Representations of Arabs in Hollywood
In modern culture, cinema occupies a special place due to its mass character, imagery, brightness, and emotional impact on the viewer. The relevance of the topic is explained by the fact that filmmakers often express the point of view, vision, ideology characteristic of certain nations. Thus, through the cinematic image of individual countries, one can conclude their position on the world stage. Moreover, it is impossible to underestimate the impact of cinema on society: portraying the country in a particular light, filmmakers construct its perception abroad.
Orientalism is a widespread trend in Western culture, characterized by creating works of art using exotic oriental motives, plots, and styles. One such example is the new version of Aladdin (2019), the release of which was accompanied by a characteristic cultural conflict: the authors were accused of caricatures of the East, racism, and Islamophobia. It is noteworthy that the same claims were made against the 1992 cartoon. So, the goodies of the cartoon, Aladdin and Jasmine, are fair-skinned, they have Europeanized facial features and English speech without an accent, and the characters are dark-skinned, with grotesque faces, speaking with an Arabic accent – villains.
As soon as Disney announced the production of its remake of Aladdin, many wondered if Disney would abandon the former stereotypes and adequately represent the Middle East and its culture. On the Internet, Disney has focused on communicating its efforts to represent the Middle East correctly. Berker (2021) notes that the company even consulted with expert advice from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Although reviews after the release of the Aladdin remake were mixed, progress in the presentation was acknowledged. In this regard, the critical question of the essay is: How did Hollywood present the representations of Arabs in the Aladdin (2019)? In this regard, it seems that the hypothesis will be as follows: although the new version of Aladdin has undergone significant changes, both films clearly show racism and anti-Islamism.
The theme of violent Arabs continues throughout the 1992 movie with guards attempting to drown Aladdin, or Jafar proclaiming that “Aladdin was beheaded for his crimes” (Adorable Kids Movies, 2021, 1:03:07 and 0:24:39). These actions implicitly show the viewer that the M.E.’s justice system is backward, and its people are cruel. While the 2019 version does not contain overt racism, some points remain controversial. One of the main problems of the new remake of Aladdin (2019) is “the distorted portrayal of Arab culture – orientalism” (Theyssen, 2020, p.28). The cast includes actors and actresses of different nationalities, which, on the one hand, is a positive aspect. On the other hand, given the set that is Agrabah, a fictional Arab country, such a variety of people who have nothing to do with Arabia, except that their skin color is not white, is more orientalism. It makes the Western world superior to the Eastern one, assumes the interchangeability of the Arab peoples and their cultures, and prevents its accurate and undistorted portrayal. Moreover, it indicates that the filmmakers did not consult or ignore cultural experts. Therefore, while Hollywood has wisely removed the overtly racist imagery that was present in the original, it has failed to rid itself of orientalism in the new version of the film.
Annotated Bibliography
Alhamshary, Y. A. (2021). “Aladdin” in the eyes of Disney 2019: Reflections on cultural representation of Middle East identity. Web.
The author examines how correctly the Arab cultural identity is reflected in the film Aladdin (2019), which contributes to the formation of the idea of Arab culture among representatives of other cultures. The research aims to identify various cultural dimensions, values, and changes in Disney’s representation of Arab identity. The results indicate a marked shift in Disney’s outlook on Arab identity, with a constant bias towards the strength of American culture and a definitive emphasis on Arab values.
Islam, M. M. & Akter, N. (2020). Disney’s Aladdin (2019), the old rum in the new Bottle. Ultimacomm: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 12(1), 72-87. Web.
The authors investigate how Guy Ritchie in the Aladdin (2019) managed to change the message of the animated film Aladdin (1992), which brought many stereotypes about Arab culture into the minds of viewers. According to Islam and Akter (2020), Aladdin (2019) is just the official remake of the cartoon with changes to the storylines. The depiction of the racial group remained the same, where skin colors were used to stereotype the presence of good and evil.
Berker, D. Y. (2021). Reproducing orientalism with cinema: Aladdin (2019). In I. Tombul & G. Sarı (Eds.), Handbook of research on contemporary approaches to orientalism in media and beyond (pp. 953–973). Information Science Reference.
The author analyzed Aladdin (2019) and examined how the oriental perspective is reproduced in the cinema and how the oriental image is denied. The significance of this source lies in the fact that in the study, preference was given to the method of critical discourse analysis to analyze the social and political premises of ideologies in the film.
Theyssen, J. (2020). “A whole new world”? – A comparative analysis of Middle Eastern representation in Aladdin 1992 and Aladdin 2019. Leiden University. Web.
The author examines the factors of the negative perception of the Middle East and its people in the Aladdin 1992 and 2019. The use of semiotics and Daniel Bar-Tal’s model for the formation of stereotypes attaches particular importance to the study, which helps the author highlight the factors influencing the representation of Arab culture in films.
Bullock, K. & Zhou, S. (2017). Entertainment or blackface? Decoding Orientalism in a post-9/11 era: Audience views on Aladdin.The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 39(5), 446-469. Web.
According to Bullock and Zhou (2017), negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims have been a staple in the media over the past several decades. In turn, Aladdin (1992) is filled with many Hollywood stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs as inferior, bizarre, exotic, backward, and barbaric oriental subjects. This article examines the audience’s perception of media reports related to Islam to connect adverse media reporting and anti-Muslim prejudice. It is critical because it provides insight into Hollywood’s relationship to Arab culture and its evolution.