Growing up, the Disney classic "Aladdin" was always a favorite movie of mine. The songs are catchy, the story line is exciting, and the characters are portrayed in a relatable sense. As I watch the film today as a 20 year old, I notice things a little differently- subtle messages in the songs, a storyline based on lies and greed, and characters who portrayed in a very unrealistic way. During the film, one of the things that really caught my attention was the way Jasmine was illustrated. She's half- dressed, very skinny, and young. This shows children was a sense of "beauty" is. I noticed myself how blatantly sexist the film was towards women. Jasmine can't make a decision on her own and her dad has to bring men home so she can get married by law, she acts as a sex slave to Jafar when he takes over, she is unable to leave her house on her own, and is only seen as an object of beauty with no real voice in how she feels. In the end, she has to be "saved" by Aladdin from Jafar when she is too weak to do so herself (Hidden Sexism, Film Jam). The portrayal of Jasmine in these contexts teachers children how women can be "second- class citizens" in society and shows that societies can think they have a lesser value (Hidden Sexism, Film Jam). 
Also in Aladdin, the storyline is based off of greed for wealth and power while lying to get something you want. Aladdin lies the entire movie to Jasmine about his identity so she can like him- all the while having a genie who grants him wishes to be things like" rich". This underlying message teaches children it's better to be rich and if you're not rich you will not be successful. Aladdin's nickname is "street rat" and shows how negative it is to live in poverty. In the song, "One Jump Ahead" it's singing about what it's like living in poverty and how much of a burden it is to others that he is. Aladdin is seen to be sweet, but also has an underlying selfishness to him. He has three wishes and uses two of them to "better" himself/ lie to others. His want to be different and rich and wanting to change his identity also teaches kids that it's ok to not love yourself. Aladdin didn't like himself, therefore he changed his entire identity for someone else and lied about who he truly is. Once Jasmine found out he lied, he was then rewarded with her love (Hidden Sexism, Film Jam). It teaches children that lying is okay.
Finally, the setting and culture in "Aladdin" is completely inaccurate. For example, Jasmines outfit is culturally not right and does not match the weather in the Middle East, which inspired Agrabah (Hidden Sexism, Film Jam). It also portrays the Arab culture as cheap, showing Aladdin constantly stealing and is seen as a thief. This is watered down by his kind acting giving Abu food and children on the street (Disney Racism, PB Works). Aladdin is illustrated as American looking. He has an American accent, a lighter complexion than the Arabian culture, very clean- cut look, and is considered handsome by many. PB works website also stated that he has "American values" because he lives in poverty and is aspiring to be successful. Jafar who is considered evil, has the opposite look of Aladdin- although both are considered Arabian in the movie. Jafar is tall, unattractive and dark. Jafar has a very stereotypical look to him having a hooked nose, eye- makeup, and long neck (Disney Racism, PB Works). This points out features in the Arabian culture that Aladdin lacks, but over exaggerates them into a noticeably different look than Aladdin. Like Aladdin, Jafar wants to rule Agrabah and have ultimate success and wealth- making him look like a thief and selfish. Jafar never learns a lesson like Aladdin and will do anything to achieve success. The Sultan who is the leader of Agrabah, is seen as the character with the lightest skin. Jasmine is shown having darker skin than the Sultan, having an underlying message that men are more important and women are less because the darker skin of Jasmine is compared to Jafars. This shows children the inaccuracy of different cultures and has an underlying message that lighter skin and Americans are better and that other cultures and darker skin is bad. This adds to any white superiority the child feels and pokes fun at other culture and shows them in a lesser value.
Aladdin will always be a classic in my eyes, but as a teaching tool to children this would not be appropriate. It's very inaccurate culturally and does not portray people in the best way. The messages behind all the singing and dancing teach children lying, greed, a rich lifestyle, and that changing yourself is okay to do.
Amanda Nye: Aladdin
ReplyDeleteI learned what you did, that just because a move is cute, funny, and has great songs, does not mean that it is a good film; it can still contain many “-isms”. I view this movie differently than when I first watched it as a child. I can now identify the racism and sexism. I like the small photos that were placed at the end of the blog. This enabled the reader to compare the character’s looks, skin tone, demeanor, etc.
Amanda S.
Amanda Nye: Aladdin
ReplyDeleteI learned what you did, that just because a move is cute, funny, and has great songs, does not mean that it is a good film; it can still contain many “-isms”. I view this movie differently than when I first watched it as a child. I can now identify the racism and sexism. I like the small photos that were placed at the end of the blog. This enabled the reader to compare the character’s looks, skin tone, demeanor, etc.
Amanda S.
Shahnaz~
ReplyDeleteI agree from watching this movie as a child and now its extremely different. I remember I always use to love watching this movie and did not really see anything wrong within the movie, but after watching it recently with my niece and from reading your blog it just made me think a whole lot differently about this film. Its sad how some characters are portrayed.
Amanda I liked that mentioned the part about jasmine being shown as a sex slave. I remember when I saw this when I was younger I was really uncomfortable by the scene. I think you make a massive point in that children that grow up in todays culture ARE going to understand the real reality of sex slavery, and will pick up on this quickly. I know children who raised money within their classes to donate to an organization that fights against many forms of slavery. I was informed from your blog about how Jasmine's character portrays women as weak, and less valuable. It's not to say that I would not have seen this in an obvious way if I watched it, but that because the last time I watched this was when I was a little kid, I did not figure this out. This portrayal of women definitely makes me see this movie differently. As a child I loved Genie, and missed all of that, but know I sort of have a bad taste in my mouth, especially the way Jasmine is shown as a slave at the end. That is way too real for me, because I know how real this is. Today. Everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, i really like the points you make about the film, I never realized how many "isms" are actually in this movie. I would have never though of Jasmine as such a sex symbol however, the points you make so much sense, Like Caleb mentions, that part when she seduces Jafar to trick him also made me feel uncomfortable but could never figure out why, until now. It is a sad reality of the world we live in. After reading your blog I don't know that I can stomach watching this movie again.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the sexism and cultural misrepresentation, but I think the movie acknowledges that Aladdin is a selfish character and that what he is doing is wrong, and, to be fair, only one of his wishes was for himself. You can't really count when he was drowning because he didn't actually wish to be saved.
ReplyDelete