In color
by Annabel Benjamin
Mrs. Eleanor Young enters an upscale hotel in London on a rainy evening with a soggy coat and soaked hair, dripping at its ends. As she approaches the front desk, a look of disgust overwhelms the staff as they respond to her with an air of elitism. Denying that a reservation was ever made at the hotel, the manager snoots, “May I suggest you explore Chinatown,” unaware of the importance of the woman he is degrading. Rain pounds the classic red telephone booth where Mrs. Young was sent to make a phone call and she re-enters the hotel, dripping in anger. It is not until the hotel’s owner announces that her family has bought the building that any respect is paid to her. This scene opens Crazy Rich Asians, engaging the existence of stereotypes surrounding the East in the ignorant eyes of the West, a notion that preserves a demonization of the East.
Crazy Rich Asians makes huge waves in the realm of representative entertainment. The film is praised for its all-Asian cast, its heart-warming romantic tale and its quirky characters, despite facing backlash at the production level. “An early prospective producer suggested casting a white woman as the lead” an article by Time Magazine explains. A suggestion rejected on grounds that it undermines the film’s essential steps towards diversity in entertainment. Transformation of the media landscape rests on the shoulders of creators who are stubborn enough to honor the story a writer has created. With production studios leaning towards well-known white actors rather than their racially diverse counterparts, there is great misunderstanding surrounding how profitable movies with diverse casts are. Film studios often situate goals in terms of dollar signs, yet as many recent films have proven, expanding from a whitewashed depiction of life does not mean sacrificing the bottom line. Rather, it can trigger an avalanche of positive reviews and resounding praise from audiences of all ethnicities.
Although audiences might be unaware, many other movies and television shows bolster subconscious racial stereotypes that have been repeated since the beginning of entertainment. It is not only the quality of a representation that is important but also the quantity, explains Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro in a lecture. In other words, stereotypical, negative archetypes of ethnic minority groups are harmful, and even more so when these are the only archetypes being portrayed. Yet, as the popularity of Crazy Rich Asians shows, there is hope for greater representation in film and television despite the industry’s disconcerting history.
There is a long road to cover before minority representation matches the accurate racial proportions in the population. Covering film and television in the 2016- 2017 season, the UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, published in 2019, suggests that minorities “remained underrepresented both “among film leads, “broadcast scripted leads” and “cable scripted leads.” But due to a population with greater awareness of racially charged stereotypes and filled with exhaustion from falsely portrayed minority groups, the climate within entertainment is, ever-so-slowly, evolving. In short, “America’s increasingly diverse audiences prefer diverse film and television content” the report suggests. And unsurprisingly, there has been a trend of large blockbuster films fostering casts with greater diversity who are depicted in positive roles that are meant to inspire all audiences. More specifically this shift in entertainment has given a voice to those who have been often underrepresented.
Over cups of vanilla latte, my Asian-American friend, Alexis, explained to me what the film Crazy Rich Asians meant to her. “You feel a sort of kinship,” she says, relating her cultural experience to the crisis of ethnic identity the movie’s main character, Rachel Chu, faces. With the cream cheese from an over-filled sesame bagel coving her lips, Alexis represents many Asian-Americans who have long been assimilated into American culture. “I am American, but I am still Asian,” she says. For most of those who share her culture, there is “that affiliation to a distant homeland,” she explains.
Crazy Rich Asians paints this idea by presenting Rachel Chu as the average American rather than an exotic, mysterious other. Or like Rachel’s friend and confidant Goh Peik Lin puts it, “She thinks you are like some unrefined banana. Yellow on the outside. White on the inside.” The film does not play up her Asian-ness as many films do when representing minorities, but rather emphasizes her Americanness, contrasting her not only with her heritage but also to that of her fiancé, Nick Young’s, family. This choice represents a step in the right direction for increased diversity in entertainment by destroying the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy. It presents Rachel, an Asian-American, someone who is often portrayed as “the other” in American film, as fundamentally the same.
As someone who’s own identity is being represented, Alexis explains that she can relate to the movie in many ways. “Respect your elders, the rise and fall of the Asian matriarchy, the inter-family feuds, I’ve seen it all,” she says, feeling that the movie is an accurate portrayal of many young Asian-Americans’ lives and therefore dissolves many misconceptions.
