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                                                                                                By: Alyssa Nelson

Synopsis:

     Walt Disney’s Aladdin, released in 1992, was a major box office hit. It tells the story of a poor young man, Aladdin, trying to find his way out of poverty so that he may become more than a “street rat”. Aladdin meets a young woman, Princess Jasmine, in the market place of Agrabah, who captures his attention and, inevitably, his heart.   Princess Jasmine and Aladdin hit it off immediately because of their shared desire to be free from the limitations life presents them, Aladdin’s being poverty and Jasmine’s being the responsibility to follow through with her royal obligation to marry a prince. He is not aware of her royal background upon meeting her, but soon finds out when Jafar, the evil soucerer, has him arrested. He is thrown in prison because Jafar needs him to obtain the magic lamp from the Cave of Wonders and to keep him away from Princess Jasmine, whom he wants for himself. Jafar needs Aladdin for the job because he is the “diamond in the rough” the “guard” of the Cave of Wonders sought after. Jafar, dressed as a poor prisoner, tries to trick Aladdin into getting him the lamp so that he can repay. Little does Aladdin know that Jafar's reward is death. Aladdin manages to escape Jafar’s evil wrath with the help of his loyal friend Abu, the monkey, and the Magic Carpet. Unfortunately, the trio finds themselves trapped in what was the Cave of Wonders but not for long. Quick and clever Abu takes the magic lamp back from Jafar which holds the humorous, powerful Genie. After getting out of the cave, the Genie grants Aladdin’s wish to be made a prince. Unfortunately, Princess Jasmine is forced into an arranged marriage with Jafar upon her father’s “request”.  Jafaar hypnotizes the Sultan to force him  to agree to Jafar's marriage with Jasmine. His plan is to become the legal heir, by marriage, to the throne and take complete control of Agrabah.  Jasmine decides against the idea because she is smitten with “Prince Ali”. Jafar disappears when the Sultan tries to have him arrested for fraud. He reappears after he steals the magic lamp from Aladdin and has the Genie make him the sorcerer of Agrabah. Jafar banishes Aladdin, then makes Jasmine and the Sultan his slaves. Aladdin returns, fights off Jafar, saves the Princess and Sultan, and returns Agrabah to its original state. Aladdin makes his final wish to free the Genie from the restraining lamp that held him prisoner for centuries. He also marries Princess Jasmine after the Sultan’s proclamation to change the law that forbids inter-class marriage.

Analysis of Characters:

     Aladdin is a lanky, yet athletic teenager. As far as the story goes, he is an poor orphan. He lives with his pet monkey Abu in an abandoned building that over looks Agrabah. Aladdin’s home resembles what a life of poverty looks like, having no possessions, establishing shelter wherever possible and stealing food in order to survive. Aladdin is portrayed as a thief, which is a common stereotype among Arabs. Arabs are said to be cheap, conniving thieves, solely after what benefits them. In a Disney movie, negative acts must be justified in order to maintain the good name of the ‘hero”. There is a scene at the beginning of the movie where Aladdin steals a loaf of bread and right when he gets ready to eat it, he notices two children searching through the trash in search of food. He, in turn, gives them the loaf of bread, which justifies his thievery. He becomes somewhat of a Robin Hood. His “Robin Hood” characteristic waters down his Arab decent and the stereotypes associated with it.

     Flimmakers developed the Aladdin during the 1991 Gulf War under the Bush administration. The war lasted six months. It was a conflict between Iraq and 34 countries in the U.N., including the United States, trying to return order to Kuwait. Similarly, Aladdin goes around Agrabah trying to restore order; much like the American troops did in Kuwait during the Gulf War. He saves Princess Jasmine from the socially acceptable punishment of having her hand cut off for stealing and saves Arabah from Jafar’s evil wrath. Aladdin seems and looks American. He has an American accent and a much lighter complexion than those who actually do portray Arabian characters. He has dark, luscious hair with a very 90s American haircut, looks clean and well kept even though he is poor, and is overall extremely handsome. He also embraces what one would call American values. He feels trapped by his poverty and hopes to one day rise up and achieve success; Aladdin wants to obtain the American dream of success and living well. He also loves the idea of freedom and being able to make choices freely. Jafar is the complete opposite. He is portrayed to be more Arabian than Aladdin through speech, appearance, thoughts, and actions. He symbolizes evil and disorder. Aladdin cannot be categorized as evil because his negative actions are justified, as was the American intervention during the Gulf War, and he carries American values. Aladdin, like the American troops, bought hope and structure.

