Do We Need a Live Action Aladdin? Let’s Talk Islamophobia and Racism
Aladdin, we all remember it as the 90’s animated Disney classic and the first to feature POC characters. As the leads. Originally a fairytale from the Middle East, it began its life as a oral story. A French author heard this rich tale in Syria and then decided to add the story in a book comprising of Middle Eastern folktales.
The story goes thusly — A young man is offered great riches but first he has to retrieve a lamp for a mysterious man. The lamp bespeaks great wonders. Holding a genie, who has the power to grant him three wishes. The movie was a huge success for the studio but it wasn’t without criticisms. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) have pointed out a damming verse, in the song “Arabian Nights”.
“Where they cut off your ear
If they don’t like your face”
The ADC eventually cut a deal with Disney. Disney then took out the offensive verse from their video release but the damage was already done because Disney let the verse play in movie theatres. You can find the original version from a quick internet video search.
Orientalism. A phenomenon which came about during western colonial expansion, though certain ideas within orientalism existed when first contact was made with Eastern cultures. The belief embedded in Orientalism is that barbarism and backwardness (in juxtaposition to the Christian West) are staples of Eastern cultures. An emphasis on hyper sexualisation is also sprinkled in. Orientalists portrayed these ideas through art, being their favourite medium. Paintings of the 19th century, when rapid colonisation of the East took place. Orientalism tends to also mix different cultures, from Arabia all the way to the Far East and claims it as one homogenous thing.
Weirdly Aladdin fits these criteria to the T! I personally have been in situations where people who watch Aladdin are confused about the setting around Aladdin. Is it India or is it set somewhere in Arabia? The whole barbaric vibe is established from the very beginning; where children steal in order to survive, young females are sexualised as soon as they hit puberty and everything is dog eat dog. “Arab eat Arab” if you will.
Renowned scholar Edward Said in the late 70s penned a book on orientalism which sparked a many intellectual dialogues. He criticised racist and recurring portrayals of the Eastern world and its inhabitants in Western thought. Edward and other scholars also pointed out that these ideas are rampant within Western media.
Writer, lecturer and media consultant Jack Shaheen was really at the forefront of subverting harmful stereotypes of Arabian and Muslim peoples. He has extensively catalogued and saved media that portrayed Middle Easterns as backward, barbaric, sexualised and dangerous; he did this to show how widespread the problem was. When it came to Disney, his and the ADC’s voice didn’t hinder. The filmmakers of Aladdin probably weren’t happy when Jack pointed out that their baby espouses harmful messages.
The filmmakers and studio after huffing and puffing at the negative attention gave some concessions but it didn’t erase the fact, that through some sort of ignorance they created both a wonderful Arabian adventure and a racist mismatch.
Aladdin’s critics didn’t stop there. They also criticised the lack of representation behind the mic. Being the first film of colour was purely a superficial act for the filmmakers because the cast assembled, though talented; Robin Williams, need I say more! was extremely pale (white) Excluding the very talented Filipina powerhouse Lea Salonga.
Lea had both acting and singer experience, with hermega roles in Miss Saigon and Les Miserable. Bafflingly, she was hired only to do the singing voice of Jasmine. It was a crime in of itself, she rocked that role anyway. A whole new world, need I say more!
During the making and release of Aladdin, the world held a lot of prejudices. Aladdin filmmakers even admitted to changing the name of the setting, from the very real Baghdad to the fictional Agrabah because of current events — in the Gulf War. Arabian stereotypes were frequent around that time as well; from Libyans coded as terrorists in “Back to the Future” to a veiled “oppressed” woman in rom-coms featuring Diane Keaton. The landscape for positive portrayals was non-existent at best.
The racialised dynamics of Aladdin were very prominent as soon as the characters came on the screen. Take for instance the heroes of the movie, Aladdin and Jasmine, both of them resembled white people and people caught on. The creator even explicitly say Aladdin was modelled from a white actor. That actor is Tom Cruise. Aladdin’s accent is also very important because it conjures up a typical American teen. Being voiced by white teen actor, Scott Weinger — Full House, was no mere accident. Jafar, on the other hand, was clearly darker, had bigger lips, a cartoon-ish hook nose and a foreign accent.
Aladdin’s marketing was the biggest ethnic minority campaign in the studio’s history. They specifically targeted Black and Hispanic communities with ads featuring celebs from both groups. The movie gave off the feeling of being “a every film”. A one size fits all. Which I feel warrants a side eye due to the fact that the movie wasn’t a beacon of progressiveness.
For its drawbacks, Aladdin did start a tumbling weed effect. Lush films with people of colour at the forefront and behind the mic. Moana saw not just people of colour behind the mic but also saw Polynesian cultural experts brought in to assess the work. The studio itself went all out with their hiring of newbie Polynesian actress, Auli’i Cravalho. The upcoming Aladdin remake will arrive in a time of great progress and will definitely be a treat for families of all demographics viewers that crave quality entertainment.
The upcoming remake is scheduled for a 2019 release — Things have changed rapidly since the early 90’s and thank goodness but have things changed that much……..
