A Flawed World: Disney’s Aladdin through the Lens of Orientalism

Abstract

One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) is one of the most popular collections of stories published in the early eighteenth century. The story of “Aladdin and The Wonderful Lamp” became especially popular following the French Orientalist Antoine Gallard’s translation. The story has been adapted many times throughout the years, and the most famous of these adaptations is Disney’s Aladdin (1992). However, despite its success and popularity, the film has received harsh criticism for its portrayal of Middle Eastern people, which has inspired several studies of its use of Orientalism. Following the theoretical approach of Edward Said’s Orientalism, this article discusses how Middle Eastern people are represented in Aladdin and explores some of the Orientalist stereotypes that are present in the film. This study uses two methods: first, a semiotic analysis of Orientalist signs in the movie; and second, a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the narration and dialogue. This study shows how Aladdin uses Orientalist narratives that depict Middle Eastern people as violent, greedy, or barbaric, and presents the Middle East as an exotic place.