Notice the differences in appearance of  each character. Can you name them?

     Jafar is the Grand Vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah. He is clever, conniving, and self absorbed. His physical appearance matches his personality perfectly. He is dark, tall, thin and unattractive. His unattractiveness reflects upon Arabian ethnicity. His features are over exaggerated such as his hooked nose, large eyes and elongated neck. Jafar’s eyes are big and feminine as if poking fun of his “Arabian” features. Feminizing his eyes depreciates his value as a man. American stereotypes often suggest that Arab men are not real men because they lack machismo. Jafar’s eyes also appear to have eye makeup, similar to Jasmine’s eyes. His eyes also suggest his deceptiveness. His eyes are attractive, which enable him to lure in his enemies and convince them of his trustworthiness. The hypnotizing snake staff is a reflection of his deceptive mannerisms. Drawing people in, forcing them to listen and follow along with his thinking has to do with having the eyes believe what is being seen and said. Jafar’s only desire is to have complete control over Agrabah. He wants to establish a dictatorship. Jafar clearly states that he wants to “rule the world” and have people bow down to him. The people of Iraq lived under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. He changed the structure of Iraq to best suit him. Those who didn’t agree were imprisoned, exiled or killed, just like Jafar had Aladdin exiled to a frozen wasteland in hopes that he would die because he did not want to submit to Jafar’s new power. Iraqi citizens lived in a gloomy fear. When Hussein decided to attack Kuwait, he disturbed the peace in a defenseless, small country. The scene where Jafar wishes to become Sultan of Agrabah is a reflection of the Iraqi attack on Kuwait. Everything in the scene suddenly becomes dark and foggy giving the viewer a visual sense that evil has taken over.

      Every aspect of Jafar is dark. He wears dark clothing and has a dark shadowy outline to his persona as his carrying an evil aura. In a sense, Jafar is a representation of Saddam Hussein. Throughout the beginning of the movie, Jafar is constantly, secretly plotting to take control of Agrabah. Similarly, Hussein made plans to attack Kuwait and, eventually, did so.  He even held people hostage, much like the scene in the movie when Jafar takes Princess Jasmine and the Sultan hostage. Hussein held captive innocent American citizens. In the movie, Jasmine and the Sultan portray Americans in appearance, speech and actions. They are prisoners of war between good and evil, chaos and order, communism and democracy. 

     The Sultan and Princess Jasmine are much lighter in skin complexion than the rest of the characters in the movie. The Sultan is fair-skinned and Jasmine is slightly darker than him. They are the pure, good, “white characters. They are also the riches characters. Being that they are the whitest, symbolizing the epitome of goodness, one can automatically assume that they would be in charge of leading the people, guiding them. Ironically the “white man” that holds a significant amount of power does not have a name. The Sultan is a man of tradition and abiding by the law. The Sultan, who only appears five times in the entire film, pushes for Jasmine to follow the royal tradition of choosing a royal suitor, someone who can take care of her, as her husband.

Jasmine refuses to abide by tradition or the law; she says, “if I marry, I want it to be for love.” Jasmine’s fight for freedom of choice is an American value, which does not suit her culturally. Father and daughter clash because of his dedication to tradition and her need to break free of it. The color hierarchy between them is also part of the problem. The Sultan is the whitest, which is why he is at the top in society. Jasmine comes second by association and because she is slightly darker than her father. Aladdin makes the perfect husband for her because his complexion is identical to Jasmine’s, which mean that he fits into the color hierarchy.  Yet after Jasmine chooses a suitor who will eventually take the Sultan’s place, she always remains second because she a woman.

