Oddly enough, Galland's Aladdin isn't even Arab: he's Chinese. He also runs into two genies—a genie of the ring, and a genie of the lamp. He does get to marry a princess though. And slay an evil sorcerer. Aladdin was Disney's first stab at a non-white prince and princess.
And the movie was produced during a period of growing tensions in the Middle East, so it's pretty cool to see Arab heroes and heroines depicted on screen for everyone to see. Well, kind of, but not everyone was super psyched about Aladdin.
Though the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee appreciated that the film was " one of the few American films to feature an Arab hero or heroine ," they also had some issues with it.
They didn't much care for the opening lyrics of "Arabian Nights," for example, which originally were sung as:. Where they cut off your ear If they don't like your face It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
We thought there were a lot of mentions of hands being chopped off for a kid's movie. The ADC felt the film perpetuated "the tired stereotype of the Arab world as a place of deserts and camels, of arbitrary cruelty and barbarism. Disney changed the lyrics, but the movie had already been released, so they couldn't change anything else people found offensive—like the fact that the good guys look more Anglo, and the bad guys like the guards or merchants are dark-skinned with Arabic accents.
And let's not forget the idea that Princess Jasmine might have lost her hand on the spot for stealing an apple. Even in places with the strictest, most brutal forms of Sharia law, that's not how it works. So, yeah, Aladdin 's a mixed bag at times. You can add it the pile of other Disney movies that haven't been as culturally sensitive as they could have been. The crows in Dumbo? The Indians in Peter Pan? The Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp?
All problematic. In an musical burlesque version, Aladdin appeared to have been played by an actor in yellowface, with a contemporaneous setting that seems culturally European: A musical score of popular songs, arranged by W. Truly, a whole new world of cultural appropriation. The Aladdin codified how we think of the story — and the new film had to grapple with that legacy The Aladdin clearly portrayed Aladdin as Middle Eastern, but he and the Genie still read like Americans.
Next Up In Explainers. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. For more newsletters, check out our newsletters page. The Latest. Why movies tilt the camera like this By Marie Cascione.
Soul food and the stories it tells about America By Jamil Smith. The Taliban, explained By Sam Ellis. Since the place where the events of the story are unfolding is fictional and reference many different cultures, the same was most likely applied to the time as well.
Many people assume it does exist since we get to see a number of different real-life landmarks throughout the movie, like the Taj Mahal. The director of the Disney movie said in an interview that the original idea for the location of the story was the city of Baghdad in Iraq, however, they had to change it to a fictional location for the final product due to the backlash.
The biggest factor which led to this decision was the constantly increasing tension between the USA and the Iraqi government which ultimately led to the Gulf war. The same thing applies to the live-action remake. The city in which the story takes place is also a fictional city and it was envisioned as a place where a lot of people constantly come and go by sea, giving it a good strategic position and a lot of connections. Interestingly enough, if you look at the original version of the story and Victorian illustrations of it, it was supposed to be set in China or that the setting was supposed to be Turkestan in Central Asia.
Aladdin is Chinese in the first versions of the story. Except for the evil magician, who is from North Africa, all of the characters in the story are Chinese. While some scenes in the story take place in North Africa, the majority of the story takes place in China. Soon after, Aladdin began trading with the silver traders in the town.
CGI Iago the parrot : Disappointing, though more because the film mostly excised his wisecracking personality rather than because of how he looks…. Will Smith can sing, but it would be more accurate to describe him as a rapper. He had a successful career as a musician, and showed off his singing chops in Disney film Aladdin, but his musical numbers were heavily influenced by his hip-hop background….
0コメント