Aladdin is a classic rags-to-riches tale much like a Cinderella story with a touch of Robin Hood. A common “street rat” boy trapped in poverty named Aladdin steels from the rich and gives to the poor, he discovers love at first glance with the royal princess Jasmine that has run away from her palace. With the help of The Genie, a magical fairy godmother type character, Aladdin changes his life to get a chance at love.
The first thing that pops out while watching and analyzing Aladdin is the song “Arabian Nights” that plays in the opening credits of the movie that describes the “barbaric” ways of the Arab people and their culture. Going on with introducing the theme of arabs being barbaric in the beginning of the movie is Poverty. Poverty is overly exaggerated in relation to Arabs. One major sign of poverty is not wearing shoes which is seen with Aladdin. Before the Genie turns Aladdin into a “prince” he walked around barefoot. Seen as too poor to afford shoes. Animals, such as camels, are used as a means of transportation. Animals are also the main characters closest friend. Jafar, Aladdin, and Jasmine’s closest friends are animals whom they turn to and confide in. Not only do these things illustrate poverty but also places emphasis on Arabs being primitive. Associating with animals and being able to understand them shows that they are not fully evolved as a people and are still closely related to animals. This being the reason why they can communicate with their animals. The fact that they use animals as transportation, such as camels and elephants, shows a lack of technology. The people of Agrabah have not advanced culturally because of their poverty stricken lives. Only the rich, specifically the Sultan, the Princess, and Ala...
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...e she is slightly darker than her father. Aladdin makes the perfect husband for Princess Jasmine because his complexion is identical to hers, which means that he fits into the color hierarchy of power
From the very first Arab person you see in the opening scene you see stereotypes of arab people being presented. The first stereotype one is introduced to is the phony salesman, the bootlegger riding on the camel with a large headdress on. He sells worthless objects, finding dozens of uses for the object, such as a combination huka coffee maker that also makes fries, convincing one to buy it so that he can make a profit. Everything he sells is fake or useless; he is out to rip people off for the good of himself. In the end the movie Aladdin portrays arabs as being thieving, selfish, dirty, poor, barbarick animals which makes Aladdin not seem like such a great movie now.
1. I think the place of the movie is very important because even though World War 2 was happening it wasn't happening everywhere. I think that the setting of the movie was supposed to mean something to people of other countries, especially in America. If it had been set in America, it wouldn't have made much sense or as much as an impact because World War 2 wasn't a huge thing to Americans yet. The culture was also so different as well and I think it makes people look at that differently as well.
The director of “The Hobbit” changed certain scenes from the book to revise the movie. The movie was based off of the book by J.R.R Tolkien. The book is about a hobbit named Bilbo that goes on a journey with dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf. When the director made the movie he changed some scenes throughout the movie to make the storyline more exciting than the book. Two examples where the author changed scenes from the book is when bilbo kicks gollum while escaping and when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring.
Orientalism is the way that the Middle East is depicted by its’ friendly acquaintances over in the West. In other terms, it is a “racist discourse which constructs the orient for Western aggrandizement.” The way that the Afghans are depicted in the film alongside Rambo makes the audience sympathize with them. The little boy also looks up to Rambo. He looks up to him a masculine father-figure. Using th...
The first mistake Amir makes is not a tangible one. This mistake is that he does not see Hassan as a friend while they are children because they’re part of two different ethnic groups and cultures. Because of this difference, Amir does not stop Hassan from being raped by the neighborhood bullies, which is one of his biggest regrets all the way into his adulthood. Amir is Pashtun, the more accepted and prosperous ethnicity.
Hassan and Amir grew up in a strange situation, unlike many children growing up in Afgahistan. “Amir, a Pashtun, and his Hazara servant, Hassan, have grown up not only as master and servant but also as inseparable friends” (Stuhr 122). They do many activities best friends would do like carving into a tree that they are the "sultans of Kabul" (Hosseini 27); however, their friendship one sided and weak. Amir takes advantage of the fact Hassan is endlessly loyal to him and Hassan’s illiteracy. He uses Hassan’s inability to go to school and get an education to humiliate Hassan by saying things like “Well, everyone in my school knows what it means,' I said. "Let's see. Imbecile.' it means smart, intelligent. I will use it in a sentence for you. When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile” (Hosseini 29). Making fun of Hassan is purely for his entertainment and to prove he is smarter. All of this need for superiority stems from Amir’s want to be seen as the favorite in Baba’s eyes, and he will go ...
Movies, one can argue, are one of America’s greatest pastimes. Unfortunately, after 9/11, films have become increasingly prejudiced against American Muslims. In movies Muslims are frequently portrayed negatively. According to James Emery, a professor of Anthropology, Hollywood profits off of “casting individuals associated with specific negative stereotypes”. This is due to the fact that viewers automatically link characters with their clichéd images (Emery). For Muslims, the clichéd image is of the violent fundamentalist, who carried out the terroristic attacks on 9/11. As a result, the main stereotypes involved in movies display Muslims as extremists, villains, thieves, and desert nomads. An example of a movie that has such a negative character role for Muslims in film is Disney’s cartoon Aladdin, depict...
