Orientalism in Film: Aladdin Over the Last Century.

By: Christina Beviano

Orientalism has been prevalent in western film and media since the early 20th century. Aladdin, a classic Disney film was not always just that; its origin is from the stories from the Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. The tales are believed to first be told in India before traveling to Persia and Asia Minor and having finally been written down in Cairo, in Arabic during the 15th century (Borges 566). This research blog will focus on the portrayal of Aladdin and the Middle-East throughout the last century in film and media, from the early 1920s films of Baghdad to the 2019 Aladdin live-action movie; detailing orientalism and stereotypes of Middle-Easterners throughout variations of the film over time and learn how Middle-Easterners feel towards these portrayals.

Jorge Luis Burges states in the Georgia Review, “a major event in the history of the West was the discovery of the East” (Burges 564), and in 1704 Europe had published their own version of the tales. From there, the French writer, Antoine Galland, was believed to have added the story of Aladdin and claimed: “to have heard it firsthand from a Syrian storyteller” (Vox). Essentially, the origin of the movie stems from a colonialist view of Asia and the Middle East during the 18th century, filled with exoticism and xenophobia.

“A major event in the history of the West was the discovery of the East.”

Jorge Luis Burges

Baghdad, as described in Samuel Scurry’s work on Orientalism in American Cinema, was one of the “earliest ‘Oriental’ cities to serve as the setting for mainstream American films, and has long since remained a portal into a land of fantasy and…adventure” (Scurry 15). Early films based on Baghdad, the capital of Iraq and one of the largest cities in the Arab world, were idealized as fantasy with genies and magic carpets, similar to that of Aladdin, and were first produced in the early 1920s until the 1958 Iraqi coup d’état when less representation was shown until Disney’s 1992 Aladdin and 2002 Live from Baghdad (Scurry 15). Afterward, post-2003, more documentary based films were made focusing on Iraq and Baghdad on wars with political and military engagement.

In 1880, Aladdin was depicted to have been of Chinese descent and soon the story was turned into a burlesque play; in which the actors are placed in yellowface although appearing to be in a setting that was culturally European at the time (Vox). This continued into the following century where a British pantomime in 1935 had actors in yellowface in their production. Most of the historical productions of Aladdin were based on exoticized Orients with English fashion and language.

With the 1992 animated Disney movie Aladdin, Mariam Khalifa from Sail, an online magazine based in the United Arab Emirates, discusses prevalent issues that the movie details. Agrabah, although a fictional town for the movie, is based off Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Asian aspects and cultural identities. Within the opening song the lyrics describe the town to be “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home” (Khalifa), essentially describing the people of these cultural backgrounds to be barbaric and uncivil. Disney has since taken this version out of the movie and edited the song as people deemed the lyrics as a racist portrayal of Arabians.

With the connection to third world feminist movements, Uma Narayan states “…Western colonial powers often depicted indigenous practices as symptoms of the ‘backwardness and barbarity’ of Third-World cultures in contrast to the ‘progressiveness of Western culture ” (Narayan). Essentially, colonial powers fail to understand historical contrasts and present struggles for Third-World feminists and create conflict with women’s roles and sexuality through society; viewing them as oppressed in a Male-dominated world.

Khalifa also discusses that the main characters, Aladdin and Jasmin, are both wearing clothing from different countries with Aladdin wearing a Turkish Fez and Jasmine with Indian shoes. Jasmine’s father, the ruler of Agrabah, is also described with the discontinuity between Arabic’s Sultan and Iranian Shah. Khalifa details that there are belly dancers, which is an Arabic expressive dance, wearing a Hindi bindi, or a red-colored dot on their forehead.

Additionally, Khalifa notes that the character of Genie could be seen as a representation of the West “through his foreign jokes, impersonations of foreign characters…[he] makes fun of Aladdin but helps him, making Genie into a figure of a Western “rescuer”, where Western influence is seen as beneficial for the ‘barbaric’ from their strange and dangerous ways” (Khalifa). The character of the Genie appears to Aladdin when he needs help and essentially ‘helps Aladdin live a better life’ as he is seen as a prince instead of being homeless.

“Aladdin not only confirms the persistence of rampant orientalism in American film, it also provides a glimpse of the evolving – or in some ways involving – state of orientalist perceptions of the East” (Scurry 26).

The 2019 article by Maha Albadrawi entitled “How does a Middle Eastern critic feel about Aladdin?” discusses a viewpoint from a Middle Eastern woman on Aladdin and the portrayal of her culture. She discusses that she loves the original 1992 movie as it holds a special place in her heart, viewing it as a more “positive representation of Middle Eastern and North African people (MENA)” (Albadrawi).

