Aladdin and the King of Thieves

without us realising it. Doesn’t it sounds a bit like brainwashing? That is essentially what propaganda is, to sell an idea to a targeted group of people. One place you would never expect to find propaganda is in Disney films. Disney is a world famous film making company founded by film maker and producer, Walt Disney. The reason we don't expect it is because Disney is well renowned for being suitable for families and people of all ages. However, for the same reason it is also the perfect place to plant ideas into peoples minds, when viewers are relaxed and loose. To plant it into young children minds, into minds that are too simple to fully understand, into minds that are pure. An example is Aladdin. Aladdin is a film that follows the life of a young “street rat” called Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu. It follows his adventures of thieving and his encounters with interesting characters like Princess Jasmine and Jafar. In the opening song, the audience is shown a desert sunset accompanied with a song that contains lyrics like “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home.” These words alone establish that this place, the Middle East is a savage place occupied by feral people. The next few scenes show the shopkeepers as cheating, corrupt liars. Through these scenes, the viewer is influenced to separate the Middle East from their ‘world’. This alienates Arabia and stereotypes Arabians to be ruthless savages. This is the…

Victoria Ferrell Ms. Rowe IB English 13 February 2016 Orientalism Hidden Within Aladdin While viewing the Disney movie Aladdin keeping Edward Said’s Orientalism in mind, the major stereotypes of the eastern people throughout the film become very apparent. Disney, which comes from western culture, generalizes the middle eastern population by showing a stereotype and exaggerating the oriental way of life, their culture, and their appearance. Upon first glance an unsuspecting audience may not…

ANALYSING AND UNCOVERING “INTENT” The racial stereotypes present in Disney/Pixar movies are intentional because the dialects used by the characters of the said stereotype promotes negative connotations. If a person unconsciously and without intentions draws a character that looks like a racial stereotype then it can be truly seen as an accident, but if that person also says they “unconsciously” and “without intentions” gave that character a voice that perfectly fits the stereotype as well can…

Grades: Third grade - Fifth grade Genre: Classics, Realistic fiction Summary: Fifth grade grader Jesse Aaron's dreams of becoming the fastest runner in his class. As soon as the new student, Leslie Burke, his dreams are quickly crushed. She does not only outrun him but also outruns everybody else in the Fifth grade. Even though Jesse gets beat by Leslie, they begin a friendship. They discover a magical kingdom in the forest, where they become the king and queen. The friendship grows and…