In the book, Hassan and Amir’s social statues are different. Amir is a Pashtun, which is the majority group of Kabul. Amir is well respected because of his father and he doesn’t get verbally abused due to his race. However, Hassan is a Hazara, which is the minority group in Kabul. Hazaras are looked down upon and used as servants. Hassan is verbally and physically abused due to his race. Assef is the antagonist of the book and he tortures Hassan by calling him “flat-nose” and raping him. Race is one of the main themes of separation that shows how social classes are separated due to race. Amir also looks down on Hassan for being a Hazara. In the book, Amir never shows his friendship with Hassan when in public. Hassan is ridiculed thought out the book but remains loyal and friendly to Amir.
All in all, Running into offensive stereotypes is common among Arab Muslims. People will not stop making new stereotypes, and the only way to stop them from being spread is by correcting them. Stereotypes are basically wrong information based on an sophisticated perception. It is critical to deal with these situations with reason and intellectuality. People may have different ways to solve these kinds of problems, but it is important to make sure it is in a healthy and effective manner. Stereotypes are wrong information that needs to be corrected, so it is very important to educate society about the misunderstandings associated with the stereotypes.
Shakespeare is known for being a great writer, his play have been rewritten, re-adapted, and turned into films to keep their magic alive. However what many people do not know is that many of Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted into many Disney Films. More precisely “Hamlet” is one of the most used plays. Movies such as “Tarzan," “Aladdin," and “101 Dalmatians” used many scenes in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to inspire scenes in the films. The movie The Lion King by Disney, however, is one of the strongest and more closely related to “Hamlet” than any other Disney film, but how? More importantly what makes this movie more important and the focus of this essay?
What makes a film interesting? What makes it stand out from other films? What makes it unique? The visual design aspects of color and lighting in a film play a major role in giving the film meaning and depth. A lot of thought goes into what colors and lighting should be used that will help convey a mood and theme central to the film. You wouldn’t see dark colors and lighting used in a children cartoon, instead you see bright color and bright lighting. And vice versa; most horror films don’t focus on bright colors and bright lighting. In The Wizard of Oz (Dir. Victor Fleming, 1939) , the director uses bright colors and lighting to portray the moods of happiness, joy and innocence in Dorothy’s life. In contrast, dark colors and lighting that go hand in hand with the evil parts of Oz portray the
The movie takes place in Middle-earth in the Kingdom of Erebor in the Lonely Mountain where the evil dragon Smaug has taken the kingdom from the dwarfs. And is where the battle for the kingdom and the blue stone (forgot what it was called) will take place. This is in the times of dragons. The dragon Smaug toke and now lives in the kingdom of Erebor in the lonely mountain where the dwarfs use to live until Smaug forced them out. Twelve homeless dwarfs lead by their former king Thorin and the wizard Gandalf the gray visit the young Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and decide to vanquish Smaug and recover Erebor and their treasure. Bilbo joins the company in an unexpected journey through dangerous lands of the Middle-Earth where they have to fight against Trolls, Orcs and other magic creatures. Bilbo also meets the Gollum and finds his lost magic ring. On their journey to the castle they lose grand. Once they reach the castle and all seems lost in the fight against Smaug Bilbo puts the lost ring on his finger and vanishes into thin air or so it seems but really the ring just made Bilbo invisible. An army of darkness heads to a kingdom.
Peter Jackson directed three films that is a part of The Hobbit trilogy. The films are called An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again. It is an adaption of the 1937 novel by J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Jackson has also directed the prequel of The Hobbit films called the The Lord of the Rings (film series).
Aladdin demonstrates that the characters wear costumes in order to present themselves to be in a certain class in front of society. The status symbols of being rich are wearing clean and luxurious Arabic clothing, means of transportation, possession of jewelry and the notion of having wealth. Aladdin insists on marrying Jasmine, and in order for that to happen, Aladdin would then need to become a prince. Social mobility allows Aladdin to use his once in a lifetime chance (Genie) to move through the avenues in society to move up in social class. As Aladdin wishes to become “Prince Ali”, the signs of his nobility class is presented with having plenty of wealth, servants, and appearance. The sudden skyrocket of Aladdin’s wealth and power changed the way society sees him. This indicates that Aladdin gains the appearance of a noble person but in reality his class status has not changed. Aladdin is merely putting on a play for the public, allowing himself to appear as he is in the owning class. In reality, Aladdin is trapped as a Lumpenproletariat, he must become a thief in order to survive. The social prestige that Aladdin attained was being the hero of Agrabah. The Sultan has seen that Aladdin was worthy enough to earn the title of being prince. It can be seen as Aladdin has achieved the title or status using his own skills to
Mulan seems to be a feminist film which encourages individual women to take care of themselves. However, the film is not free from traditional gender roles. While the film may be progressive by removing the "damsel in distress" plot, further analysis shows it isn’t a feminist film at all. Disney’s Mulan reinforces a black and white societal role of gender that privilege men over women. In contrast the poem is incredibly progressive, it shows a woman fighting just as well as men and men accepting her as a powerful warrior not being jealous of her power. The poem removes gender roles whereas the Disney movie reinforces them.
Disney's Aladdin originates from the story, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp from the Arabian Nights series. Both versions revolve around Aladdin, who begins as a mischievous, young boy and grows into a hero. The original version is set in China, while the modern version is set in Agrabah, Arabia. Moreover, Aladdin is a classic and timeless tale which gives the audience an increasingly beneficial moral and further appeals to a modern audience through its characters, symbols, situations, and themes.