Aladdin was a huge success for Disney in 1992, but over three decades later, it’s a bit tainted. Unlike previous Disney princess films, the movie-musical is centered on the male character Aladdin instead of the princess, Jasmine. It was also the first Disney princess film to feature a non-white prince and princess. Aladdin‘s release followed the success of Beauty and the Beast, continuing the Disney ’90s renaissance.
Twenty-seven years after Aladdin‘s premiere, Disney released its live-action film adaptation, which saw Will Smith take on the iconic role of Aladdin‘s Genie. While it’s impossible to recreate the animated film, the live-action adaptation performed well, leading to more live-action Disney releases, including the 2023 The Little Mermaid adaptation. While Disney fans have loved Aladdin, and it was the studio’s first step into a more diverse world of princesses, Aladdin has many problematic aspects and other issues that have changed how society views it over 30 years later.
When The Little Mermaid premiered in 1989, 30 years after Sleeping Beauty, Disney worked hard to correct some of the studio mistakes of their previous princesses. Ariel was more empowered than Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora. They continued their mission with Belle in Beauty and the Beast but seemed to miss the mark with Jasmine, which was a disappointing step back.
In Aladdin, Jasmine isn’t allowed to decide for herself what she wants for her life and is expected to marry at only 16 years old. Jasmine relies on Aladdin to free her from her castle, and the only way her father allows her freedom is when she marries Aladdin at the end of the movie. Additionally, Jasmine also received criticism for being overly sexualized. Thankfully, the live-action Aladdin did much better in its portrayal of Jasmine, including giving her a great song.
One of the biggest problems in the Disney film is that Aladdin and Jasmine, both Arab characters, are voiced by white voice actors. Aladdin first appeared in One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales from the Islamic Golden Age. Arabian actors should have voiced the characters. Aladdin is voiced byScott Weinger, best known for playing Steve Hale in Full House, while Linda Larkin voices Jasmine, with Filipina singer Lea Salonga doing Jasmine’s vocals.
This is extremely problematic, and many found it offensive when the film came out. Disney should have remained true to the characters’ ethnicity by having Arab voice actors take on the roles. Sadly, Disney made the same mistake with the live-action remake, as Naomi Scott played Jasmine. Scott has an Indian mother (born in Uganda) and a British father. Disney still didn’t offer the role to a Middle Eastern actress.
Filmmakers didn’t create an accurate landscape for Aladdin. The film has been criticized for having a European view of the Middle East instead of an accurate portrayal of the region. It has also been noted that Aladdin doesn’t accurately portray the Middle East or Northern African culture, which is where Aladdin takes place. It seems Disney used some basic, inaccurate views when creating the world of Aladdin.
The location of Aladdin is fictional. It could be anywhere in the Middle East, but it should at least represent actual Middle Eastern culture, rather than the whitewashed version that the animated filmmakers chose to tell the story with. This is nothing new in Hollywood, as there have been years of whitewashing Arabian actors and showing stereotypical settings for Middle Eastern movies. Aladdin should have been more accurate and authentic.
Robin Williams is one of the most respected actors ever, and his portrayal of the Genie in Aladdin is the most celebrated and memorable performance in the film. Unfortunately, Williams’ relationship with Disney fell apartafter Aladdin premiered. Disney and Williams came to an agreement that his voice would not be used for merchandising, and in exchange, Williams took a pay cut ($75,000 compared to $8 million). However, Disney didn’t hold up their end of the bargain and used Williams’ voice anyway.
Disney had to recast Genie with Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons) for the sequel and series, though Williams returned for the threequel. The reason that WIlliams returned was because Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney and Joe Roth took his place. One of the first things Roth did was issue a public apology to Williams and that brought the comic actor back for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Disney going back on their word with Williams makes it hard to appreciate the first movie, despite Williams’ amazing performance.
The 2019 live-action Aladdin was a massive success at the box office, earning $356.6 million in the United States and $1.054 billion worldwide with a budget of $183 million (via Box Office Mojo). Unfortunately, the reviews weren’t great, and on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, the live-action Aladdin has only a 57%. However, it rated much higher with fans, with a 94 percent audience score. Still, it doesn’t have much of a legacy as the original film does, despite its problematic aspects.
Years after the live-action Aladdin release, few people talk about the movie at all, and most of the talk surrounds Will Smith’s strange-looking Genie, and how it doesn’t compare well with Robin Williams. Whether it is people tiring of live-action remakes of classic Disney animated movies or just the fact that the live-action Aladdin entertained people at the time but is ultimately forgettable, it had no chance to reach the same legacy as the original animated movie.
Aladdin has been accused of Orientalism and exaggerating Middle Eastern culture. One issue is that the film created the fictional setting of Agrabah based on several different areas in the Middle East. Aladdin ignores how different each area is and morphs them all into one exaggerated and offensive depiction of the region. Aladdin also poorly portrays Arabian people through the characters’ appearances and personalities.
This is often referred to in culture as “Orientalism,” in which Western countries portray Eastern societies as exotic and inferior to their Western counterparts. This is also a way to dismiss Arabs, Muslims, and more. The first song in the movie is offensive, and it is one of the things that shows the “barbaric” nature of the movie’s world, which is not realistic at all to how things there are, or even were in the story’s timeframe. This makes many of the things that happen in Aladdin offensive and racist.
One of the film’s early changes was a lyric in the song “Arabian Nights.” The original lyric, which appeared in the 1992 premiere, was “Oh, I come from a land from a faraway place where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” The lyric received criticism for its portrayal of Middle Eastern culture, suggesting citizens will be punished if they’re not considered attractive enough.
In 1993, Disney changed the lyric to “Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place where the caravan camels roam. Where it’s flat and immense, and the heat is intense. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” The new lyrics focused on the landscape instead of the Middle Eastern culture. The lyric was later changed again to be more acceptable in the 2019 live-action film.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the 2019 live-action adaptation of Aladdin was Naomi Scott being cast as Jasmine. After the animated film cast white voice actors in the roles, fans hoped the live-action film would stay true to the characters by hiring an Arab actress to portray Jasmine. Instead, Disney cast Scott, an English actress whose mother is of Indian descentbut whose father is British.Fans accused Disney of whitewashing the film by casting Scott as the princess, although it didn’t hurt its box office.
While casting an actress of British and Indian descent for Jasmine hurt the movie’s reputation, Disney did at least take a step forward with the Aladdin actor. The Aladdin actor Mena Massoud was born in Cairo to Egyptian parents. While he was raised in Canada, he at least fits the role better than Naomi Scott and the original voice cast from the animated movie.
There are many offensive portrayals in Aladdin, but the villains may be the worst. While Aladdin and Jasmine, the heroes of the film, were portrayed as attractive, the greedy street merchants were given heavy Arabic accentsand unattractive facial features. The same goes for Aladdin‘s main villain Jafar, who has a much darker skin tone than Aladdin and Jasmine. Jafar and his sidekick Gazeem also have non-American accents, unlike Aladdin and Jasmine.
The entire situation shows that the light-skinned Aladdin and Jasmine, both with Western facial features and American voices, are the heroes. This is something that Disney knows was offensive and is one Aladdin controversy that the company is now noting, as anyone who watches the animated classic on Disney+ will get a warning that it is culturally offensive, along with other movies like Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, and Dumbo.