Aladdin (1992) Film Response

This film was ripe with stereotypes and racial-typing. First off, it makes zero sense that Aladdin sounded like an American (particularly midwestern white America). He also looked a little whiter in his features and complexion. Aside from Aladdin, the Genie and Jasmine both had smaller non-American accents. Clearly, these are supposed to be three of the audience's favorite characters. We are supposed to see them as "Us" not "Them" and relate to them, so I suppose Disney does that by making them as much like the stereotypical American as possible for somewhere in the Arabic-speaking part of the world. The characters who exhibited more typical race characteristics for the setting of the film had darker skin, thicker accents, and exhibited more stereotypes. Unfortunately, this feels as though it would isolate and ostracize non-white Americans or even just non-Americans. Jafar, the main villain of this film exhibits heightened racial- and gender-typing. He has darker, pointier features. His skin is almost purple, appearing as if he wears make-up, his speech cadence is more feminine. He is extremely lean (except when he is a genie) with a more feminine figure. This also paints femininity in males as a negative trait associated with villainy or deviance. Additionally, Aladdin seemed so much more fit than the rest of the characters. He also is made the underdog early on. Everyone loves the underdog. He is easy to root for when his situation feels more relatable, than, say, the Sultan's.

Aladdin seemed a little less superficial than some of the other Disney princess films. Jasmine's emphasis on wanting independence from the palace and "fighting" for love that is not typical for her social standing shows more free will and genuine-ness than lots of the other films. She was also generally likable, whereas many of the other Disney princesses frustrated me a ton.

On a very unrelated note, Jafar is so mean to Iago! If he is just going to be rude to Iago, I don't understand why he keeps Iago around. I suppose Jafar just likes harming other people/creatures, a characteristic of lowered empathy and associated evil.

The movie was also low-key pretty dark. When Jasmine almost gets her hand cut off in the beginning of the film, I got pretty uncomfortable. First of all, it seemed a bit like a heightened stereotype but mostly, it was just really intense. I didn't recall this detail as a kid (that being said, I don't think I recalled any details of the movie aside from the magic carpet song that I thought was just the whole movie). Later, when Aladdin is shackled to a metal ball and otherwise restricted and dropped into water, that is just so intense. This is a children's film! That is so dark! I was thoroughly freaked out and uncomfortable, how does this not scar children?! 

Also, the protagonists seem to take blame for their actions way more often (I suppose this comes before learning from mistakes). For example, Jasmine took blame for when Aladdin was supposed to be killed for kidnapping the princess and Aladdin took blame for Jafar's rise to power.

Finally, I thought the pet tiger was hilarious. It seemed like just an excuse to make the film more exotic, but I really hope it didn't make any children believe that they could own a tiger.