It is in Rachel’s assimilation into American culture that her character helps break down the stereotypes perpetuated about Asians. It rejects the idea of a “Dragon Lady,” the first prominent characterization of Asian women in media, a woman who is vicious, sexually desirable and who aims to manipulate and seduce, as described in a lecture by Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro. But, Rachel is quite the opposite, a well-put-together woman without a threatening bone in her body, a characteristic of hers that is emphasized throughout the movie. Asian women continued to be sexualized and submissive in entertainment through the 2000s, explains Professor Mastro, making Rachel a wholly new archetype.
“Crazy Rich Asians was a triumph,” Alexis exclaims excitedly, continuing to devour the bagel with gusto. With its fully Asian cast and its tribute to the best-selling Asian-American author, Kevin Kwan, the movie does not force itself to assimilate into the whitewashed industry that has sucked culture out of beautifully ethnic stories.
A futuristic spaceship flies over the African safari, blasting its way over grasslands and charging zebras. A juxtaposition of images, one might think, until the ship bursts through a force field hidden between mountains into a city filled with technological advancement. The ship swishes over a sea of high-rise buildings and high-speed trains, like any other metropolitan city, but with some added African flare. “An advanced African civilization, thriving in isolation, untouched by war or colonialism,” an article by the Atlantic states describing the fictional country of Wakanda where the film Black Panther is set. The image is just one of many throughout the film that debunks hierarchical notions about an Africa that is lesser-than its Western counterparts. And more broadly, the film extinguishes elitist notions that degrade Blacks in a White society.
In a dark rainforest, bullets fly as punches and kicks are thrown while T’Challa, the new king of Wakanda infiltrates a child trafficking mission. Nakia, T’Challa’s former lover, who was also captured, fights off her kidnappers, hooded by a green veil. In T’Challa’s momentary freeze of judgment, Okoye, adorned in gold and red, the uniform of the all-female Wakandan army, finishes the fight releasing the taken children. Strong characterizations such as these, in addition to a “virtually all-black cast, fantastic representation of strong women, African setting, and nuanced characters and storylines,” has solicited enormous praise, suggests an article by Vice. The importance of Black Panther, the Vice article goes on to suggest, is rooted in its ability to portray minority groups, who have been routinely underrepresented, in an immensely positive way, as superheroes. Gone are the days when a light-skinned Clark Kent with swoopy hair and an ironic job define the archetype for someone who saves the world. Black Panther fosters a new narrative, an African nation equipped to end all suffering.
With years of film history characterizing Blacks as savage, uneducated and as faithful to their White superiors, the emergence of positive archetypes is of great importance, Professor Mastro says in a lecture dedicated to these characterizations. The quality of characterizations matters, explains Professor Mastro, since unfavorable characterizations hurt self-esteem and have negative effects on career and educational aspirations of those being portrayed. With a history of Blacks being portrayed in one-dimensional and frankly, racist ways, Black Panther matters not only as a response to these stereotypes but also as a positive reflection of self-identity for the Black community.
Filled with teleporting spaceships and bullet-proof suits, Wakanda, although fictional, presents an African society that is far superior to that of the West, a representation that is not often illustrated. Black Panther dismantles the “white savior complex” that plagues volunteerism. Accompanied by an exaggerated eye-roll, Shuri scoffs, “Great, another broken white boy for us to fix. This is going to be fun,” rejecting the narrative of westerners going to countries such as Africa and saving people from their own lives. Wakanda does not need help from the outside world, rather the technology they have developed makes T’Challa invincible.
An article from the Atlantic suggests that Wakanda is presented “as the vanguard of a global revolution to invert the existing racial order” because of its technological superiority and hunger for increased innovation. And although slightly presumptuous, one might apply this to the unfounded racial hierarchies perpetuated by stereotypes in film, suggesting that Black Panther is a beginning of a revolution to turn centuries-old notions of racial superiority on their heads.
