The American Looking Jasmine And Aladdin

Middle-Eastern and North African clothing culture is distinguished from other cultures by the veil, a clothing that provokes many reactions from authors and debates between the Western and Eastern people.

The film analyzed in this paper, "Aladdin" is set in an Arab culture following the life of a street rat, Aladdin and his pursuit to marry the royal princess Jasmine. This paper will examine elements in the film such as culture and social class through different sociological perspectives. These will include conflict theory, the functionalist perspective and symbolic interactionism. It will also explore Cooley 's look glass self theory and how Aladdin 's negative self concept affects his actions. Lastly, it will view through the feminist theory how Jasmine and women are portrayed and other stereotypes and discrimination in the film.

Literary Analysis of Aladdin Disney’s Aladdin is a film that attempts to stereotype and westernize Arab culture. Using racially inaccurate stereotypes, an inaccurate depiction of The Middle East, as well as countless cultural generalizations, Aladdin creates a setting of “exotic orientalism” and Islamaphobia. “[Aladdin depicts…] the Arab world as backwards and irrational, the film’s distorted ethnic representations fuel the western world’s fear of alternity and perpetuates dangerous stereotypes.” (Heydt).

Though the veil forms an inconvenience in the lives of all Iranian women, it serves as a form of protection in their lives against the dangerous religious extremists fighting for the revolution. Marjane and her mother did not believe in the religious importance of wearing the veil but knew they had to wear them for their own protection against radical religious men that could try to take advantage of them. The president claimed that “women’s hair emanates rays that excite men” (74). Supported by this proposition, men could claim that a woman without a head scarf excited him and he would rape her because that is what she deserved for being a “little

"The Discourse of the Veil" Ahmed examines Amin’s recommendations regarding women and formed part of his thesis and how/why he believed that unveiling was key to the social transformation, which is important for unraveling the significance of the debate that his book provoked (Ahmed, 145). Ahmed discusses the origins and history as an idea of the veil which informs Western colonial discourse and 20th century-Arabic debate have several implications. The first implication is the evident connection between the issue of culture of women, as well as between the cultures of other men and the oppression of women, which was created by Western discourse. The idea that improving the status of women resulting in abandoning native customs was

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

One of the most controversial topics concerning Muslim women’s rights is the idea of the veil. It is believed by some Muslims that the veil is an Islamic obligation that all Muslim women must adhere to. But nowadays, the veil can have different meanings that are not necessarily religious. In her article “Reinventing the Veil,” Leila Ahmed addresses some of the different meanings that the veil can have. Marjane Satrapi explores one of those meanings in her animated autobiography Persepolis (2008). In Persepolis, Marjane tells the story of her rebellion against the Iranian Islamist regime that takes over Iran, oppresses women, and forces them to wear the veil. What was interesting to me was seeing Marjane wear the veil without being oppressed, although she does not believe in it, and is being forced to wear it. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi escapes being a subject to the Iranian Islamist ideology by establishing her individual identity through transforming the veil from a means of oppression into a means of feminist rebellion.

Abayas, shailas, burkas, and chadors: all are forms of veiling in the Middle East, and all are perceived as symbols of oppression and patriarchy by the West. The veil worn by a Middle Eastern woman is striking and beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. The hijab, the most common form of veiling, leaves only the face visible with the neck and hair completely covered. Onlookers are in awe at the mystery and symbolism associated with the many veils created out of fine, exotic silk. But such notions of oppression and patriarchy often associated with veiling are not only inherently biased and ironic – it would be interesting to explore the symbolism behind a mini-skirt or a pair of five-inch heels, no? – but they are also inaccurate. Although veiling has most definitely been used in the Middle East as a “mechanism in the service of patriarchy, a means of regulating and controlling women’s lives” (Hoodfar, 5), it has also been used as a mode for rebellion and self-expression. Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic revolution, resisted the regime and the universalizing nature of the veil in the hope that she could maintain her individual identity whilst communicating her political ideologies. By examining the way in which the veil is represented in Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Persepolis, while also considering the history of veiling in Iran, it will become evident that the veil is not just a political tool used by male chauvinists; it also presents an

Ultimately, Satrapi’s images of the indistinguishable characters accentuate the perception of a western reader to see the Veil as quite oppressive. In America, young teenagers live in a society where clothing and hair is meant to define and express themselves. It is normal for a 17 year old girl to curl her hair and go on a date with her boyfriend. However, in Iran, this is not the case, and as evident in Persepolis, woman are restricted to show her hair or publically show affection to any man who is not her husband. This restriction is something that not many people, especially in predominantly Christian societies are accustomed to. On page 74, Taji, Marjane's mother warns her daughter by explaining one of her experiences, "They insulted me. They said that women like me should be pushed up against a wall and fucked. And then thrown in the garbage. ...And that if I didn't want that to happen, I should wear the veil...” Indeed, Marjane had always been deprived of her individuality, not only as a woman, but as a person. Being a woman in Iran meant Marjane was never able to fully express herself, not only by not

