Ashley Nelson

3/22/16

Media Analysis of Race: Arabs

Aladdin is a classic example of a diamond-out-of-the-rough fairy tale, however,
this tale is deeply rooted with mythologies of the Arab world. A young street dweller
named Aladdin wishes to find oasis in a desolate desert. This oasis he seeks is among the
palace where a beautiful princess named Jasmine lives with her best friend tiger.
Throughout the story the dim-witted Aladdin seeks the help of a magical genie regularly
throughout the film. Portraying him as someone who cannot accomplish anything without
outside help. Aladdin takes place in the Arab world in the make believe town of Agrabah.
Although this world is very much so made up, it is very representative of how the
American eye stereotypically sees the Arab populations.
But lets take a closer look at the actual film and particular qualities it possesses
that represent the American view of Arabs. First and foremost Aladdin is set in this old,
out-of-date, uncivilized place, where their primary mode of transportation are camels.
Even in the very opening song of the movie, Arabian Nights, were told that there are
caravan[s] of camels, roaming all over the desert. (Aladdin, 1992) Where the city
structures are, are either ruins or gold plated temples. Two polar opposites that both dont
represent what Arab lands were truly like during 1992.
This plays into a large trend of Americans denying Arabs and more particularly
Middle Easterners their modernity. (Sisler, 2008) When in reality a tiny percentage of
Arabs actually live in the deserts and a majority of the population is accustomed to
present-day services and commodities and lives in cities. Rather than riding camels to

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their desert job. (Al-Hazza & Lucking, 2005) As Arabian Nights plays in the
background of the establishing shot of where the movie takes place as a whole, were
confronted with even worse stereotypes of Middle Easterners and Arabs in particular.
Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place. Where the
caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear if they
dont like your face. Its barbaric, but hey, its home.
~ Arabian Nights (Aladdin, 1992)
From the very beginning of the film, a childrens film mind you, they make sure
to mention that Arabs are barbaric, if they dont like youre face theyll cut of your ear,
but hey, its home. Theyre creating Arabs as subhuman, a species so culturally
backwards and primitive. (Shaheen, 2006) So early on in the film children,
subconsciously or consciously, are learning about the Orient or cultural other. (McLeod)
As McLeod explains Orientalism refers to the way in which former Western colonizers
refer or represent the Middle East and North Africa. Children who are subject to Arabian
Nights are being taught that people from the Middle East are strange, different, unusual
and unlike us. (McLeod, 2000) Dehumanizing them as an entire people and in most cases
vilifying them. (Shaheen, 2006)
Now beyond the set are the characters, from good to evil they all posses and
reproduce stereotypes to the audience of choice, children. Lets start with Aladdin our
main protagonist. Aladdin starts the story out as a street beggar, who doesnt have shoes
or a shirt. He wears a Fez, which claims origins to Greece rather than the Middle East. He
wears a harem style pant and his best friend (Abu) is a monkey. This monkey also

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happens to wear an almost identical outfit to Aladdin, which can be translated as Arabs
being nothing more than an animal. Aladdin also has an American accent, which
immediately makes him relatable to the audience and inevitably humanizes him.
Which is a stark contrast to Jafar, the villain, who has an Arab accent. And the
same can be said for all of his counterparts, anyone who has the Arab accent is very
easily associated with being villainous. In this way we can see how an entire population
of Arab speaking peoples are vilified. (Shaheen, 2006) He portrays the typical social
construction of a Muslim, with his dark features, terrorizing motives and his cleverness.
Because after all, all Arabs are Muslims, right? WRONG, only about 20% of Muslims are
Arab. (Al-Hazza & Lucking, 2005) Jafar has the classic vilified Arab look: crooked nose,
dark beard and skin, power-hungry fanatic. Although he is the villain he is also an
incompetent character throughout the movie unable to accomplish anything without
downfall. (Shaheen, 2006) Arabs are seen as the villain but often shown as failed villains.
This is a clear representation of how the West delegitimizes the actions of Arabs and the
Arab world. (Sisler, 2008)
Now this isnt to say that all Arabs are represented this way, only villains.
Jasmine, our Haram maiden is the spitting image of the ideal American women. We see
her with a tiny waste, large breasts, long flowing hair, and dressed in see-threw hypersexualized clothing. She lacks and accent, meaning she doesnt sound Arab there for
she sounds American, or like us, rather than them. Because of this were able to
empathies with the character and relate. The one quality she has that distinguishes
Jasmine as the other or the Orient is her sexuality or femininity. (McLeod, 2000)

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Shes hardly clothed and the parts of her that are covered are covered with sheer
see-through clothe. Both Arab males and females are seen as feminine in the eyes of the
West. Arab women are often seen as exotic, temping and or mysterious, (McLeod, 2000)
and this is very reflective in Jasmines character. We see Jasmine as exotic because of her
ties to her best friend, Rajah, a tiger: an exotic animal to most Americans. Shes set in
an exotic, mysterious land and can speak to animals, making her animalistic, which in
turn dehumanizes her character and other Arab women. In this way even though Jasmine
is a protagonist throughout Aladdin, we are consistently reminded that she is indeed an
other and not one of us, even though that may be how she appears.
As Ive described above Aladdin is full of dangerous stereotypes of the Arab
world. Most of how Aladdin depicts Arabs is a complete fabrication of the truth. The
entire group of peoples represented in the childrens film are constructed as the timeless
Orient who lacks the capability to step into the modern world and stuck in an
undeveloped state. (McLeod, 2000) Its not that they cant make it into modern societies
its that they choose not to progress. (McLeod, 2000) The characters say so much about
how we, as Americans, view Middle Easterners, and what stereotypes were fed as young
children that stick with us throughout our adulthood.
All of my life I have believed the Middle East to resemble images I, myself, saw
in Aladdin as a young girl. But these images are created so that we only think of the
Middle East in this way. Our media reflects our policies and our governments agenda
and if were fed these misconstructions of an entire people were likely not to make a fuss
when our government bombs those peoples nation. In this way weve deconstructed the
human that lives inside of the Arab people, and whittled them down to nothing more than

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subhuman. (Shaheen, 2006) Justifying our current and future actions in the Middle
East.

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References

Al-Hazza, Tami and Lucking, Robert. "The minority of suspicion: Arab Americans."
Multicultural Review 14.3 (2005): 32-38
Clements, R., & Musker, J. (Directors). (1992). Aladdin [Motion picture]. United States:
Walt Disney Pictures.
McLeod, John. Reading Orientalism and Stereotypes of the Orient in Beginning
Postcolonialism. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. 2000. pp. 3940, 44-46.
Shaheen, Dr. Jack. (2006). Reel Bad Arabs: Hollywood Vilifies a People [Motion picture].
Sisler, Vit. "Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games. European Journal of Cultural
Studies. 11.2 (2008): 203-220.