Aladdin is originally a 1992 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures that mainly targets children as its audience. The film follows Aladdin, an Arabian street urchin, who finds a magic lamp containing a genie. He disguises himself as a wealthy Prince and tries to impress the Sultan and his daughter, Princess Jasmine.
The aim of this essay is to examine the issues of stereotypes in both the 1992 film and the re-make live-action film in 2019, such as how Walt Disney is well known for using color coding to identify characters as 'good' and 'evil' and how they stereotype the female characters in the films they produce. I will be exploring different ideas from different theorists such as bell hooks and Edward Said and I will also be exploring different theories like the 'Marked' and 'Unmarked' theories.
The film, Aladdin, is full of racist stereotypes dealing with the Middle East and its people and sexist stereotypes against women. At the time of its release in 1992, Aladdin served as a 'universal cure', a sweeping solution to the unrepresented non-white narratives for children. This movie was, essentially, a way to justify neo-colonial, imperialist white feminism.
Jafar is the Vizier to the Sultan whereby his villainous image is evident by using strong Arabic features. He is portrayed as a dark and tall character. He has a hooked nose, and large eyes that appear almost as if he is wearing makeup, giving him slightly feminine features (Aidan Woodcock 2016). Jafar's evil is further explicated in his curly beard and traditional clothing. Whereas the Sultan, who is known as the most righteous character in the film has the lightest skin color and his only Arabian physical feature is his thick beard. Aladdin is seen as the hero in this film and his characters' physical appearance is less Arabian and more American. His skin appears to be an olive color and he has more genetic similarities to the American race than the Arabian thus considered a 'hero' (Aidan Woodcock 2016). All characters in the film evidently have an olive complexion, however, the darker skin color often indicates bad characteristics (evil). This actively demonstrates that the use of characters' biological features displays how kid's movies often use color coding and covert racism to identify characters as 'good' or 'bad'. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee went ahead and said that they saw light-skinned, Anglicised features in the heroes, Aladdin, and Jasmine, that contrasted sharply with the street merchants, shopkeepers, and guards, who were weird looking and had Arabic accents and beards.
It is also very noticeable in the 1992 film, Jasmine has very little agency. Her role in the film is entirely dependent on the men around her-her father, who admits that it's not just because of the law that he's forcing her to marry, but because he wants a man to 'take care of her', Jafar, who first wants to marry her for the power but then reveals it's just lust for young flesh, and Aladdin, who spends most of the time lying about his identity so that she can like him. (Aditi Natasha Kini, 2017). Moreover, Jasmine is the only woman character (not counting the 'loose' women and commoners who are present in the songs with no real lines). This shows that this film supports John Berger's belief that 'men act, and women appear'. (John Berger, 1972)
The film was then re-made as a live-action film in 2019. It was revealed that there was difficulty in finding a singing, dancing actor who was Middle Eastern or Indian to play the title role of Aladdin. It is said that the real reason it was 'impossible' to find a good brown fit for Aladdin was because Aladdin's character design was inspired by Tom Cruise (an American actor that has the appearance of a 'dream man').
This re-make also is a response to rising Islamophobia. Due to the Islamophobic natural sourced material in the 1992 film, there are not many significant changes in the 2019 film, therefore, the re-make supports Islamophobia. Said explains, 'In this way, Islam is made clearer, the true nature of its threat appears and an implicit course of action against it is proposed.' The movie also was released during a huge rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes, thus supporting and increasing Islamophobia. (Aditi Natasha Kini, 2017).
Over and above that, an important non-human character in the film is the Genie, who lives only to serve, complains throughout the film of eternal servitude, and longs for freedom. This character is played by Will Smith (an African American) in the live-action film. How is it that the only black actor in the film plays the character that is imprisoned, takes orders, and grants wishes when summoned, and that is seen as okay?
As mentioned, Aladdin is set in an environment where women are seen as unequal and subservient to men. However, in the 2019 live-action film, the song 'Speechless', sung by Princess Jasmine, is added to the list of songs. Princess Jasmine is told several times that she should be 'seen and not heard', hence she sings in the song, 'I won't go speechless.' In this context, the feminist messages are extremely relevant. The movie heavily focuses on the theme of female empowerment. 'Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.' (bell hooks, 2000). Additionally, a new character is introduced, Jasmine's best friend and handmaid, Dalia. The inclusion of this character means the film passes the Bechdel test, which attempts to measure the representation of women in fiction. The requirements of a film to pass the Bechdel test are that there are two female characters, with names, that speak to each other about something other than a man. (Hannah Forsdike, 2019). Moreover, in the original storyline, Aladdin becomes the Sultan upon marrying Princess Jasmine, however, there is a plot twist at the end of the 2019 film where Princess Jasmine becomes the Sultan instead of Aladdin.
To sum up, everything that has been stated so far and to conclude, I maintain that Walt Disney's viewers are accustomed to believing that the darker a character is, or in this case the more stereotypically Arabian a man appears to be then the more likely he is to be associated with an evil bad personality. This is linked to a historical belief that 'black people are inferior to white people' (Storey, 169) and that white is 'marked' and black is 'unmarked' i.e., where the 'unmarked' is more dominant than the 'marked' (Said, 1978). In movies such as Aladdin, the audience will make use of racism and the color coding theory to make assumptions and identify characters as 'good' or 'bad'. Furthermore, it is clear to see that times have changed from 1992 to 2019. Firstly, through the inclusion of more feminist scenes in the live-action film, and secondly, most of the characters have similar skin color, whether good (Aladdin) or evil (Jafar). However, due to some stereotypes that were in the first, original movie, it was a bit challenging to change some characteristics that some characters are known for.