In a chaotic flurry of theatricality, a blue-tinted genie flows from his lamp. Accompanied by a monkey in a fez banging out a beat on a rock n’ roll drum kit and a magical carpet shaking some maracas, the genie begins to declare his powers. With a snap of the genie’s fingers, stories become reality and at any instant, he has shapeshifted into another form of himself. Aladdin creates a world where almost anything is possible with the rub of a lamp. But just as magic does not exist in our world, Agrabah is not real and the classic animated film’s portrayals of the Arab world are not entirely accurate, which is news to some people.
Hidden under the music and magic, Aladdin “was criticized for perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes of the Middle East and Asia,” an article by the BBC explains. The animated Disney film released in 1992 begins with a mysterious welcome from a dark man dressed in an oversized turban who begins to set the scene. “Salam,” he says, and at this moment, arises the beginning of many ignorant contradictions. With the amount of controversy surrounding the original animation and its insensitivity towards the Arab culture, the announcement of the 2019 live-action remake of the Disney classic had many people on edge and hyperaware of ignorant inaccuracies.
“It’s is barbaric, but hey it’s home,” an accented voice sings in the original animation, a line omitted from the live-action re-make made in 2019, for its racist undertones. Instead, Will Smith aboard a ship, adorned with a turban and dangling jewelry sings “Where you wander among every culture and tongue/ It's chaotic, but hey, it's home,” an attempt to combat Aladdin’s previously problematic message. It presents the Middle East in a way that honors its nomadic history and eclectic way of life. So, one begins to wonder, “Is Hollywood changing?”
In a cozy corner of the UC Santa Barbara library, I sat down with Jasmin Abdul, a Syrian-American and member of the UC Santa Barbara Arab Culture Club, to discuss how she felt about the new Aladdin live-action remake. With ironically the same name as the Disney princess which this film follows, Jasmin explains, “The remake better represented Arab culture than the original because it was filmed in Jordan and they used Arabic words throughout the movie that made me feel special because I understood them,” defending the new movie’s attempt at an integration of cultures and languages.
Amid the bazar’s chaos, Aladdin swings off gazebos and ducks under tables, grabbing bits-and-bobs along to way to sell. “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat,” he sings chucking a loaf of bread back to the merchant from which he stole it. Multicolored fabrics line the streets and adorn the citizens of Agrabah. This colorful whirlwind of images accurately portrays this cultural sentiment, the bazar, the center of Arab society. “The new film has, for the most part, managed to shirk much of its inspiration’s exoticism and cultural inaccuracies,” a Vox article explains. The creation of the mystical city of Agrabah destroys the individuality of eastern culture. “Its mythos reeks of mystical exoticism,” the Vox article also states, presenting images synonymous with India in what is being portrayed as the Middle East. But, the film released in 2019 quells this dilemma by introducing a new plot point, Jasmine’s inter-racial heritage. Her mother, who is not alive, is described as having South-Asian descent, which somehow justifies the casting of Indian-British actress, Naomi Scott, as Princess Jasmine.
Yet, Abdul argues that the filmmakers “could have done a much better job … by casting an Arab actress as Princess Jasmine,” feeling it would have been a more accurate portrayal, considering the film is mainly set in the Arab world. However, in fear of backlash, the cast was purposefully curated to feature a diverse array of actors from across the globe with appropriate backgrounds. The casting of Egyptian-Canadian actor, Mena Massoud, as Aladdin, Iranian-American Navid Negahban as the Sultan, and Tunisian-Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari as Jafar are just the beginning.
With little representation of Middle Eastern characters in entertainment, Aladdin is the closest thing many Americans have when attempting to understand this seemingly distant culture. A notion that itself presents the importance of minority representation in entertainment. Think about it. If a person’s only exposure to a certain group is through entertainment, that person might believe this characterization is representative of an entire group. Without any contradictory personal evidence, it is easy for someone to form a false or stereotypical understanding of a group, as Professor Mastro discusses in a lecture.
Aggressive and deceitful Arab archetypes, such as terrorists and villains, effect socio-political structures and perceptions of policy in regards to Arab-Americans as well as political relations abroad, Professor Mastro explains. In a poll reported in an article by the Guardian, “in 2015, it was revealed that 30% of Republican voters in the US would vote in support of bombing Agrabah.” This is a shocking statistic considering its level of unwarranted violence and considering Agrabah is a fictional place. “In reality, Arab people are known for their hospitality and willingness to help,” Abdul explains, but many Arab archetypes are hostile, presenting a false reality and fostering subconscious racism, making positive portrayals hold even greater importance.
