Film Critique: Aladdin

Racism in Disney’s Aladdin

Name of Film: Aladdin

Release Date: November 11, 1992

 While watching Aladdin as a child or any other Disney movie, you do not see or notice any racism towards anybody.  You see a cute, funny, and sometimes sad or happy movie.  While watching it again, and knowing what I know now from this class.  I had many different changes in how I saw Aladdin.  I saw how Jafar being an Arab, as well as Aladdin and Jazmine being Arabs, they had completely different facial features and sound of voice as well.   Below are pictures of Jafar, Aladdin, and Jazmine.  Jafar was a bad guy and had the pointy, hooked nose, thin lips, dark evil eyes, and a very thick accent.  Jafar’s eyes are big and feminine, like making fun of Arabs.  I noticed how it looks like he is wearing eye make up like a girl.  Trying to compare and say that Arabs are girlie I guess.  Also, how he is so tall and skinny like a woman.  Jafar always is dark too, he wears dark clothing and that dark eye shadow on his eyes, trying to make him look more evil.   Unlike Aladdin and Jasmine, they had more of a white person’s features with a tan.    Also, when showing Aladdin as a “street peasant/rat”, he had no shoes on.  Which is telling you that all poor Arab’s can’t afford shoes.   Below is also a picture of Aladdin with no shoes on. 

When I searched online I came across much of what I discussed.  It also brought up the opening song played during the beginning credits.  The song is called “Arabian Nights”.  It is said to be one of the most contentious messages found in the film and begins the movies “depiction of Arab culture with a decidedly racist tone” (Giroux).  An Arab merchant sings the song and the lyrics are: “Oh I come from a land/From a faraway place/Where the caravan camels roam. / Where they cut of your ears/If they don’t like your face. / It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home” The message that is given right from the beginning of the movie is that the Middle East is a desolate wasteland where the justice system can cut of your ears just because they don’t like your face.  

I truly felt shocked when I was reading online about all the racism they found and how it is racist.  However, I completely agreed with them and understood how is was showing racism.  It was pretty subtle with Jafar though, because it was only because of his accent and look of his face.  For someone like me who is not entirely sure what Arabs should look like and sound like, I didn’t catch onto it.  I had to see the reasoning behind it and what others were saying about it and then I agreed how it was racist.  My boyfriend actually braought up to me, how Jafar acts like Saddam Hussein.  I was completely shocked, but totally agreed with him.  Just by the fact that he was plotting to attack and take control of the town.  Much like Hussein did.  Jafar even kept people as slaves and imprisoned them, just like Huseein. 

With Aladdin I noticed things more easily because of the words he was using about himself and what people were calling him, like “street rat” and also how he was never wearing shoes.  It was clearer to me in that manner than Jafar.  Also, when reading about how he and Jazmine look like white people with a tan.  And not Arabs, I had to look back at the pictures of them to understand.  Again, because I don’t really know Arabs look like I couldn’t see how it was portraying them as white people.  But I do understand now what they meant.  Also, I noticed how the lighter their skin was in the movie, the more money they had.  Like the Sultan, Jazmines dad, he was rich and had even lighter skin than Jazmine and Aladdin did.  Showing more of the good, “white characters” to have more money than the bad, “Arab characters”. 

I found this to be so helpful and eye opening.  I will think about what I am reading to them and having my children watch.  Some of these things were so subtle that even as an adult I didn’t see it.  So imagine as a child, and how they retain so much information, how negative that can be for children for when they get older.