Aladdin Stereotypes

Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe the

The stories told in countries such as Arabia, Persia, and Asia were not meant for children, but for adults. As there were no printed books or written novels, there were those who sole profession was to amuse others by telling these stories. Such was the case with Aladdin. (The Story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp).

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

The animated classical Disney movie Aladdin has became one of the most successful movies since it was released in 1992. This movie may seem to be fairy-tale based and entertaining for children since they are the main target audience of Disney, but with a deeper look into its details this is not the reality of it. The ideas that children are exposed to from watching this movie help create and structure their mindsets as well as reinforcing unrealistic images of the Arabian world. In addition, Aladdin is a great illustrative tool in reflecting the concept of Orientalism, a term coined by Edward Said, which emphasizes on representing the Orient with certain clichés and characteristics that are misleading about the true nature of reality (Said, 1978). With that been said, this review paper will be focusing on the main characters and the way they are

Aladdin lives in poverty and is an young, idle boy. When the magician leads him into the Cave of Wonders and traps him, he discovers the genie in his ring. Aladdin can escape the cave and starts to reform after being fooled by the magician who claims to be his uncle. When he discovers the genie in the lamp, he uses his wishes to become wealthy and to win over the Princess. His life transforms drastically as he goes from living in poverty to marrying the Princess.

* Television viewing creates the concept of gender-role and racial stereotypes in children, as they start considering it as very natural phenomena. Heroic acts are expected out of males, while women are displayed as objects and less powerful.

their culture. Television over the years has molded the minds of its viewers – young and

Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).

Another problem is these television shows may be the only interaction an audience may have with a particular race or ethnic group. This primarily affects children. Young children are extremely easy to influence and spend hours in front of the television. When children are exposed to only one race, they develop prejudices and bias towards other ethnicities. This misrepresentation of races of television shows may cause children to become close minded and prejudiced.

In Growing Up With Television: Cultivation Process, Morgan, Shanahan and Signorielli assert that “long-term exposure to television tends to cultivate the image of a relatively mean and dangerous world (Morgan et al., 2009).” Rooted in the amount of time spent consuming content, the mean world syndrome is central to Gerber’s Cultivation Theory, or Effect. The theory states that they are viewing habits range from light to medium to heavy. Although subjective, the amount of time spent consuming content is a key component of cultivation effect. Morgan et al., noted that “the relative difference in viewing levels are more important than the specific amount of viewing (Morgan et al, 2009).”

For those who are not familiar with Disney’s, Aladdin, the movie features a princess, Jasmine, and a “street rat, Aladdin. The two characters meet in the town’s marketplace and they create an overfriendly bond. Aladdin is later captured by the villain, Jafar, who convinces Jasmine that her new acquaintance is dead. Under Jafar’s capture, Aladdin is lead to the “Cave of Wonders”, where he discovers a genie in a lamp. He breaks free from Jafar’s capture and befriends the genie. After each other’s introduction, the genie grants three wishes to Aladdin. Since the genie cannot make people fall in love, Aladdin manipulates around his restriction and requests to be made into a prince in order to gain the princess’s love. With the help of the genie, Jasmine sees Aladdin as a prince, but suspects something

Aladdin was a poor kid from a tailor family, he plays ball on the street all day long with other kids like him. Even after Aladdin father dies he continues to play in the streets but one day a stranger approached him, an African magician. This magician introduced himself as Aladdin uncle, and took Aladdin on a treasure hunt, where they find a cave. The cave the two discovered has valuables like a ring and lamp. Aladdin steals the treasure from his "uncle" so it triggers the magician to take back revenge. On the plan to revenge Aladdin spots a princess and instantly falls in love with her, he is determined to marry her. This classic love story can demonstrate the characteristics of Marxist theory which is evident throughout this tale. The school criticism "Marxist" deals with equality. Karl Marx believed everyone should be treated equally regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or political views. Everyone should be entitled to everything as everyone else. Karl Marx challenges readers to be critical of social relationships that appear normative, it uncovers social ideology and reveals oppressive power relationships between classes. The power relationship between the classes of bourgeoisie who own MOP (Mode of Production), they collect profits from the hardworking proletariat which abuses the power. Proletariat's are the workers that make the products (labour power sold for pay). Marxist Literary Lens raises the questions in Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp such like what role

Even at the most tender of ages, children are already active in the use of the media. The television is the main media that the children are exposed to at this early age. It may seem that the children do not understand anything in the televisions and could lead to some disputing the idea of its involvement in

In a study by Iman Sharif and James D. Sargent, 4508 students participated to find out whether or not certain television content affected the grades of young children. In many analyses they found that,

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what