they also come from the fictional place called Agrabah?

promotes stereotypes

Isn't that true for every Disney movie, I can't believe people cry over that.

(particularly that the people are violent or thieves).

I have never heard of the stereotype of the Arab thief. I do know that this movie is about an Arab folktale featuring a boy who's described as a rascal with bad habits. I guess it's true that all the villains from other Disney movies are never violent...

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

Jafar arguably looks more like a "true" Arab than Aladdin and Jasmine, who are simply "exotic"-looking.

Oh, and what exactly do Arabs look like? Is there a "type"? I've seen plenty of Arabs who look like Aladdin and Jasmine, in fact, I've seen Iranians in real life who were their spitting image (minus Aladdin's late 80s/early 90 mullet hair). But you think the average French person looks like Belle or Gaston?

More than a few background characters also resemble Middle Eastern stereotypes or caricatures.

The background characters look plain or comedic, just like in any other Disney movie. And they are dressed in Middle Eastern style, which is completely appropriate.

It's the concept of the whole turban-clad, scimitar wielding, dishonest Arab stereotype.

No, it really isn't. Aladdin is a thief because he's described as a rascal with bad habits in the original story, no one else is a thief. And he's a good guy at that. Jafar is dishonest because he's the freakin bad guy. The guards wield scimitars because that's historically correct. The turban is a cultural thing, just like Beauty and the Beast has many typically French things. The baker even sells baguettes, how offensive!

Arab Muslims faced stereotypes about their culture and religion.

Which group has not? Spare be the sob story. Especially if it's done in a lighthearted way like in this movie, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Most studios now know better than to use nasty generalizations about ethnic or religious groups.

There are no such generalizations in this movie. There are just good guys and bad guys, like in any other Disney movie.

are now so unacceptable that it's a shock even to hear them mentioned.

Only if you live in PC Tumblr land. Stereotypes are ALWAYS going to be there, it's human nature.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

You got all that from that one blog???

Swarthy. Arabs are perceived to have olive complexions, aquiline nose dark eyes and black hair. Iranians are Persian, not Arab.

And? It's still in the Middle East. Many Iranians are semetic, closely related to peoples living in the Arab world. Who knows what the people of Agrabah are ethnically. And the "aquiline" nose is something real, Tehran is the nose job capital of the world for a reason.

The light-skinned lead characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, have Anglicized features and Anglo-American accents.

Oh, there are "Anglosaxon" and "Arab" features? Isn't that stereotyping? And no, they are not lighter skinned than most other characters in the movie. The background characters have all kinds of skin colours because that's the reality of the Middle East. And ALL the characters have Anglo-American accents. Except for the Sultan, he has a British accent. This somehow makes him a negative stereotype? You know who also have Anglo-American accents? Belle and the Beast. You know who don't? His servants. That's got to mean something!

Well, the film immediately characterizes the Arab world as alien, exotic, and "other."

That's because it IS alien, exotic, and other to the American audience. That's the appeal of a foreign fairytale. Just take a look at Beauty and the Beast.

Arabs who were offended see this film as perpetuating the tired stereotype of the Arab world as a place of deserts and camels, of arbitrary cruelty and barbarism.

Then they're seeing things that aren't there.

Popular culture aimed at children is replete with negative images of Arab women as belly dancers and harem girls, and Arab men as violent terrorists, oil “sheiks,” and marauding tribesmen who kidnap blond Western women.

Oh yeah, children's programs are just filled with such images! Belly dancers, the horror! And when was the last time a German was portrayed as something other than a nazi or a sausage eating, beer drinking, lederhosen wearing fatass? Nobody's an exception. Be careful to never watch the portrayal of Western people in foreign media, it might damage one's sensitive soul.

Yet some Arab Americans have problems with this film.

Yes, those who are sensitive and insecure and somehow see themselves represented in fictional characters in a children's movie about a fictional place called Agrabah which is filled with genies, flying carpets and other magic.

Does that apply to blackface?

Totally different context. Stereotypes change over time, but they'll always be there.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

They're all just classic stereotypes and I can agree Disney uses too much of these and I wish they wouldn't do that.

Disney mostly uses storytelling stereotypes, like how they portray the good guys vs. the bad guys. I don't think they need to do that every time.

I only hope Disney continues wisely ignoring "social justice" lunatics with Moana, as they did with Aladdin and TPatF. The result will in all likelyhood be a better movie with superior integrity.

Honestly, I don't even get that discussion about Moana. When Disney characters are thin it's no good, but when they're "fat" it's no good either. None of the characters look fat to me anyway. Just healthy and strong.