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| Disney’s
Aladdin |
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Nowadays media produce a significant impact on the audience
to the extent that it is even possible to estimate that currently
it is media that form mass culture and social consciousness.
In such a situation media target at children and young audience
are particularly important, notably the message they send
to the audience since willingly or not they affect dramatically
education and cultural development of the younger generations.
One of such medium is “Aladdin” which may be viewed
as an example of an animated feature made in the Disney’s
canon. Moreover, it is even possible to state that it is a
typical example of Disney’s style.
First of all, it is necessary to briefly dwell upon the film
itself in order to properly evaluate it and find out whether
there are some stereotypes, biases, or prejudices referring
to different aspects within “Aladdin” or probably
it is free of them. Actually, the film is just another version
of a story from “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights”
but the interpretation and presentation of this old story
is quite different from the original and may be viewed as
an adaptation for traditional Disney’s audience. Basically
this is a story of a street urchin Aladdin who occasionally
meets a princess named Jasmine and they fall desperately in
love. The reason for such a presumable impossible encounter
is the unwillingness of the princess to marry. This is why
she escapes from the sultan’s palace leaving his father,
who, in his turn, is unconscious of the intrigues of his grand
vizier Jafar who is scheming to become a sultan and the most
powerful man in the whole world due to the help of magic.
Naturally, the escaped princess is caught, along with Aladdin
who helped her to hide, and returned to the palace while Aladdin
becomes a tool in the hands of Jafar in his plans to get a
magic lamp from the cave. However, Aladdin and his friends
a monkey Abu and Carpet escape from a treacherous vizier and
with the help of Genie the ex-street urchin becomes a prince
and regains the love of the princess who believed he was executed.
In the result of a series of adventures the story rounds up
in a traditional way. To put it more precisely, the viewers
enjoy the happy end when the evil grand vizier Jafar is punished
for his treachery by the main character, Aladdin who tricked
him forcing him become a genie that made him a slave of the
magic lamp. In stark contrast, positive characters enjoy the
life: Aladdin and Jasmine get married and live happily with
their friends, and Genie is freed by the last wish of Aladdin.
Obviously, such a story conveyed in a traditional way is mainly
concerned about the American audience and probably European
one. Unquestionably, this story may contribute significantly
to the development of the concept of multiculturalism, especially
taking into account the fact that the target audience is children.
At the same time, it should be said that “Alladin”
may be a perfect source of information about Oriental culture
and lifestyle, notably those of the Middle East. However,
it is rather hypothetical possibility since in actuality the
Disney’s version of the story from “The Book of
One Thousand and One Nights” is quite different and
not only in the plot but what is more important in the presentation
of the story, main characters and their lifestyle and behavior.
In this respect, it is possible to estimate that “Aladdin”
is rather the film of lost opportunities than a successful
film that gets the audience acquainted with the culture and
traditions of the Middle East. In stark contrast, the film
rather imposes Western lifestyle and culture to the viewer
than inform the audience about the lifestyle and culture of
the Middle East.
Naturally, in the context of multiculturalism, such interpretation
and presentation of the famous story may be interpreted in
different ways. On the one hand, the differences between the
original version and adaptation of the main characters to
Western culture may be explained by the intention of the creators
of the film to show that there are little difference between
people living in different parts of the world and representing
different cultures. On the other hand, it is quite obvious
that such unification of culture and lifestyle rather resembles
an attempt to unify all cultures making the all alike.
In fact, it is really hard to skip the idea that the traditional
American or western lifestyle and behavior are imposed on
the main characters who originally should be absolutely different
from westerners. However, the main characters are practically
typical representatives of Western culture. Actually, there
are some controversies that are totally unacceptable for the
culture of the Middle East, especially taking into consideration
the epoch when the story takes place. For instance, the princess
Jasmine is unveiled throughout the whole movie that is totally
unacceptable for the traditional Middle Eastern culture and
even her actions and behavior is too Western to the extent
that her free and independent way of thinking and acting is
hardly possible for an average woman in the Middle East even
at the present moment. The same may be said about male characters,
including Aladdin who is supposed to wear beard that is a
norm in the Middle East, or else all the men who wear turbans
in the film all appear to be bald as well.
On analyzing such controversies between the original version
and traditional Middle Eastern culture and traditions, on
the one hand, and Westernized interpretation of the story
and the lifestyle of the main characters, on the other hand,
indicate at the lack of understanding of the local cultural
peculiarities and traditions, or unwillingness to depict them
truthfully and close to real life. In this respect, it is
hardly possible to believe that such one-sided and extremely
subjective interpretation and presentation of the story may
really contribute to the better understanding the concept
of multiculturalism by the younger generation as well as by
the audience that watches the film at large.
The reason for this statement is quite simple. It is evident
that the film does not promote the idea of cultural diversity
because the characters are westernized and it seems as if
it is one of the traditional American stories but simply the
characters live in some strange houses and wear some strange
clothes and some of them have even stranger names. It seems
as if these three aspects have been changed for more traditional
for American audience one would hardly guess that the story
was non-originally American. Basically, such narrow interpretation
and presentation of the original characters reveals the domination
of the traditional American culture shaped according to the
standards of the white community of the country.
Thus, it is possible to conclude, that such a one-sided way
of presentation of the story, which character are extremely
distanced from the original ones, contributes only to the
strong conviction of the dominance of western culture worldwide
making American lifestyle, culture, way of actions and behavior,
really universal and typical for all peoples while national
peculiarities and traditions of different cultures are simply
getting lost. As a result, instead of the great possibility
to develop the concept of multiculturalism emphasizing the
variety and diversity of cultures that exist in different
parts of the world, the creators of the film, instead, creates
another adapted story quite comprehensible and matching the
expectations of American and European audience without any
regard to traditional culture of the Middle East. In such
a way, it is possible to estimate that the concept of multiculturalism
is practically annihilated by the creators of such a popular
film as “Aladdin”.
Bibliography:
1. Clements, R. and Musker, J. (Producers and Directors).
Aladdin [Videocassette]. Boston MA: WBGH Educational Foundation,
1992.
2. Chomsky, Naom. “What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream”,
Z Magazine, June, 1997.
3. Parker, Derek. Mass Media in the Contemporary World, Online
Journal, 12 November 2002.
4. Prestage, Jon. Mainstream Journalism: Shredding the First
Amendment, Online Journal, 7 November 2002.
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