“Disney’s Magic Carpet Ride: Aladdin and Women in Islam”
The article, “Disney’s Magic Carpet Ride: Aladdin and Women in Islam”, written by Christiane Staninger discusses important concepts showcasing how Arab culture is misrepresented. In the infamous Aladdin, Jasmine, unlike any other Disney princess, is portrayed as a strong feminist. She is described as feisty, bosses people around, gets what she wants, does not listen to her parents decisions, and even runs away from home. As an Arab who grew up in the Middle East, I know this is a high misrepresentation of Middle Eastern culture. As an Arab teenager, I am required to listen to my parents and follow their rules or else I will get disowned. In the movie, Jasmine is described perfectly as an American teenager and so is Aladdin. Why is it that they are the only ones including the Genie that do not have a Middle Eastern accent? Why is it that only the bad villains get noticeable ethnic features while Jasmine and Aladdin look like modified versions of Barbie and Ken? Why is it that they’re dressed in highly modernized Western clothing? All of these questions are completely valuable and went unnoticed to many who watched and weren’t from an Arab heritage. Disney created a movie that was enjoyable to watch but disregarded how unethical the heavily American stereotypes would be. They figured that Western American men and women would be able to relate to Aladdin and Jasmine if they shared similar characteristics and personality traits. Overall, Aladdin is highly unethical and holds a lot of racist and out-dated stereotypes of Middle Eastern culture.
In Aladdin, a misrepresentation of Arab culture is presented through the sexualization of females, typical Arab stereotypes, and lack of ethnic items.
When it comes to paraphrasing, one is putting an author’s words into their own words. But, when it comes to summarizing you are taking the author’s main essential points and putting them into a concise word format. When one paraphrases, it should not change the meaning of the text. But when it comes to summarizing, it is less detailed and is written in your own words that portrays the main points of a passage.
