Aladdin is a very popular Disney movie, both the old cartoon and new live action version have been enjoyed by millions of people. The story of Aladdin originated from a collection of middle eastern tales called The Nights. While there have been many different interpretations of these stories over the years, Disney’s Aladdin has stood out amongst them all. I think that this is in large part because of Jasmine’s role in the film.
In most versions of this story the princess was represented as a horribly oppressed character with little to no say in her own life, some, such as The Thief of Baghdad, even went so far as to not give her character a name. However, in Disney’s take on this tale they made Jasmine out to be a feminist icon.
Throughout the film Jasmine is seen standing up against both her father and his vizier, Jafar. She fights back against them, when they try to push their own agendas upon her. She is a strong, independent, and outspoken female character. Staninger states, “She [Jasmine] was created to embody the strong, independent, young women, the new ideals of girls.” (Staninger 66) A lot of women and young girls have taken a liking to this new feminist take on a typically oppressed character. I think that Disney’s interpretation of Jasmine being a much more independent character gained this film a lot more praise and attention than many other interpretations.
Although Jasmine is a very empowering character for young girls she was created with the intent of entertaining western audiences. Another reason that Disney’s Aladdin is so well known is that it was westernized so that it would appeal more to American audiences. They took a very middle eastern character and white washed her as much as they could without going so far as making her skin white.
One specific change is her values. While many praise Disney for giving Jasmine these amazing, feminist ideals. Disney only gave her western feminist ideals. They did not take into account the ideals of most middle eastern women. “Her values are those of a western woman. Nowhere is her faith addressed, she wants independence, rejects suitors who approach her-and does so for reasons of personal dislikes-and runs away from home and its boredom,” (Staninger 67) says Staninger in “Disney’s Magic Carpet Ride:Aladdin and Women in Islam.” As Staninger so nicely states, Jasmine was given ideals that perfectly aligned with the ideals of western women at the time. There was minimal middle eastern culture represented in her ideals. Her character’s ideals were made to be relatable to a western audience in order to make the film’s viewing experience better for them. However, in doing this Disney gave up giving an accurate representation of women in the middle east.
Another way that Disney made Jasmine more relatable for western audiences, was by having her speak in an American accent. Even though Jasmine was born and raised in Agrabah, a fictional, middle eastern country, she speaks with an American accent. In fact most of the main characters speak with an American accent, while everyone else in the movie speaks with a middle eastern accent. This is just another example of Disney white washing a character to make them more relatable to their western audiences.
Jasmine was also given very European features. She was given classically white facial features. While her skin itself was not white, almost everything else about her face was. She was given much larger and rounder eyes than those of a typical middle eastern woman. She was also given a much rounder face, and a smaller nose. She had very little resemblance to what a typical middle eastern woman’s facial features would look like.
Disney created Jasmine’s character for young, American girls. She is an incredibly inaccurate depiction of a middle eastern princess. She honestly does not look, act, or speak like a middle eastern princess at all. She has ideals that do not line up with her culture, her facial features resemble white women more than middle eastern women, and she speaks in an American accent. She was made to be relatable to western audiences and it worked. Many young girls and teenagers across the western world respect and admire Princess Jasmine.
While making these changes from Jasmine’s character made her wildly inaccurate, Aladdin is one of, if not the most, popular retellings of any story within The Nights. The way that Disney chose to portray Princess Jasmine gained this film significantly more attention than many other versions of this tale. While I do not think this can be entirely attributed to Jasmine’s character, I think that it definitely played a huge role in making Aladdin as successful as it is.
Works Cited
- Clements, Ron, and John Musker. Aladdin. Buena Vista Pictures, 1992.
- Raoul Walsh. THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. USA, 1924.
- Staninger , Christiane. “Chapter 5: Disney’s Magic Carpet Ride: Aladdin and Women in Islam .” The Emperor’s Old Groove , edited by Brenda Ayres , Peter Lang , pp. 65–77.
I also think that Jasmine had a big part in this movie becoming popular. Although I know now how westernized this movie was, when I was younger, I looked up to Jasmine because I thought that she was an inspiration. However, now I see how Orientalized she is. I picked this item because I agree that Aladdin is different from the different stories of The Arabian Nights, with this movie growing up with many of us. An idolized figure that in reality was made to satisfy the western culture. It is interesting to see how much a perspective can change when rewatching something.