Other important concepts:

   There are quite a few stereotypes presented in the movie about Arabs. The first stereotype the viewer is introduced to is the phony salesman, the bootlegger. He sells worthless objects, finding dozens of uses for the object just to convince the view to buy it so that he can make money. Everything he sells is fake or useless; he is out to rip people off. Jafar and Kazim exemplify a charlatan and a thief. Kazim admits to being a thief when requesting entry into the Cave of Wonders, where he denied access because he is untrustworthy like Jafar. Jafar plays the conniving charlatan, only seeking to satisfy his desires at the cost of the life of others. He has no problem sacrificing others to benefit him. Kazim gets trapped in the Cave of Wonders yet Jafar doesn’t give a second thought to it. Instead, he talks about how useless Kazim was. He does the same to Aladdin when he gets him out of prison, bribing him with rubies, to get him to travel into the Cave of Wonders to retrieve the magic lamp. When Aladdin clings on to the rock, slipping and begging for help, Jafar says “First hand me the lamp”, interested only in his own benefits. Jafar cares so little about the life of another, that he even contemplates killing Aladdin as a form of payment. This leads to the conclusion that Arabs have violent natures. They are said to resolve everything through violence. While walking through the marketplace, Jasmine takes an apple for a poor boy (her stealing is justified, like Aladdin’s). The street vendor grabs her violently and threatens to cut off her hand for stealing. In the scene where Aladdin is being chased by the royal guards, they go after him with swords as if he were an armed criminal.

     The song “Arabian Nights’ that plays at the opening credits of the movie (Click above to listen to the unedited version), went through a change because it described the barbaric ways of the Arab people. The original song described Arabian lands as a place “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey it’s home.” After much controversy and protest by Arabs, the song changed to “where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense. It’s barbaric but hey it’s home.” Unfortunately, the stereotypes do not stop there as far as there incorporation of it in the film. Poverty is very much overtly exaggerated in relation to Arabs. One major sign of poverty is not wearing shoes.

Before the Genie turned Aladdin into a “prince” he walked around barefoot, as did all the children in the movie. They are too poor to afford shoes. Animals, such as camels, are used as a means of transportation. Animals are also the protagonists’ closest friend. Jafar, Aladdin, and Jasmine have animal friends whom they turn to and confide in. Not only do these things illustrate poverty but it also places emphasis on Arabs being primitive. Associating with animals and being able to understand them shows that they have not fully evolved as a people. They are still closely related to animals being that they can communicate with them. The fact that they use animals as transportation shows a lack of technology. The people of Agrabah have not advanced culturally, nor could they afford to because of their poverty stricken lives. Only the rich, specifically the Sultan and the Princess, live the life of luxury.

     The women in the movie are overly sexualized.  They are all portrayed as beautiful, exotic, sexual creatures that are “to be won”. In the scene where Aladdin is trying to escape the royal guards after stealing a loaf of bread, he somehow ends up in a room full of half dressed women. It is immediately assumed that Aladdin has landed in a brothel. The women are dressed in figure- accentuating clothing that reveals their midriff. They do not flock to him because they can tell by his appearance that he does not have money to pay for their services, which is the complete opposite after Aladdin is made prince. The negative portrayal of Arab women in the movie does not match up with the cultural reality. Agrabah is a Muslim city. In Islam, women are supposed to be fully clothed to avoid sexual output. The movie tries to save face by having a veil cover the women’s face and head but it actually serves no purpose other than to arouse sexual thoughts. The veils are see-through turning something that is supposed to be religiously affiliated into a sexual innuendo. The veil is used as a form of seduction, further arousing curiosity. In the scene where Jafar holds, the Princess and the Sultan hostage, Jasmine is chained and dressed in a red, midriff revealing outfit. Jafar has her wearing a sheer red veil and feeding him grapes.

She is a sex object in this scene. Chaining her, having her wear red and forcing her to comply to his every request degrades her to nothing more than a sex slave. Her outfit resembles lingerie, with its silky texture and added sheer veil. She wears a similar outfit throughout the entirety of the movie, which is identical to the clothes worn by the women in the brothel whom the view meets before being introduced to Jasmine. A sexual connotation of the Princess is already set up before the viewer meets her. Having her dressed exactly the same as the women in the brothel suggest that Jasmine is no different from them; she is a sexually desired object. The only difference is that she holds a higher significance. Jasmine is the epitome of women because she is royalty, yet she is no different in that she serves the same purpose of providing sexual pleasure.

Aladdin doesn't seem like  such as great movie any more, now does it?