Through the movies “Disney’s Aladdin” and “Thieves of Baghdad” there is a consistency in the portrayal of the Oriental. All the people in the towns (i.e., the commoners) are extremely violent. They do not hesitate to tear someone apart for stealing, which is something they’ve attempted to do to the protagonists in both movies. This lines up with the West’s view of Orientals as a people who are extremely violent and willing to exact severe punishment and even execute someone for what we in the West consider minor crimes. This stereotyping is absolutely problematic considering the movies were marketed as family movies when they came out, which meant many families with young children saw it, young children being very impressionable and likely to take what they saw in the movie to heart. Furthermore, at least one of these movies became a popular video for children that was widely viewed in homes and early childhood settings. One unintended consequence of movies like these in popular culture is that it contributed to many Westerner’s impression of the Oriental as a people who are barbaric, unreasonable and violent. While we don’t know the creators’ exact intentions for these types of portrayals, there are a few theories.
Let’s start with “Aladdin”. While “Aladdin’s” portrayal of the people of the east is not as disturbing as the one in “The Thief of Baghdad”, it has an arguably more offensive segment. In the movie’s introduction, the narrator is singing a song called Arabian Nights with this lyric: “Where they cut off your ear, If they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey it’s home”(Menken). This paints a picture of Arab and Muslims as Barbarians. Keep in mind, this is one of the FIRST lines in the movie and was heard and remembered by children all over the west, giving them a picture of the middle east as a dangerous, scary, unreasonable and barbaric place. Granted, Disney did end up changing the lyrics years later in a revision of the animated movie and the live action remake because Arab-Americans rightfully complained about it but at that point the damage had already been done. There’s another scene shortly after in the movie where Aladdin is being chased for stealing bread by the movie’s equivalent of the police. The so-called police are swinging giant deadly-looking swords and visibly trying to kill Aladdin instead of arresting him. All of this is going on while the most cheerful, happy-go-lucky song of the movie is playing but the tones of savagery and Aladdin’s attempted murder are still there, being treated like nothing more than lighthearted fun. A later scene has Aladdin being bullied by the royal guard while the peasants look on and laugh at Aladdin in the mud. Both of these scenes reflect negatively on not only local authority, but also on the people themselves. Here’s Disney’s basic portrayal of the Orient: It’s barbaric over here, you’ll get executed for stealing a small piece of bread, and the people are mean too! Doesn’t exactly sound like Disney World.
Let’s move on to “The Thief Of Baghdad”. This movie has some pretty terrifying portrayals of the people of Baghdad. In the beginning of the movie, the main protagonist, Abu(who is a human protagonist in “The Thief of Baghdad” rather than a monkey sidekick like in “Aladdin”) steals something from a stall. He’s seen, but rather than being chased by the police like in Aladdin, he’s chased by the store owners AND random peasants. It’s a pretty uncomfortable scene at second glance, featuring a child being chased by all the adults in the area. It looks like a scene out of the purge or one of my horror video games. I can see how it could definitely have freaked out some young children. The other scene in this movie that gave off similar visuals was the climax. Abu is on a magic carpet and attacks the people about to execute his friend, but after he attacks the executioners, for some reason, ALL the peasants start attacking the authority in what can only be described as a flash mob. It’s not like Abu planned it or anything, the peasants just start tearing apart the local authority for no reason other than to follow the leader. The message that can be gleaned from this is that all the peasants in Baghdad are savages, which isn’t necessarily true.
These portrayals of the Oriental are stereotypical and line up with thoughts and viewpoints of the time. Disney could definitely have gone in a different direction and showed things in a more positive light instead of spreading negative stereotypes. Eventually they did try to right these wrongs in the live action remake that came out a few years ago by having a more well informed portrayal of Arabic people. So that could be seen as a sign of the change of the times. A change for the better. Onto “The Thief of Baghdad”. The portrayal here is even more negative than Aladdin. Because this picture is in live action, the violence is a lot more jarring than comedic. As the movie was made in the 1940s, it feels racist and stereotypical. Because it was so popular, “The Thief of Baghdad” had a huge impact on the negative view of Orientalism among Westerners.
Both of these movies are products of their time, but things are different now because we are more aware of negative stereotyping and how offensive those racist tropes are. Movies are now also being made for and marketed to a worldwide audience. One positive development is that we’re getting more realistic, nuanced portrayals of Oriental people as people just like us (such as the upcoming Mrs Marvel show on Disney Plus) instead of a violent and barbaric people. Although media still has a long way to go to portray all cultures fairly and benignly, we currently live in a new age of inclusivity.
