The Marketplace of Agrabah:

A Classist Mockery of the Middle East

In the first scene where we see the main character Aladdin on the screen, he is presented as a “street rat” and a thief running away from the soldiers. It is an action-packed scene with Aladdin and his monkey, Abu, cleverly tricking the guards and avoiding them, all while singing a song. 

It is in this song’s lyrics, however, that we find the narrative of The Orient that is clearly being pushed forward by the makers of the movie.

The lyrics go “Just a little snack, guys/ Rip him open, take it back, guys”. To anyone watching the movie, these words are incredibly violent, especially considering that this is a Disney movie marketed towards children. The punishment clearly does not match the crime. It is implied and even said in multiple instances throughout the film that the justice system of Agrabah is violent and unjust, whimsical, and in need of major improvement. There is something to note about American filmmakers portraying a fictional city that is meant to represent the Middle East as a place so violent that stealing bread for hunger due to poverty is met with a chase across the city involving swords, and even talk of beheading.

The eccentricity of the justice system is shown in how the Sultan is able to simply change the law of the princess only marrying a prince for Jasmine with no backlash or pondering on the consequences. While a Disney movie requiring a class happy ending does play a part, the whimsicality of the biggest conflict being solved so easily comes across as yet another negative implication of the Orient. The Sultan is shown to be a man easily influenced by fancy things, Exhibit A being Aladdin’s magic carpet, who lacks the ability to think for himself or use his own power to create change.

The guards are also extremely determined to catch and punish Aladdin throughout the movie. It comes across as a personal vendetta, despite the fact that they seem aware that he steals due to his inability to afford food rather than a skewed moral compass. He says it himself with the line “I steal only what I can’t afford” in the song ‘One Jump Ahead’. This adds a layer of implied classism already present in the setting of the story.

The assumably better-off men dislike the poorer men. On multiple occasions Aladdin is mocked for being poor and a “street rat”. When Aladdin gets caught by the guardsmen with Jasmine, the leading guardsman says “We just keep running into each other, don’t we, street rat?” with a menacingly happy expression. It’s clear that he personally feels a responsibility driven by vengeance against Aladdin to punish him. The movie pushes a capitalistic agenda of poverty as a limiting factor in interpersonal relationships, and also the idea that the conservative East is a classist society with an overemphasis on wealth as a part of one’s character.

The setting of the marketplace is another intriguing aspect of the movie. It seems to be a place that shows Agrabah at its grassroots. People from poorer backgrounds steal from the slightly better-off ones, and altogether they admire the rich princes parading by to get to the palace. The clear difference between the financial status of each group shows a lifestyle where the groups have to compete to survive due to limited resources. 

This is made clear in Aladdin’s words, “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat”. Aladdin and Abu seem better off in that they are able-bodied and possess the athletic capacity to pull off their heists. There are those more unfortunate than them still, such as the kids who have to rummage in the trashcans for food. The widespread poverty is showcased in that scene where even kids as young as them have to scrounge food from Aladdin and Abu to be able to survive. The vendors in the market also seem dependent on selling their goods for their daily necessities judging by their reactions when, knowingly or unknowingly, their wares are stolen. 

When Jasmine sneaks into the marketplace and gives a boy an apple, technically stealing it, she is met with an angry vendor who immediately demands that she pay him back. So far reasonable, this interaction too, takes an unnecessarily violent turn when he pins her hand down to cut it off- the decided punishment for theft no matter how petty it is. One can only assume that every apple is extremely important to his survival, and he cannot afford to give away a single one. Either that or the scene simply sets into place yet another instance of a Middle Eastern man turning to violence before logic or negotiation.

Jasmine’s unawareness of what theft is and how money works also speaks volumes about the overall theme of the stark differences between different classes of people and their lifestyles. The princess, although shown to be a street-smart feminist with progressive (read: American) ideals, does not have the basic necessary knowledge of how money is used and what it does. Not only is this contradictory to her character, but it also serves to emphasize how sheltered she has been her whole life as the woman with the highest status in Agrabah, not that her status is higher than most men still. 

The people’s first instinct is to turn to violence and physical fights no matter what the situation calls for. The Americanized characters of Aladdin and Jasmine see this for what it is, yet none of the other characters do. There is a push for the idea of the white savior, or the need for the ‘civilization’ of the barbarians. Their economy is in shambles, with an emperor who either does not care enough to help the masses or is ignorant to their pleas- both making him an unfit ruler. 

Through these examples, we see a clear narrative of the Middle East or The Orient as a barbaric place as mentioned in the opening song. 

All in all, ‘Aladdin’ as a movie is a fine example of American or ‘Western’ filmmakers pushing their own interpretation of a culture to children and justifying it by creating a fictional setting, no matter how rooted in their perceived reality of a place this fictional city is. It ingrains in children ideas that are harmful to Arab people and does so in a manner of such pomp and song that it slips by unnoticed. Adults too turn a blind eye to the prejudices being sold due to the theatrical fun and musicality of it all, and the assumption that the children would neither notice nor care anyway. Although Disney has taken performative responsibility by creating a content warning for the film, perhaps a recall or more accurate remake of the movie would be a better apology to the harmed community.

WORKS CITED: 

Clements, Ron, and John Musker. Aladdin. Buena Vista Pictures, 1992.