However, with the new live-action movie she states: “Is it messed up that I’m happy Disney has traded explicit racism for cliched exoticism? Is that really the bar they had to clear for me to be happy” (Albadrawi). She goes into further discussion of the movie and how Disney failed to hire actual Middle-Eastern actors in both movies. That people of different cultural backgrounds are not interchangeable and simply reinforces Orientalist ideas and erases culture and history.

The 2019 Aladdin live-action was directed by Guy Ritchie, a British director who was initially having issues finding Arab and South Asian actors to cast (Vox). Naomi Scott, an Indian-British actress was cast as Jasmin instead of an Arabian actress, which caused criticism. Along with Billy Magnussen, a white American actor who plays a potential love interest of Princess Jasmine.

In regards to the film industry, Cynthia Enloe states that “the lives of Hollywood actresses can take on new international import when viewed through a feminist analytical lens”. Considerably, she details that film stars have the capability to promote relations between the United States and a foreign nation, however, the actor should be from the other nation instead of falsely representing their people. 

“Is it messed up that I’m happy Disney has traded explicit racism for cliched exoticism? Is that really the bar they had to clear for me to be happy?”

Maha Albadrawi

Albadrawi also states “The solution to the problem of Orientalism and lack of representation is not going to lie solely with Disney. The Solution is to tell more diverse stories, hire more diverse creatives, and cast more diverse talent”.

In a press release in May 2019, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), addressed the stereotypes of religion and race in the new live-action film. The Executive Director of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States stated:

“The Aladdin myth is rooted by racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia. To release it during the Trump era of rapidly rising anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and racist animus only serves to normalize stereotyping and to marginalize minority communities” (PR Newswire). 

Personally, growing up I had watched the 1992 Disney version of Aladdin, and as a young white, American child, I loved it. I enjoyed ‘learning’ about the land of Agrabah and thought it was a real place, as many others might have.  However, I did learn that it is a fantasy place but never fully learned the details and background of what went into the creation of Agrabah until now.  I have held back on watching the live-action adaption of the movie after hearing criticism and frankly, have not had much time to sit down and watch a movie. One day, perhaps I will watch the live-action and see the stereotypes and representation critics talk about. The movie and story fail to properly represent Arabic and Middle-Eastern people, there are better movies out there with more positive representation of their cultures, however, Aladdin is deeply portrayed throughout history and will possibly continue to be produced with Orientalistic ideas. 

Overall, Aladdin has been rooted in Orientalism since the story’s creation by a French writer with no knowledge of the Middle-East. Original productions of the story focused on yellow-face and European centered culture. Throughout the century into 2019, actors are still not representative of the Middle-East and are still shown with European culture. Hopefully, if ever the story is re-made once again into a new film or production, it will represent the Middle-Eastern culture better than the current representation the film holds for it. 

– Citations –

Borges, Jorge Luis, and Eliot Weinberger. “The Thousand and One Nights.” The Georgia Review, vol. 38, no. 3, 1984, pp. 564–574. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41398722. Accessed 29 Nov. 2020.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR. “CAIR Calls on Movie Reviewers to Address Racial, Religious Stereotypes Perpetuated by ‘Aladdin.’” Prnewswire.com, 21 May 2019, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-calls-on-movie-reviewers-to-address-racial-religious-stereotypes-perpetuated-by-aladdin-300854643.html. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020.

Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, University of California Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/drew-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1687669

Maha Albadrawi. “How Does a Middle Eastern Critic Feel about Aladdin?” Digital Spy, Digital Spy, 29 May 2019, www.digitalspy.com/movies/a27620475/aladdin-2019-review-mena-controversy/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2020.

Mariam Khalifa (@thesleepwriter. “How Disney Projects Orientalism Through Their Movies | Sail Magazine.” Sailemagazine.com, 27 Nov. 2016, sailemagazine.com/2016/11/how-disney-projects-orientalism-through-their-movies/#:~:text=Orientalism%20can%20mean%20several%20meanings,Africa)%20in%20a%20stereotypical%20manner.&text=Despite%20the%20setting%20being%20mythical,mixed%20up%20within%20the%20movie. Accessed 26 Nov. 2020.

Narayan, Uma. “Dislocating Cultures.” 2013, doi:10.4324/9780203707487.

Romano, Aja. “The Controversy over Disney’s New Aladdin Remake, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 24 May 2019, www.vox.com/2019/5/24/18635896/disney-live-action-aladdin-controversy-history. Accessed 26 Nov. 2020.

Scurry, Samuel, “Orientalism in American Cinema: Providing a Historical and Geographical Context for Post-Colonial Theory”
(2010). All Theses. 789.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/789