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An analysis of aladdin movie
Reflection on progression of disney gender roles
Reflection on progression of disney gender roles
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Recommended: An analysis of aladdin movie
Despite the fact that Walt Disney's Aladdin is seen more as a romance focused story, there are themes that are covered inside of the movie that are fascinating to consider and think about. The film is focused on the main character Aladdin above everything else. He is a road urchin with a pet monkey who falls desperately in love with a beautiful princess named Jasmine. Throughout this beautiful story, they display how the characters actions and style of clothing reveals forms of racism, sexism, and stereotypes.
There are many ways Aladdin depicts sexism. One way is how the women in the movie dress. Aladdin sings the song "One Step Ahead" There was a scene that got the attention of many. Aladdin is running away from the guards and while he is
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The ladies in there are wearing revealing outfits and veils covering their faces. A veil is a religious part of the Arab culture. "The veils are see-through turning something that is supposed to be religiously affiliated into a sexual innuendo. The veil is used as a form of seduction, further arousing curiosity.”(Nelson, Alyssa).
Aladdin is a poor homeless man. He lives with his pet monkey Abu in an abandoned building that overlooks the city. Aladdin's home and lifestyle resemble poverty, having no belongings, finding shelter wherever he can and stealing items in order for him to survive. Aladdin is depicted as a thief, which is a typical generalization among Arabs. Arabs are said to be cheap, always scheming, and always after items that benefit them. This negatively stereotypes Arabs. In a Disney movie, negative acts must be defended by keeping up the great name of the 'saint". There is a scene toward the start of the movie where Aladdin steals a roll of bread and right when he is about to eat it, he sees two poor kids looking through trash bins for something to eat. He then gives them the chunk of bread, which makes up for his robbery. He turns out to be a hero. His heroic characteristic
In an archetypal sense, “The Princess and the Frog” have the same type of characters and other elements just as other fairy tales. For example, Dr Facilier’s many physical traits can be compared to that of Jafar in Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ such as being tall and skinny and dressed up in very linear black and red (Aladdin). Also Dr Facilier’s personality as that of a scheming broker with ‘friends on the other side’ can be compared to that of Ursula and Hades in Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Hercules’ respectively (The Little Mermaid) (Hercules). The motif which includes the Quest in the movie, and characters like Louis, Ray and Mama Odie, learning and overcoming obstacles resulted in the transformation of both Tiana and Prince Naveen, both physically and mentally. One of the main uses of object archetypes in the movie can be Mama Odie’s blind glasses. These glasses shows that Mama Odie is blind. Analysing this with a critical eye, Mama Odie’s glasses are so such similar to that of the blindfold of ‘Lady Liberty’. The irony is that Mama Odie sees the truth and solution to everything. Archetypes can give strong and powerful meanings to mere objects like a feather to a giant
“Mariam had never before worn a burqa...The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen.” (pg 72). The burqa in this book is a symbol of how Mariam, Laila were forced against their will to wear a piece of cloth that stole their identity from them. Burqas are a way to hide women so that husbands are reassured that their wife is not looked at by other men. It is a way for men to control their wives and become dominant. This is not always true for all women, but for the women in this book it is.
She then explains how hard it is to see through the mesh screen (Shanahan). There have been accounts of women being run over by tanks because they couldn’t see through their burqa (Shanahan). Not only are women not allowed in public without the burqa, they must also be accompanied by a mahram, a male relative, when outside their homes (Women). When they are inside their homes, women must have the blinds pulled or the windows painted black so others can’t see them from the street (Women). A Taliban representative explains the logic behind these laws: “The face of a woman is a source of corruption for men who are not related to them.”
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
The popular Disney film Aladdin follows the story of “street-urchin” and orphan Aladdin and his pet monkey Abu. In the story, Aladdin falls in love with princess Jasmine. However, she is not allowed to marry anyone other than a prince. Meanwhile, Aladdin is swept away to become a part of a ploy by villain Jafar to search for and claim a mysterious lamp that is said to grant wishes. The movie is full of false representations of Arabia and Arabians. Seen by children, Aladdin perfectly exemplifies the idea that many racial stereotypes in the media easily go unnoticed. While these young boys and girls are excited by the story, they are blind to treacherous social constructions that are indoctrinating them.
