Agrabah is not the Arab or Muslim world, but a spitting cartoon image of the Orient - a centuries' old production of academics and artists, news media and filmmakers, which casts it and its inhabitants as the mirror opposite of everything modern, liberal, and Western.”. Among Us' New Map: Everything You Need To Know. In Summary As Krystyn R. Moon explains in Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s-1920s: “Aladdin, which most people today associate with Persia and the Middle East thanks to films such as The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and Disney’s Aladdin (1992), was one of the more popular nineteenth-century productions set in China because of its romantic and moralistic storyline and its potential as a spectacle...Composers and librettists sometimes chose Persia as the setting for the tale because One Thousand and One Nights was from that region of the world and, like China, was a popular imaginative space for Americans and Europeans.”. However, we can hope that the writers behind the remake will attempt to rid Aladdin of some of its more distasteful and outdated stereotypes, and perhaps give Princess Jasmine something to do beyond being whisked away on a magic carpet and being kidnapped by Jafar. Princess Jasmine is INDIAN! I have fond memories watching this film over and over again as a 5-year-old. It takes place in Agrabah, a fictional Arabian city, according to Disney. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker drafted the first script of the Disney animation - inspired by Linda Woolverton’s screenplay, which was in turn based on lyricists Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s original story pitch - with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio brought in to rework the story entirely, removing key characters and plot points. This live-action Aladdin remake will once again be helmed by a predominantly white team of filmmakers, with John August penning the original script and Game of Thrones’ Vanessa Taylor brought in for rewrites, while Menken is set to create new songs with La La Land songwriting duo Pasek & Paul. Arabic, the predominant language in the Arab world is an Afro-Asiatic, Semitic language, while Hindi and many of the Indian minority languages are a part of the Indo-Aryan language family. This film though, is filled with negative stereotypes about Arabs that … The majority of Indian people practice Hinduism, while the majority of Arabs practice Islam. Speculation of Will Smith’s casting as the Genie was confirmed, and after months of auditions, which took place across the world, the leads of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine were filled by little-known Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud and Power Rangers star Naomi Scott. This was because Disney had put out a worldwide casting call for young men and women of Middle Eastern or Indian descent to audition for the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine, with over 2,000 people applying, and while Scott does have Gujarati heritage she is, aesthetically speaking, probably the whitest non-white actor they could have possibly cast. Was Aladdin Originally Arab, Indian or Chinese? A doctor in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut allegedly paid Rs 2.6crore for a mythical “Aladdin’s lamp”, after two conmen convinced him about its “magical power The movie was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and holds a special place in the hearts of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) kids and adults. The original Aladdin, was a tale of a loveable street rat, the princess of her kingdom, and a Genie who all want to be free. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. 0 0. It concerns an impoverished young ne'er-do-well named Aladdin, in a Chinese city, who is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb (who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father) to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. Scott’s casting doesn’t exactly support this notion because unlike Princess Jasmine, she is mixed-race, light-skinned and of Indian and not of Arab descent. folklore and literature. after backlash from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. But the true Aladdin story, although it is an Arabian story, tells about him being a … "Was it really that hard to find an Arab actor to play jasmine?" Directors Ron Clements and John Musker drafted the first script of the Disney animation - inspired by Linda Woolverton’s screenplay, which was in turn based on lyricists Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s original story pitch - with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio brought in to rework the story entirely, removing key characters and plot points. A one-stop shop for all things video games. Scott’s casting doesn’t exactly support this notion because unlike Princess Jasmine, she is mixed-race, light-skinned and of Indian and not of Arab descent. It was the first time we saw ourselves positively represented. In case you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll know that Disney and Guy Ritchie have been struggling to cast Aladdin and Jasmine in the live-action version of the Disney animated classic. All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. A new Aladdin movie means a return to Hollywood’s perennial Arab problem, which in this case boils down the