From epic fight scenes featuring Okoye taking down an entire army of men with a spear, to Princess Jasmine blowing apart the patriarchy, all three films present women in positions of power and independence, a characterization that is new in the world of entertainment. The role of women in Black Panther can only be described as fearlessly divergent, filling positions traditionally held by men, like a tech-developer and a military leader. In a different way, Crazy Rich Asians’ Rachel Chu, an NYU economics professor and Stanford graduate, is the epitome of a woman whose success is defined by herself and not her man. And finally, Princess Jasmine in the 2019 Aladdin continues to be as persistent and strong-willed as the original, but now has a more prominent voice, is involved in her father’s political affairs, and has decided to become the Sultan herself. Her frustrations about her position as a woman are wrapped up in a dramatic solo. “Written in stone/ Every rule, every world/ Centuries-old and unbending/ ‘Stay in your place’/ ‘Better seen and not heard’/ Well, now that story is ending,” Princess Jasmine belts in her newly appointed song, “Speechless,” describing this point perfectly. Old archetypes of submissive, sexualized women are being replaced by those of intelligent, autonomous leaders. Although female representation in film, especially in regards to women of color, has a history of its own which cannot be fully explicated here, the common theme of positive representations in these films provides an extra grain of optimism for the future of entertainment.
Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro, explains that problematic representations of ethnicity are rooted in oversimplification, presenting complex groups with layered identities and cultures in simple ways to tell a story that can be understood by large audiences. This is grounded in the fundamental way humans understand the world, categorization. But personal identity and culture do not fit into the categorical mold our brains long for. We cannot place an entire ethnic group into a box because by viewing ethnicity through the lens of a black versus white dichotomy, we forget to see the world in color.
Word count: 2,801
Works Cited
Abdulaziz, Jasmin. Aladdin Response interview. 2 December 2019.
Galer, Sophia Smith. “Culture - The Aladdin Controversy Disney Can't Escape.” BBC, BBC, 14 July 2017, http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape.
Ho, Karen K. “How Crazy Rich Asians Is Going to Change Hollywood.” Time, Time, 15 Aug. 2018, https://time.com/longform/crazy-rich-asians/.
Hunt , Darnell, et al. Hollywood Diversity Report. 2019, Hollywood Diversity Report.
Kasperkevic, Jana. “Poll: 30% of GOP Voters Support Bombing Agrabah, the City from Aladdin.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Dec. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/republican-voters-bomb-agrabah-disney-aladdin-donald-trump.
Lawson, Kimberly. “Why Seeing Yourself Represented on Screen Is So Important.” Vice, 20 Feb. 2018, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmwq3x/why-diversity-on-screen-is-important-black-panther.
Mastro, Dana. “Media, Race, and Ethnicity.” Communication 103. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Merheb, Alexis. Crazy Rich Asians Response interview. 23 November 2019.
Orr, Christopher. “'Black Panther' Is More Than a Superhero Movie.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 20 Feb. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/black-panther-review/553508/.
Romano, Aja. “The Fraught Cultural Politics of Disney's New Aladdin Remake.” Vox, Vox, 28 May 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/5/24/18635896/disney-live-action-aladdin-controversy-history.
Crazy Rich Asians makes huge waves in the realm of representative entertainment. The film is praised for its all-Asian cast, its heart-warming romantic tale and its quirky characters, despite facing backlash at the production level. “An early prospective producer suggested casting a white woman as the lead” an article by Time Magazine explains. A suggestion rejected on grounds that it undermines the film’s essential steps towards diversity in entertainment. Transformation of the media landscape rests on the shoulders of creators who are stubborn enough to honor the story a writer has created. With production studios leaning towards well-known white actors rather than their racially diverse counterparts, there is great misunderstanding surrounding how profitable movies with diverse casts are. Film studios often situate goals in terms of dollar signs, yet as many recent films have proven, expanding from a whitewashed depiction of life does not mean sacrificing the bottom line. Rather, it can trigger an avalanche of positive reviews and resounding praise from audiences of all ethnicities.