The woman is in a hijab, a very traditional Muslim headwear. The ideas in the pull down google search bar are very traditional ideas as well; sexist ideas about a woman’s place in society. However, the use of these traditional elements to portray a message of female equality, and the use of a Google Search is very cutting edge. This allows for that sharp contrast of whether traditional or modern is better, and the blending of the two creates a more integrated feeling; that one can have traditional and
In line with the stories, one can never deny the fact that there would always be a villain or an antagonist. Those were the characters that would do anything to destroy the lives of the princesses or protagonists. Walt Disney films are known as one of the most prominent developers of fantasy stories and characters and most of these made use of films as a tool to expose such movies.
In this sequence we really see one major theme being enforced here and that is that women must be dependent upon men to protect and provide for them. In Aladdin and nearly all other Disney movies females are represented as very dependent on the male, however strong they may be personally. Because of this children often associate this idea early in their lives to how they themselves should act as well. Meaning little girls often grow up thinking that they have to be with a strong man whom provides and protects them, as well as feel that they must marry a man of a higher standing or with money as well. Another gender role that we see also exposed and or used in Aladdin is the idea that a men and women must look a certain way to be seen as beautiful or handsome. But Aladdin again is not the only example of this, as we see another example in this quote: “ Men are often seen trying to date beautiful women and are often seen attempting to gain a higher level job if they don 't already have one. While Women often say very little and and often seen home alone and are more often focused on romance”. This quote is truly quite accurate in regards to this movie. We see aladdin use his wishes to gain a higher status/ standing
Once Upon a Time is a television series aired on ABC, a company owned by Disney’s conglomerate. With this said, it is important to acknowledge Disney’s own adaptation of Disney characters into a series. Once Upon a Time mentions various Disney characters; however, for the purpose of this assignment I will focus on three characters and their origination, to analyze and contrast to this adaptation. The characters to be analyzed are Peter Pan, Belle, and Mulan. While analyzing these characters, we’ll visualize how each character’s personality changes, as the medium of adaptation changes. In the television series there is not only a change in character, but there is a change in setting, garments, language, tone, and a target audience. During this
The debate over the good and bad aspects of Disney movies has been going on for years. It has become a part of pop culture in a way never expected through things such as YouTube videos and meme’s. While looking at multiple Disney movies may give a wider range of example of both the good and the bad in Disney movies, to help depict the effects the movies actually have on kids it is most beneficial to study just one movie. Zia’s essay argues that Disney movies have a good influence on children by teaching them good life morals. However, one of her examples, Mulan, is not an example of achievement through hard work like Zia explains, but rather a change made through magic, and example of the horrible historical inaccuracies made in Disney movies and the lack of parental respect that they teach children.
Gender discrimination is one of the major conflicts in Disney movies. Aladdin is one of the greatest examples of gender discrimination as Jasmine being the only female in the entire movie and uses her sexuality. The character of princess Jasmine in Disney movie Aladdin represents a character of a woman sexually, trapped; however, in between the film, she is also shown as a very demanding, bossy, smart, and used to getting her way. As those good stereotypes are shown in Jasmine, but to get her way she still uses sexuality to get her way.
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
Some of the films that bring out the gender roles in our society include; Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, The Princess and the Frog, Aladdin, Hercules,
For decades Disney has been the source of happy endings, fairytales, and family friendly stories for children of all ages. These stories range from realistic and familiar, to the eye-catching magical fairytale. The key to each of these stories are the happy endings brought about by each of the characters unique personalities and dreams. Disney’s films are attempted to provide children with the basic understanding of wrong versus right, but instead influences our society’s beliefs and awareness. Although Disney’s efforts to provide the basic morals to our children are misleading and affect our society strongly, they also contain the use of racism in a form which shows the major differences between characters. The once admired and well-known characters are seemed to be recognized by their species, ethnicity and even their social class. Disney films have taken out of context and have persuaded their viewers understanding of racial stereotyping, which is thoroughly explained in Henry Giroux and Grace Pollock’s novel, The Mouse that Roared. They bring awareness to the underlying racial stereotyping in Disney films, which deeply affect our societies understanding today. Giroux and Pollock bring into perception these admired and regularly watched films through precise examples and racist rendering of the specific characters species and ethnicities which strongly influence our society and lead children to intake these negative influences.
The movie that I chose to do my Thematic Analysis on is Aladdin. Currently one of Disney’s animated classics of all time, and was the thirty-first animated film by Walt Disney. This animated, family, musical, romance adventure film is not your typical boy meets girl and falls in love. To me this story is like a Middle Eastern culture version of what we know as “Romeo and Juliet”. It shows the difference between social classes, the rich (Princess Jasmine) who was born into royalty and wealth and the poor (Aladdin) who was brought up in a poor environment. He had to steal to make ends meat to get by day to day. These two cultures were never permitted to socialize, nonetheless even get married.