Disney has come under fire in recent years for the obvious racist and sexist visuals and sounds that appear in countless Disney children movies. The movie Aladdin is full of racist stereotypes dealing with the Middle East and its people and also sexist stereotypes against women.
These stereotypes are found all throughout the movie and are obvious. There is no attempt to hide them; the remarks are blatantly stated and shown constantly within the natural flow of the movie.
In the opening scenes of the movie you can see a darker man riding a camel in traditional Arab clothing. The man is traveling through a desert with the sun beaming down on him. This scene is very typical when the Middle East is thought of. Sure part of the Middle East is covered in desert but that is only a small part of it.
Some parts of the Middle East are covered in lush forest and mountains with wide rivers running through, and camels are not the only form of transportation in the Arab world. These images are only a small part of what the Middle East contains. This stereotype is a big one and is abused in the Disney movie.
While this opening scene is going on a disturbing song is accompanying it. The song is playing played by traditional Arab instruments the singer is a man with a thick Arab accent. The typical Middle Eastern music is not the main issue with this scene. When you listen to the words you can hear the man singing, “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.”
The Essay on Middle East British Arab Began
The Arab world has been one of the most confusing areas known to the western world. Because of this confusion, the people of the Middle East have been made to suffer, not only at the hands of the west, but also by their own. Even though Arab and western world relations have been stabilizing, they are still long way off from achieving a lasting peace." The roots of all these problems go back to the ...
What are the Disney songwriters teaching children about the Middle East with this line? Are they trying to say that people from the Middle East are ruthless and will commit an act of violence without a reason? This message is harmful to a child and could influence the way they look at people from the Middle East.
By representing them in this racist way in a children’s movie, the children watching are influenced to believe that Middle Eastern people are evil people who are violent and will use violence for no reason.
When you evaluate the characters in the movie you can observe how the “good guys” are mostly pleasing to the eye and have American accents while the “bad guys” in the movie have a foreign accent and often have a scary appearance. The main character Aladdin is a young man with appealing looks and an American accent.
The female lead is Jasmine who is attractive and also has an American accent. This repetitiveness teaches children that attractive people who talk “normal” are always good. The villain Jafar is scary looking and has a different accent. The palace guards who harass Aladdin constantly are also scarier looking and have Arab accents.
They have darker skin than Aladdin and Jasmine and look more like typical Middle Eastern people. These images teach the children watching that men who are Arab are always evil and are the villains in the world. These images impact the minds’ of children in a negative way by teaching them racist stereotypes.
Sexism is prevalent all throughout the movie because almost all of the women in the entire movie are dressed provocatively. The stereotypical belly dancer image of the Middle East is shown in multiple scenes and the stomachs and cleavage is in plain view.
The Princess Jasmine is dressed the same way. Little girls are shown the image of the Princess Jasmine dressed in a provocative way and believe that dressing in those types of clothes is how princesses dress. The way women are depicted is a terrible example for little girls watching. They see these women in movies and want to be like them.
I believe this also has a negative impact on little boys who see these girls dressed like this and learn that this is the typical way for a woman to dress.
Little Children Movie Review
“You couldn’t change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere. ” This final statement sums up the message of the Little Children, a film opus of Todd Fiend, that talks not merely about a love affair of two married persons, but the story of struggle and redemption of common folk living in an upper-middle class suburban Boston. This ...
Women are also victim to another stereotype in this movie. Jasmine is treated like property by multiple men all throughout the film. Her father the Sultan controls her in the beginning and tries to force a husband on her. By doing this he would no longer be in control of her and would pass on control to the husband he chooses.
Jasmine rebels against the idea but is quite powerless in the movie. After Aladdin becomes a prince he treats Jasmine like she is a trophy to be won by him. He purses her this way in the beginning. The evil Jafar also pursues Jasmine as his trophy wife.
When he gains power he takes Jasmine, chains her up, and makes her wear provocative clothing. He controls her this way and then even attempts to control her mind. This attempt to treat women like property has negative effects on the children who watch. They can see this and begin to believe that women are property of men and are just some prize to be won. This statement is very incorrect and is a bad example set by the movie Aladdin
The Disney movie Aladdin is full of racist and sexist stereotypes that have negative influences on the young children who watch it. These can impact the developing minds of children in a very bad way. Children need to be taught to break the chain of racism against people from the Middle East and also sexism against women.