awkwardness of setting a family fairytale in … Disney’s 1992 animated film imagined up a fictional Middle Eastern city to set its story and replaced nearly all the original character names with ones stolen from The Thief of Bagdad, another movie based on “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp” and written by white filmmakers too. Galland’s tale isn’t even set in the Middle East - it’s actually set in a Chinese city, and Aladdin is not an orphan but a poor Chinese boy living with his mother, with the only other location mentioned in the story being Maghreb, North Africa, where the sorcerer is from. The setting remains unstated, but it is a visually Islamicate world while the sorcerer is represented as a dark figure in Arab costume. While Chinese Muslims did exist - the Hui being the most famous, dating back to the beginnings of the Silk Road - Galland’s version of the story is indicative of the Orientalist tradition of Western storytellers that sees the conflation of diverse Eastern cultures into one. For starters, there's Aladdin's opening song, “Arabian Nights,” which was already controversial in the '90s, when the movie was released. Thus, the 1992 Aladdin film became even more of an Orientalist fiction than the original story, and presented an Arab world as imagined by seven white American writers. The story of “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp” didn’t even appear in the collection until French translator Antoine Galland added it in 1710. Galland’s tale isn’t even set in the Middle East - it’s actually set in a Chinese city, and Aladdin is not an orphan but a poor Chinese boy living with his mother, with the only other location mentioned in the story being Maghreb, North Africa, where the sorcerer is from. Aladdin first appeared in One Thousand and One Nights, a famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales from the Islamic Golden Age (between the 8th and 13th Century) which was first translated into English, and renamed the Arabian Nights, over 400 years later. Beydoun makes a valid point, but with so few Hollywood films featuring an exclusively Arab, Indian or Chinese cast, it’s no wonder that people of color had high hopes for the live-action Aladdin, a rare film in which they could see themselves represented on-screen in a mainstream movie. One of the biggest announcements coming out of D23 was the news that Guy Ritchie had cast his leads in the live-action, The casting choice has been cited as the latest example of the film industry's colorism - a form of prejudice which sees actors and, especially, actresses of color with a darker skin tone overlooked and less featured on screen than those with a lighter skin tone. However, this latter point is not entirely clean cut as the original Aladdin story isn’t entirely a Middle Eastern tale, begging the question: should Aladdin and Princess Jasmine be Arab, Indian or Chinese? | Screen Rant Disney's Aladdin, released in 1994, is one of my most favorite Disney films. Aladdin is only one of 1,001 tales. While Aladdin is played by Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud, Princess Jasmine, the daughter of the film's "Sultan" (an Arabic title), is played … If Ritchie's film was based on the original story, the entire cast would be Chinese - apart from the sorcerer, who would be North African - but as it’s said to be a faithful remake of Disney’s animation, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine should really be Middle Eastern or South Asian, despite the film not being an authentic portrayal of either culture. Cook said "Aladdin," which is loosely based on the stories of the "Arabian Nights" should be judged as "an entire work where the hero Aladdin, and the Princess Jasmine also are Arab." Disney made some HUGE mistakes while researching this movie and I'M HERE TO EXPOSE THEM! While Chinese Muslims did exist - the Hui being the most famous, dating back to the beginnings of the Silk Road - Galland’s version of the story is indicative of the Orientalist tradition of Western storytellers that sees the conflation of diverse Eastern cultures into one. 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It's understandable, then, that many fans of color were disappointed with the Jasmine casting, as they saw the live-action Aladdin film as not only an opportunity for non-white representation on screen, but also to represent an ethnic aesthetic authentic to the Arab world that the fictional Agrabah is set and inspired by. One of the biggest announcements coming out of D23 was the news that Guy Ritchie had cast his leads in the live-action Aladdin movie. It’s because of this Orientalist approach to, Khaled A Beydoun, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy, writes for, Beydoun makes a valid point, but with so few Hollywood films featuring an exclusively Arab, Indian or Chinese cast, it’s no wonder that people of color had high hopes for the live-action, The Family Chantel: See Pedro Jimeno's Before & After Weight Loss Pics. Disney’s 1992 animated film imagined up a fictional Middle Eastern city to set its story and replaced nearly all the original character names with ones stolen from. Disney's Aladdin remake has cast actors of Egyptian and Indian descent as Aladdin and Jasmine, respectively, but where did the story originate? And accepting that sanctions a host of vile stereotypes that attach to and emanate from an imagined ‘barbaric’ region