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.
