Disney, Aladdin and 'Subtle' Racism | Film Essay and Analysis 

It is such a shame all of those cultures have been historically blended together in the name of imperialism. As an american I have only recently scratched the surface of the individual richness of different countries, and how much we have destroyed and taken from them.

The Middle East isn't just Arab and Muslim. Centuries of Arab, Kurdish, Iranian and Turkic Islamic Imperialism have rendered the region's other ethnoreligious communities, namely, the Assyrians, Copts, Yazidis, Maronites, Arameans, Mandeans, Samaritans and Armenians among others to be ethnic minorities in their own lands.

Making their villains darker in skin tone to the heroic characters is a common feature in most of Disney's 2D animation. I would argue that it was a fairly common trope, and who knows what ultimate effect that trope had on the millions of kids watching Disney films as they grew up!

The Twisted Musical's "Why is everyone in the Kingdom white?!" joke was the perfect jab at this movie lmao

i grew up thinking i was white and just a bit different-looking (my mother is iranian, but i never met her until later in my life), and i remember aladdin being my favourite disney movie, until i became a bit older and realised that a lot of the villains looked like me, which sparked some mental health issues in me from a young age... i dont think people realise how detrimental these stereotypes can be for children who are middle-eastern as well!!

The Genie culturally appropriating the color blue from the Smurfs is definitely not subtle racism.

I will defend one part of the movie. There is a reason why the world of Aladdin is portrayed as more violent than other DIsney movies, it's becasue one of the movie's themes is how poor people are treated harshley by soiciety and you need the setting to be portrayed as more dangeorus to fit that theme

the thing is Aladdin is an arabic story (yeah, we know he was *chinese* but China of that age is not china of this age.. persia could be considered part china in the eyes of an ancient arabic citizen) yet there is no arabc presentation.. even the costumes are all wrong??? most costumes are either pakistani/indian/persian or Turkish inspired.. not one is arabic??? the location, the castle shape, even the exotic words that Gemie apparently uses in his songs are not arabic (a lot were turkish)... legitimately when I watched this movie when I was younger, I tjought Aladdin and Jasmine were south asian.. and Disney Aladdin feels like an amalgamation of south asian cultures.. but one thing destroys that amd that is: the Arabian nights song at the beginning

Thank you for making this video. I watched Aladdin for the first time with my brother yesterday, I don't know much about Arab countries but seeing the warning in the begining and just the things the characters said and did I thought this movie was build on stereotypes, my brother said I was exagerating and that it was probably similar to how Coco portrayed Mexico (we live in Mexico). Boy was I right and actually understating how bad that was

Another fantastic video! I'm so hyped for an analysis of the remake 😊 I really liked your comparison with the thief of Baghdad as I'd never heard of it before and it was really interesting

I'm surprised you didn't discuss the scene with the lady who says "Still I think he's rather tasty."

The interesting fact not stated in this video. When Aladdin came out, the US was going to invade Iraq. The creators gave the city a different name as a way to distance itself from Bagdad. The story underwent several changes as Aladdin would be closer to 12 with a mother. However, they realized it didn't quite work for the film, but many of the ideas were used in the 2014 Aladdin Broadway show. It can not be remiss that since 1979, the US involvement in the region has been volatile. US relations with Iran were detorating. The US Embassy hostage situation, the Iran/Iraq War in the early 80s, conflict in Beruit, oil embargos, and a plethera of geopolitical conflict. Aladdin was in production before Beauty and the Beast with story changes, character changes, and other creative influences. Long story short, the creators are American looking at the Middle East from Western eyes. Which is very nuanced by region, dialect, politically, and historically. I do not believe anyone on the team was from the region, or if they were, they were not in a position to contribute to the film in a meaningful way. The problem with the live action still has an enmeshment problem. Indian culture is not the same as Arab culture. There may be things that overlap but are very different, culturally and linguistically. The other side of this historical/political coin is Disney was and to some extent, an entertainment powerhouse. Aladdin was the first non-white character/story undertaken in the modern cultural collective for Disney. Aladdin was marketed to young boys to be the hero, which was different from previous "princess" stories. This means Aladdin was fetishized, too.

Yes, do the same with the remake.

14:36 I am pretty sure they only gave them slightly different skintones so they would not clash But like… Jasmine looks NOTHING like a White American teenager 13:37 Her nose is long and narrow the skin around her eyes have slight color to it (Which i guess is meant to be makeup but you get the point) her eyebrows are Big and bushy aswell and her eyeshape is clearly the middle eastern one That is a semitic girl if she had White skin she would have looked like a ethnic jewish woman or albino And they clearly went out of their way to make sure she looked semitic Compared to the other 2D Brown Disney heroines like Pocahontas looks nothing like an arab (cause she aint) Same thing with Esmaralda… She clearly aint arab either

they literally wanted to base aladdin on Tom Cruise, a WHITE GUY, so yeah, there's definitely some weird brown face undertones in the character designs

Great video!!! Appreciate it so much

I think most creators in the mass media "other" the Orient not for the political purpose of justifying cultural imperialism, but simply because "exotic" cultures are colorful and entertaining to those who are not familiar with them. It certainly happens in reverse. Am I annoyed, as a North American, when foreign people imagine the United States as a land of cowboys, 1920s gangsters, and/or rap or hip-hop artists? Yes, a little - but I'm not going to let those stereotyped depictions define me. We Americans know better.

Great video!

This definition of "Orient" is only correct for english-speaking countries. In the majority of languages / countries, the Orient ends with the "typical arabian / nowadays muslim countries", meaning somewhere at the pakistanian-indian border. It is extremely uncommon to include asian countries. Those are always referred as "Fast East".

1001 nights....is racist...riiiiight....

Is it even possible for white people to depict non white peoples in a way that isn’t racist?

i dont get the point, the entiry history in the original book was written by muslim about how they perceived china, a mystical distant place, you know, it turns out that even brown people can be racist with yellow people and have their own version of orientalism

Yay one of the best cartoons of ALL TIME! Classic.