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 view 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”. The punishment clearly does not match the crime in this case. It is implied and even said in multiple instances throughout the movie that the justice system is violent and unjust, whimsical, and in need of major improvement. This is shown in how the sultan is able to simply change the law of Jasmine only marrying a prince with no backlash or pondering on the consequences.
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.
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. 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.
There is also a clear sexualization of women in both the movie Aladdin and the book The Arabian Nights. Jasmine dresses scantily for lack of better words, as do any women needed to be portrayed as beautiful (the three women). The others are covered and given mismatched clothes and features. Their voices are different too. The misogyny is obvious in that the attractive women are sexualized and the unattractive ones are made the butt of a joke.
In The Arabian Nights, women are always described in some sexual context and objectified in their description, with the exception of Shahrazad who is given a more developed character of a well-educated and learned woman. Even the hen are written about in solely sexual content, mentioned only for the roost to “jump on”.
The book is much more explicit in its sexual content and the scales are completely different being that one is intended for adults and the other for children. Still, there is an interesting juxtaposition of the sexuality of women as bad vs. good. In the movie, it is the women looked upon favorably who are showing more skin (and sporting a perfectly impossible hourglass figure of course). The others are fully covered and are fat, a quality typically considered unattractive. The princess, a feminist or at least intended by the creators to be one, dresses in a way one would not expect from Middle Eastern, assumably Muslim, women.
In the book, however, women are shown to be stupid, whimsical, and lustful. This stands especially true for the prologue and stories like The Porter and the Three Ladies. Sexuality in women is portrayed in a negative light, a sign of them ‘using’ the men.
This brings us to questions of the position of women in the East. It doesn’t help the East’s image that the entire plot of Aladdin is based on a misogynistic law that exists in Agrabah. A law that the Sultan could have clearly gotten rid of the entire time, had the American mindset present in the main characters influenced him sooner.
Throughout The Arabian Nights, the outlandish sexual content comes off to me as a gross projection of sexual fantasies. It comprises largely of multiple beautiful women finding a man attractive and then ‘seducing’ him, lulling him to sleep with them. It borders on forceful at times.
The movie carries subliminal messages of the Middle East being a land that needs saving from itself, and the book carries messages of men needing to be careful of the women around them.
I think overall this was a good essay draft. The ideas were complex but understandable. There was a constant battle between two different claims. The topic of women and violence were discussed. The main claims were “that we find the view of The Orient that is clearly being pushed forward by the makers of the movie”, and “Middle East or The Orient as a barbaric place”. I think it can be hard to discuss 2 topics for an assignment that is a shooter essay. I think you could remove one of these ideas to elaborate on the other. I personally liked the claim of the barbaric society presented in the book and movie. I liked this claim because not a lot of people discussed the violence, and more people talked about women. In the 10th paragraph (second to last), I think the use of first person should be adjusted. In this type of essay I don’t know if first person is allowed. Claims become more powerful when they are directed from a crowd rather than an individual. I think the sentence “the outlandish sexual content comes off to me as a gross projection of sexual fantasies.” can be removed because it creates bias. I would rather it said “the outlandish sexual content comes across as a gross projection of sexual fantasies. A statement in the last paragraph (“The movie carries subliminal messages of the Middle East being a land that needs saving from itself,)” needs to be explained further because I don’t think you discussed the Middle East needing to save itself in an earlier paragraph. It seems like new information so I wish you had mentioned it earlier and explained its meaning.
Hi Avani, I think you brought up some great points. The claims you make in this paper are that Arabic people are painted as barbaric by the West, that the portrayal of women in these different pieces of media is characterized by sexualization and misogyny against women, and that the sexual content in these pieces of media is a projection of the west’s “fantasies.” I think your strongest claim is how these pieces of media portrayal of women come from a place of misogyny and fantasies. One of the ideas that needs more explanation is how the sexual content comes off as a gross projection of sexual fantasies. I can’t think of any ideas that can be removed from your paper. One piece of evidence that needs to be further explained is the misogyny of the laws in Aladdin and how this idea and narrative of uncivilization from the West came about. To make the paper flow better, I would first introduce the idea of barbarity and then proceed to go into Aladdin and the text. You can also connect the laws in Agrabah and the sexual content together, which would make your analysis much stronger. You have strong pieces of evidence, but I am not hearing your tone in your writing.