Although audiences might be unaware, many other movies and television shows bolster subconscious racial stereotypes that have been repeated since the beginning of entertainment. It is not only the quality of a representation that is important but also the quantity, explains Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro in a lecture. In other words, stereotypical, negative archetypes of ethnic minority groups are harmful, and even more so when these are the only archetypes being portrayed. Yet, as the popularity of Crazy Rich Asians shows, there is hope for greater representation in film and television despite the industry’s disconcerting history.
There is a long road to cover before minority representation matches the accurate racial proportions in the population. Covering film and television in the 2016- 2017 season, the UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, published in 2019, suggests that minorities “remained underrepresented both “among film leads, “broadcast scripted leads” and “cable scripted leads.” But due to a population with greater awareness of racially charged stereotypes and filled with exhaustion from falsely portrayed minority groups, the climate within entertainment is, ever-so-slowly, evolving. In short, “America’s increasingly diverse audiences prefer diverse film and television content” the report suggests. And unsurprisingly, there has been a trend of large blockbuster films fostering casts with greater diversity who are depicted in positive roles that are meant to inspire all audiences. More specifically this shift in entertainment has given a voice to those who have been often underrepresented.
Over cups of vanilla latte, my Asian-American friend, Alexis, explained to me what the film Crazy Rich Asians meant to her. “You feel a sort of kinship,” she says, relating her cultural experience to the crisis of ethnic identity the movie’s main character, Rachel Chu, faces. With the cream cheese from an over-filled sesame bagel coving her lips, Alexis represents many Asian-Americans who have long been assimilated into American culture. “I am American, but I am still Asian,” she says. For most of those who share her culture, there is “that affiliation to a distant homeland,” she explains.
Crazy Rich Asians paints this idea by presenting Rachel Chu as the average American rather than an exotic, mysterious other. Or like Rachel’s friend and confidant Goh Peik Lin puts it, “She thinks you are like some unrefined banana. Yellow on the outside. White on the inside.” The film does not play up her Asian-ness as many films do when representing minorities, but rather emphasizes her Americanness, contrasting her not only with her heritage but also to that of her fiancé, Nick Young’s, family. This choice represents a step in the right direction for increased diversity in entertainment by destroying the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy. It presents Rachel, an Asian-American, someone who is often portrayed as “the other” in American film, as fundamentally the same.
As someone who’s own identity is being represented, Alexis explains that she can relate to the movie in many ways. “Respect your elders, the rise and fall of the Asian matriarchy, the inter-family feuds, I’ve seen it all,” she says, feeling that the movie is an accurate portrayal of many young Asian-Americans’ lives and therefore dissolves many misconceptions.
It is in Rachel’s assimilation into American culture that her character helps break down the stereotypes perpetuated about Asians. It rejects the idea of a “Dragon Lady,” the first prominent characterization of Asian women in media, a woman who is vicious, sexually desirable and who aims to manipulate and seduce, as described in a lecture by Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro. But, Rachel is quite the opposite, a well-put-together woman without a threatening bone in her body, a characteristic of hers that is emphasized throughout the movie. Asian women continued to be sexualized and submissive in entertainment through the 2000s, explains Professor Mastro, making Rachel a wholly new archetype.
“Crazy Rich Asians was a triumph,” Alexis exclaims excitedly, continuing to devour the bagel with gusto. With its fully Asian cast and its tribute to the best-selling Asian-American author, Kevin Kwan, the movie does not force itself to assimilate into the whitewashed industry that has sucked culture out of beautifully ethnic stories.
A futuristic spaceship flies over the African safari, blasting its way over grasslands and charging zebras. A juxtaposition of images, one might think, until the ship bursts through a force field hidden between mountains into a city filled with technological advancement. The ship swishes over a sea of high-rise buildings and high-speed trains, like any other metropolitan city, but with some added African flare. “An advanced African civilization, thriving in isolation, untouched by war or colonialism,” an article by the Atlantic states describing the fictional country of Wakanda where the film Black Panther is set. The image is just one of many throughout the film that debunks hierarchical notions about an Africa that is lesser-than its Western counterparts. And more broadly, the film extinguishes elitist notions that degrade Blacks in a White society.
