I Can Show You the World...(of Orientalism)
Everyone loves Disney movies, but does anyone notice their exuding of cultural appropriation? Unfortunately, the company's roots in racism extend into the modern era. Let's explore the well-known, 1992 Disney's Aladdin through colonial interpretations of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The film's stereotyping of Persian culture runs more rampant than Aladdin after stealing dates from marketplace vendors.
Aladdin's western producers make their biases against the Middle East known immediately in the film's opening song, Arabian Nights:
"Where they cut off your ear / If they don't like your face/ It's barbaric, but hey, it's home"
European colonizers' tendency to label cultures different from their own as savage and unsophisticated derives from western need to justify exerting control over non-western cultures. Consequently, the Achaemenid Persian Empire's military skills and political administrations were defined by the west as forms of inhumane brutality and domineering, while Europeans labeled their own terrorizing and forceful conversion of non-western cultures as necessary to achieve a metaphorical "greater good". In actuality, the Persians used their skills and administrations to increase trade throughout their empire for the true "greater good" of their people.
Source: “Persian Empire.” UShistory.org, Independence Hall Association, 2022, https://www.ushistory.org/civ/4e.asp
Image Source: “The Original Lyrics of ‘Arabian Nights’ in 'Aladdin'.” Zimbio, Livingly Media, Inc, 2022, https://www.zimbio.com/The+Biggest+Disney+Movie+Controversies/articles/MjhJFTxyeuD/Original+Lyrics+Arabian+Nights+Aladdin
Despite all characters in the film being arguably Persian, Aladdin and Jasmine, identified as the protagonists of the film, possess European features and "white" accents, while Jafar, identified as the antagonist of the film, possesses features and an accent common among individuals who lived in the Achaemenid Persian Empire. European colonizers associated "good" with western and "bad" with non-western. Consequently, individuals living in the Achaemenid Persian Empire were labeled as threats and ostracized from the west's definitions of civilized. In actuality, the Persians were a diverse culture, and many of the individuals living in their empire belonged to conquered territories that didn't prioritize violence or cruelty, and were largely allowed to keep independence under Persian rule.
Source: Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.).” The Met, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acha/hd_acha.htm
Image Source: Pantozzi, Jill. “Aladdin Finds Its Jafar Plus Adds Another Woman to the Disney Story.” The Nerdy Bird, The Nerdy Bird, 2017, http://thenerdybird.com/aladdin-finds-jafar-adds-another-woman-to-the-story/
Aladdin takes place in Agrabah, a fictional city representing western perceptions of the Middle East. Both the city itself and the people within it are heavily stereotyped. Depicted as an exotic fantasy of technicolor and greed, where women are objectified bellydancers and men are either poor merchants or sly thieves, Agrabah reeks of European idealism, highlighting colonizers' beliefs in the "mysteries" and "dangers" of foreign world powers, such as the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Consequently, Persians were viewed as enemies of Europeans, despite Europeans making assumptions of non-western cultures' inferiorities and shortcomings. In actuality, the Achaemenid Persian Empire cared little for European affairs, instead expanding into regions of modern-day Africa and Asia at the height of the empire's power under ruler Darius the Great.
Source: Beviano, Christina. “Orientalism in Film: Aladdin Over the Last Century.” Orientalism in Pop Culture, Orientalism in Pop Culture, 2023, https://wgst2013.domains.drew.edu/christina-bevianos-post/film-aladdin/
Image Source: “Agrabah.” Disney Wiki, Disney Wiki Francophone, 2019, https://disney.fandom.com/fr/wiki/Agrabah
In recent years, Disney has attempted to correct the film's orientalist overtones through producing a live-action remake; however, the original story of Aladdin is inherently stereotyped to fit colonialist, European views of the "exotic" East, meaning the company should leave adaptations of Aladdin in the past and focus on producing new films that won't be tainted by their racist counterparts.
Misconstrued interpretations of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire continue to exist due to modern, western biases towards non-western cultures, passed down from legacies of colonial ignorance. Bottom line? Western societies need to stop viewing themselves as magical genies destined to "save" non-western societies through preachings of racism and white supremacy.
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