The movie Aladdin is a wildly inaccurate and extremely offensive portrayal of Arabs, which has been the centre of a lot of controversy since its release. Arab Americans have viewed this film as disrespectful to Arabian culture, with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) repeatedly calling out Disney for their cultural inaccuracies. Much of the criticism for the film stems from a song played during the opening scene, Arabian Nights, which says:
Oh, I come from a land, From a faraway place, Where the caravan camels roam, Where they cut off your ear If they don‘t like your face, It‘s Barbaric, but hey, it‘s home. (Karaman and Wingfield, Arab Stereotypes and American Educators)
The song is meant to describe the setting of the movie: the fictional land of Agrabah. Despite not being a real place, the creation of Agrabah was inspired by a variety of Middle Eastern and South Asian locations and cultures. Therefore, the use of the word “barbaric”, paired with the alienating representations of Arab people throughout the film, has caused outrage. Soon after its release, the original lyrics were changed to omit both the threats of violence, as well as the term “barbaric”. The ADC also points out the stereotypes seen within the film, with “stereotypically Arabian” characters being portrayed as unlikeable, exotic, or downright evil.
The film‘s light-skinned lead characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, have Anglicized features and Anglo-American accents. This is in contract to the other characters who are dark-skinned, swarthy and villainous-cruel palace guards or greedy merchants with Arabic accents and grotesque facial features. (Karaman and Wingfield, Arab Stereotypes and American Educators)
This portrayal of Arabs as vulgar and uncivilized is extremely offensive and rightfully caused a lot of backlash. Many blame the film for contributing to the insulting and inaccurate representation of Arab and Middle Eastern people in Hollywood. The 2019 live-action remake sought to undo these past errors, although it still received scathing criticisms for its unrealistic portrayal.
Works Cited
Galer, Sophia Smith. “The Aladdin controversy Disney can't escape.” BBC, 14 July 2017, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape. Accessed 20 February 2024.
Musker, John, and Ron Clements, directors. Aladdin. Performances by Scott Weinger, et al., Walt Disney Pictures, 1992.
Romano, Aja. “The controversy over Disney’s new Aladdin remake, explained.” Vox, 28 May 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/5/24/18635896/disney-live-action-aladdin-controversy-history. Accessed 20 February 2024.
Wingfield, Marvin, and Bushra Karaman. “Arab Stereotypes and American Educators.” American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, https://adc.org/arab-stereotypes-and-american-educators/. Accessed 20 February 2024.
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