In a dark rainforest, bullets fly as punches and kicks are thrown while T’Challa, the new king of Wakanda infiltrates a child trafficking mission. Nakia, T’Challa’s former lover, who was also captured, fights off her kidnappers, hooded by a green veil. In T’Challa’s momentary freeze of judgment, Okoye, adorned in gold and red, the uniform of the all-female Wakandan army, finishes the fight releasing the taken children. Strong characterizations such as these, in addition to a “virtually all-black cast, fantastic representation of strong women, African setting, and nuanced characters and storylines,” has solicited enormous praise, suggests an article by Vice. The importance of Black Panther, the Vice article goes on to suggest, is rooted in its ability to portray minority groups, who have been routinely underrepresented, in an immensely positive way, as superheroes. Gone are the days when a light-skinned Clark Kent with swoopy hair and an ironic job define the archetype for someone who saves the world. Black Panther fosters a new narrative, an African nation equipped to end all suffering.
With years of film history characterizing Blacks as savage, uneducated and as faithful to their White superiors, the emergence of positive archetypes is of great importance, Professor Mastro says in a lecture dedicated to these characterizations. The quality of characterizations matters, explains Professor Mastro, since unfavorable characterizations hurt self-esteem and have negative effects on career and educational aspirations of those being portrayed. With a history of Blacks being portrayed in one-dimensional and frankly, racist ways, Black Panther matters not only as a response to these stereotypes but also as a positive reflection of self-identity for the Black community.
Filled with teleporting spaceships and bullet-proof suits, Wakanda, although fictional, presents an African society that is far superior to that of the West, a representation that is not often illustrated. Black Panther dismantles the “white savior complex” that plagues volunteerism. Accompanied by an exaggerated eye-roll, Shuri scoffs, “Great, another broken white boy for us to fix. This is going to be fun,” rejecting the narrative of westerners going to countries such as Africa and saving people from their own lives. Wakanda does not need help from the outside world, rather the technology they have developed makes T’Challa invincible.
An article from the Atlantic suggests that Wakanda is presented “as the vanguard of a global revolution to invert the existing racial order” because of its technological superiority and hunger for increased innovation. And although slightly presumptuous, one might apply this to the unfounded racial hierarchies perpetuated by stereotypes in film, suggesting that Black Panther is a beginning of a revolution to turn centuries-old notions of racial superiority on their heads.
In a chaotic flurry of theatricality, a blue-tinted genie flows from his lamp. Accompanied by a monkey in a fez banging out a beat on a rock n’ roll drum kit and a magical carpet shaking some maracas, the genie begins to declare his powers. With a snap of the genie’s fingers, stories become reality and at any instant, he has shapeshifted into another form of himself. Aladdin creates a world where almost anything is possible with the rub of a lamp. But just as magic does not exist in our world, Agrabah is not real and the classic animated film’s portrayals of the Arab world are not entirely accurate, which is news to some people.
Hidden under the music and magic, Aladdin “was criticized for perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes of the Middle East and Asia,” an article by the BBC explains. The animated Disney film released in 1992 begins with a mysterious welcome from a dark man dressed in an oversized turban who begins to set the scene. “Salam,” he says, and at this moment, arises the beginning of many ignorant contradictions. With the amount of controversy surrounding the original animation and its insensitivity towards the Arab culture, the announcement of the 2019 live-action remake of the Disney classic had many people on edge and hyperaware of ignorant inaccuracies.
“It’s is barbaric, but hey it’s home,” an accented voice sings in the original animation, a line omitted from the live-action re-make made in 2019, for its racist undertones. Instead, Will Smith aboard a ship, adorned with a turban and dangling jewelry sings “Where you wander among every culture and tongue/ It's chaotic, but hey, it's home,” an attempt to combat Aladdin’s previously problematic message. It presents the Middle East in a way that honors its nomadic history and eclectic way of life. So, one begins to wonder, “Is Hollywood changing?”
