#imperialists

Marco Rubio fled Cuban Capitalism &

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.

And no one even bats an eyelash.

Not only is the US illegally occupying Syria’s land; stealing Syria’s oil; burning Syria’s wheat; and continuing to back terrorist groups on Syrian soil… Now it’s openly attacking and killing Syrian soldiers.

And no one even bats an eyelash.

SYRIA HAS UNJUSTLY SUFFERED NINE YEARS OF WAR, SATURATED BY WAR CRIMES, TERRORISTS, & INHUMAN SANCTIONS USING FAMINE AS A WEAPON OF WAR–A vBEGUN BY OBAMA’S CIA-SAUDI REGIME CHANGE WAR! NOW, TRUMP WILL IMPOSE FURTHER UNJUST SANCTIONS A/ST SYRIA FOCUSING ON FINANCIAL NETWORKS.

Developments of so-called Sheikhdom puppets’ deal with Israel & now this attack & killing Syrian army by illegal US intruding forces display the frustration of imperialists because world order is changing fast & dollar hegemony becoming history.

Commemorating the Mexican army’s victory against France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, Cinco de Mayo remains a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, though it has been reinterpreted as a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage in the US. Chicanx activists of the 1960s promoted the holiday in the US to honor the victory of indigenous Mexicans against European imperialists during the Battle of Puebla. 

Born and raised in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Ester Hernández and her family worked in commercial farming while organizing for the Chicano-led United Farm Workers of America. Evoking Mexican culture’s use of calaveras (skulls), her iconic print Sun Mad subverts the image of abundance and health on Sun-Maid boxes to illuminate pesticides’ negative impact on farmworkers, consumers, and the environment.

Join us this Cinco de Mayo for Target First Saturday with Adidas celebrating Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985 with a free night of programming centering boundary-pushing Latina/x artists and activists like Hernández, one of the 123 artists in the show.