where ‘they will cut off your ear if they don't like your face’. Racisme et orientalisme: un cocktail signé Disney Le film s’ouvre sur une chanson (Arabian Nights) que Disney s’est vu obligé de modifier car la Ligue Arabo-Américaine Contre les Discriminations s’est plainte (plusieurs fois, et sur plusieurs mois) que […] A one-stop shop for all things video games. At this point, Disney are hardly going to recast. The Aladdin remake still can’t get Arab culture right Guy Ritchie’s live-action “Aladdin” goes to great lengths not to insult the culture it’s depicting. The assumption of a Middle Eastern origin comes mainly from the character names, like Princess Badroulbadour, which means “, full moon of full moons” in Arabic. This “imaginative space” allowed white Westerners to purport an unrealistic and fantastical impression of Eastern cultures, which for many people of Arab, Indian and Chinese descent is not exactly representative. The stories are not just Arabic tales, but also have roots in Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Jewish and Egyptian folklore and literature. The film received mixed reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office. Unsurprisingly, there was a social media backlash over the casting, mostly to do with the casting of Jasmine (Scott is half-white, half-Indian). The casting choice has been cited as the latest example of the film industry's colorism - a form of prejudice which sees actors and, especially, actresses of color with a darker skin tone overlooked and less featured on screen than those with a lighter skin tone. The assumption of a Middle Eastern origin comes mainly from the character names, like Princess Badroulbadour, which means “full moon of full moons” in Arabic. Lv 6. Hopefully in 2017 the songwriters will take a little more care with the songs' lyrics; in the opening number of the original film's “Arabian Nights,” the lyric "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face," was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense," after backlash from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Embora aclamado pela crítica e adorado pelo público, o longa Aladdin de 1992 teve sérios problemas com a formação de estereótipos. Aladdin is one of the stories compiled in The Thousand and One Nights — a collection of Middle Eastern and Indian folk tales, however, it did not appear in the original Arabic text. Há 1 década. 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It was actually added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, who acquired the tale from Syrian Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab. The original story of Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. However, this latter point is not entirely clean cut as the original, , a famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales from the Islamic Golden Age (between the 8th and 13th Century) which was first translated into English, and renamed the, , over 400 years later. Aladdin, which most people today associate with Persia and the Middle East thanks to films such as The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and Disney’s Aladdin (1992), was one of the more popular nineteenth-century productions set in China because of its romantic and moralistic storyline and its potential as a spectacle.. Aladdin est un des plus grand succès de Disney, et mérite donc qu’on s’y attarde assez longuement. It's understandable, then, that many fans of color were disappointed with the Jasmine casting, as they saw the live-action, film as not only an opportunity for non-white representation on screen, but also to represent an ethnic aesthetic authentic to the Arab world that the fictional Agrabah is set and inspired by. Árabe. Aladdin is part of a centuries-old stories-within-a-story called … Aladdin is a folk tale most probably of Middle-Eastern origin. The stories are not just Arabic tales, but also have roots in Persian. All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. How do people think she's Arabian!? Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s-1920s, , which most people today associate with Persia and the Middle East thanks to films such as, (1992), was one of the more popular nineteenth-century productions set in China because of its romantic and moralistic storyline and its potential as a spectacle...Composers and librettists sometimes chose Persia as the setting for the tale because, was from that region of the world and, like China, was a popular imaginative space for Americans and Europeans.”, This “imaginative space” allowed white Westerners to purport an unrealistic and fantastical impression of Eastern cultures, which for many people of Arab, Indian and Chinese descent is not exactly representative. The story of “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp” didn’t even appear in the collection until French translator Antoine Galland added it in 1710. Lv 6. il y a 1 décennie. Aladdin is supposed to take place in the Arab World or the Middle East or the Muslim World, which to the broader public and scores of Hollywood filmmakers, are interchangeable. 1 0. gabcoe43. Khaled A Beydoun, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy, writes for Al Jazeera: “To some measure, the demand to cast Arab actors to play the lead roles in Aladdin amounts to an endorsement that Agrabah is indeed an Arab land or an accurate representation of the Arab world.