Islamophobia/racism being present in the past but not as spiteful and full of venom as it is now, in the political arena: “Muslim Ban”
The post 9/11 world we live in, is a completely different terrain. 9/11 was a tragedy both in the states and later in Iraq. Where hundreds of thousands lost their lives. Sadly, becoming a polarising environment for Muslims, Arabs and immigrants of colour. Add that with terrorist attacks happening at least once every couple of months in the western world (the world in general) and the migrant/refugee crisis. Where people are dying on the Mediterranean, whilst also being splashed across the media. These problems are of course due in part to Western foreign policy and mass poverty creation through capitalist IMF type projects. But Arabs, Muslims and migrants are the ones taking the flak for it.
There has been quite a lot of xenophobia stirred up by the Mainstream media, with help from the greater public. Not to mention the credit this fear holds in the political arena. Back in 2008, a so-called progressive ran on an “anti-war” ticket, to distance himself away from his predecessor. George W. Bush. But I believe he went back on his promise when elected in 2009. We are of course talking about Barack Obama.
The man heralded as a champion of progressive politics but actually continued the war on terror, increased deportations and did mass drone campaign in the Middle East and Africa. Including in Somalia, where my family is from. Not to forget, his continuation of Guantanamo. The Current administration, Donald Trump has taken what his predecessors have done and turned the dial-up 1000% per cent. Islamophobia/racism was present in the past but not as spiteful and full of venom as today, especially in the political arena: “Muslim Ban”
The historic time we live in where a white supremacist can win on an Islamophobic and discriminatory platform is very telling.
A notable example of the era we live in is of a survey that was taken in 2015. The survey asked American voters if they would support the bombing of Agrabah (The fictional country). 30% of Republicans said yes! The survey basically showed the prevailing attitudes of orientalism and how military presence has become so normalised in the Middle East, that a vaguely Arabian country can muster up much fear and brutality.
Colourism is a form of hierarchy where the lighter you are the more desirable you are. The team at Aladdin (live action) announced that they will be looking for Middle Eastern or region appropriate performers when the film got greenlit. But a film of this size already had rules in place on who was appropriate. An established actress for instance. The film publicly advertised all over the world leads and apparently over 2,000 auditioned.
Enter in………..
Naomi Scott, the half English, half Indian, British actress who was cast as Jasmine, after many auditionees failed meet the mark for director Guy Ritchie. Leading to uproar within the online world. Her light skinned, white passing look had people up in arms. While others were upset that she wasn’t Middle Eastern. Netizens pointed out that fair skinned privilege is a problem around the world and especially so in Eastern world, so by hiring Naomi, they legitimized the system of colourism.
Disney did say that it was hard to find lead actors that are triple threats, act, sing and dance. Naomi Scott has been around for a while now. She has had notable roles in big Disney projects like Lemonade Mouth where she got to sing. She also recently starred in the new Power Rangers flick. Which is a big budget feature. Now Naomi being white passing does give her relative privilege in the industry, you can even credit her visibility and experience to this.
Whitewashing seems to follow this project — almost like it was cursed from the beginning, in line with a magical theme of fairytales. An example of this was when news went viral about the studio browning up white crew and background performers. One of the performers on set provided the info and is of Saudi origins, so this must of hit close to home for him. Apparently, there weren’t enough experienced people, like stunt performers and extras which again shows the systemic problem of lack of representation in the industry.
The *WHITE* creative team also somehow managed to include a white character in the film, a prince, no less. This isn’t the first time Hollywood put a white character in a film in which the setting did not call for them (the reverse of this, however, is welcome due to the lack of roles for people of colour). A little blockbuster movie set in Imperial China called The Great Wall cast Matt Damon as a lead, it ended having a moderate to underwhelming reception, so karma. A recent Disney flick gave the first African American princess a white friend…….in the south…..in the 1920’s……at the height of Jim Crow! It speaks for itself.
Now, 2019 is not here yet and I don’t want to jump the gun on this one. Aladdin, though problematic, at its core is a sweet story about a boy and a lamp. Maybe they’ll get things right.
I saw Aladdin for the first time back in 2013. I was seventeen at the time, I know! I know! that’s a little old to watch a kids film for the first time but in my defense, I didn’t really have access to the film growing up. I watched Beauty and the Beast because it was available in my local charity shop but as I got older I started watching more Disney hits that I never acquired at charity shops. Because I can!
Watching it, I was dazzled by every scene. The animation, the scenery, the music and of course the story had certain water like aspect to it. It just seemed to glide off the screen effortlessly. Being a Muslim (back then) I really appreciated how they change god to Allah, talked about baklava and social interactions in the bazaar. Small things like that went a long way. Uncomfortable feelings arise now when I revisit the movie, especially after hearing the criticisms but it still holds some nice memories.
Today people are more mindful of the media they consume, especially people of colour. And in this era of #OscarsSoWhite— where the monopoly of white men and men, in general, is beginning to see tears. we have a lot to reflect on. We can see these tears in the infamous stories of Harvey Weinstein and in the treatment of women, people of colour in the industry and where people like Ava Duvernay exist and movies like Get Out and Black Panther exist, and old ideas of heroes are being subverted with scores of great female leads in Star Wars. Our whole culture is going through an overhaul and it’s needed!
Nostalgia can be beautiful at times but laced with things that ought to be in the past. Disney should carefully consider their canon, before dragging a corpse like Aladdin to the light because the ugly parts of it will be noticeable, especially in today’s world. Should we forget about past media? no! We should instead not be compelled to repackage them for the now because we’ve changed and that’s a good thing. Will I see Aladdin if it comes out, maybe…..we’ll see! I personally don’t have a connection with the movie like most but…….who knows! who knows?