Moreover, he has funny and clever ways of stealing and escaping the irrational police with his monkey friend, Abu. Even though stealing is a bad thing to do, Aladdin gives away the stolen loaf of bread for poor children and this portrays him as a hero. The idea of an Arab hero is rarely used in not only by Disney but also the Western media industry as well. Then comes Jasmine, a victimized Oriental woman who is oppressed by the males in her life, a common idea about the women in the Orient. Just like Aladdin, she has an American accent and has a bit lighter skin than other supporting characters. The accent and skin color make the two main characters of the movie superior and help Western watchers

The world of Disney it is not necessarily magic for everyone. In Western popular culture there is an endless buffet serving stereotypical ideologies for racially marked women. The media often relies on representation of articulation of ethnic women as animalistic, inferior and outside the natural. Films tend to utilize signifiers that express race, class and gender to develop characters. For this assignment, I have chosen to critically analyze Disney’s (1992) Aladdin; this movie exemplifies the racialization of female bodies through visual illustrations that reinforce ideas of stereotypical roles of Middle Eastern that have been over-looked through the eyes of children. Aladdin; is considered a modern example of Edward Said’s concept of orientalism from a Western perspective. In this paper I will examine how Disney’s Aladdin perpetuates ideas of ‘othering’ through orientalism, over-sexualized characters and reinforces islamophobia.

When it comes to the illustrations of his popular characters in Aladdin, Disney proves to be quite racist. Most of the small-part, background characters and especially “the bad guys”, such as Jafar and the palace guards, all have incredibly distinct Arabic appearances. Every one of them stereotypically consists of “beards, large noses, sinister eyes, and heavy accents, and they’re wielding swords constantly” (Giroux, 104). In contrast, Aladdin the hero, looks and talks like an All-American man. His skin is pale and he wants to be addressed as Al, which is an American name rather than Arabic. He does not have a beard, big nose, turban, or accent. The key point in this illustration is that Disney is establishing that Aladdin looks right for the part of a hero, while Jafar looks right for a villain.” Jack Zipes, author of the essay “Breaking the Disney Spell”, clarifies that “though the characters are fleshed out to become more realistic, they are also one-dimensional. There is no character development because the characters are stereotypes, arranged according to a credo of domestication of the imagination”

Readers are told the story of Persepolis through the eyes and journey of Marjane (Marji). One example of the social reality of Iran that Persepolis presents to readers is women’s mode of dress. In the beginning of the novel, Marji states, “Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (1.4). At this time, Marji is only ten years old, yet she still resists the veil and somewhat realizes the gender inequalities present in her reality. Although both boys’ and girls’ clothes change within their separate schools, girls are the only ones who are required to wear the veil. The hijab is a piece of fabric that women are required to wear -- concealing parts of their face and all of their hair. Not only is this a significant part of the social reality, but this is a legal

In the beginning of the graphic novel, Satrapi portrays a frame where the children are playing with the veil to reveal a rebellious nature against the Islamic Revolution. “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to” (Satrapi 3). The narrator refuses to accept the change implemented by the Islamic Revolution’s philosophy. She conveys a message where many the children do not want to follow the new custom by creating an image where kids disrespect the veil. This image convinces the readers many of the children do not want to wear the veil is powerful. Western readers always stereotyped that all middle eastern girls dressed in a

The characters portrayed by Leila Aboulela to a great degree vary vastly in their levels of religiosity. This novel showcases a wide spectrum of Muslim identities. Most of the devout believers follow Islam, as they are constantly expressing their faith, thru means of prayer, recitation or other adorations. These religious members are accepting of veil culture, because they have more to value than materialistic objects and western culture. For instance, the young school girls that wore tobes, while Najwa skirts to university. Also, the servants she had back home, as she would be coming home from a party at dawn, they would be make their absolution, “A light bulb came on. They were getting ready to pray. They had dragged themselves from sleep in order to pray. I was wide awake and I didn’t,” this quote from the novel, illustrates a young Najwa understanding the basis of Islam and the importance of prayer (Aboulela, 32) However, this is an evident class divide, illustrating that those with wealth are more secular and those with less are humbled towards their faith. In her time in London, Najwa befriends woman at the local mosque and develops an interest her recitation. Her realization and locality to religiousness triggers her spirituality.