In a cozy corner of the UC Santa Barbara library, I sat down with Jasmin Abdul, a Syrian-American and member of the UC Santa Barbara Arab Culture Club, to discuss how she felt about the new Aladdin live-action remake. With ironically the same name as the Disney princess which this film follows, Jasmin explains, “The remake better represented Arab culture than the original because it was filmed in Jordan and they used Arabic words throughout the movie that made me feel special because I understood them,” defending the new movie’s attempt at an integration of cultures and languages.
Amid the bazar’s chaos, Aladdin swings off gazebos and ducks under tables, grabbing bits-and-bobs along to way to sell. “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat,” he sings chucking a loaf of bread back to the merchant from which he stole it. Multicolored fabrics line the streets and adorn the citizens of Agrabah. This colorful whirlwind of images accurately portrays this cultural sentiment, the bazar, the center of Arab society. “The new film has, for the most part, managed to shirk much of its inspiration’s exoticism and cultural inaccuracies,” a Vox article explains. The creation of the mystical city of Agrabah destroys the individuality of eastern culture. “Its mythos reeks of mystical exoticism,” the Vox article also states, presenting images synonymous with India in what is being portrayed as the Middle East. But, the film released in 2019 quells this dilemma by introducing a new plot point, Jasmine’s inter-racial heritage. Her mother, who is not alive, is described as having South-Asian descent, which somehow justifies the casting of Indian-British actress, Naomi Scott, as Princess Jasmine.
Yet, Abdul argues that the filmmakers “could have done a much better job … by casting an Arab actress as Princess Jasmine,” feeling it would have been a more accurate portrayal, considering the film is mainly set in the Arab world. However, in fear of backlash, the cast was purposefully curated to feature a diverse array of actors from across the globe with appropriate backgrounds. The casting of Egyptian-Canadian actor, Mena Massoud, as Aladdin, Iranian-American Navid Negahban as the Sultan, and Tunisian-Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari as Jafar are just the beginning.
With little representation of Middle Eastern characters in entertainment, Aladdin is the closest thing many Americans have when attempting to understand this seemingly distant culture. A notion that itself presents the importance of minority representation in entertainment. Think about it. If a person’s only exposure to a certain group is through entertainment, that person might believe this characterization is representative of an entire group. Without any contradictory personal evidence, it is easy for someone to form a false or stereotypical understanding of a group, as Professor Mastro discusses in a lecture.
Aggressive and deceitful Arab archetypes, such as terrorists and villains, effect socio-political structures and perceptions of policy in regards to Arab-Americans as well as political relations abroad, Professor Mastro explains. In a poll reported in an article by the Guardian, “in 2015, it was revealed that 30% of Republican voters in the US would vote in support of bombing Agrabah.” This is a shocking statistic considering its level of unwarranted violence and considering Agrabah is a fictional place. “In reality, Arab people are known for their hospitality and willingness to help,” Abdul explains, but many Arab archetypes are hostile, presenting a false reality and fostering subconscious racism, making positive portrayals hold even greater importance.
From epic fight scenes featuring Okoye taking down an entire army of men with a spear, to Princess Jasmine blowing apart the patriarchy, all three films present women in positions of power and independence, a characterization that is new in the world of entertainment. The role of women in Black Panther can only be described as fearlessly divergent, filling positions traditionally held by men, like a tech-developer and a military leader. In a different way, Crazy Rich Asians’ Rachel Chu, an NYU economics professor and Stanford graduate, is the epitome of a woman whose success is defined by herself and not her man. And finally, Princess Jasmine in the 2019 Aladdin continues to be as persistent and strong-willed as the original, but now has a more prominent voice, is involved in her father’s political affairs, and has decided to become the Sultan herself. Her frustrations about her position as a woman are wrapped up in a dramatic solo. “Written in stone/ Every rule, every world/ Centuries-old and unbending/ ‘Stay in your place’/ ‘Better seen and not heard’/ Well, now that story is ending,” Princess Jasmine belts in her newly appointed song, “Speechless,” describing this point perfectly. Old archetypes of submissive, sexualized women are being replaced by those of intelligent, autonomous leaders. Although female representation in film, especially in regards to women of color, has a history of its own which cannot be fully explicated here, the common theme of positive representations in these films provides an extra grain of optimism for the future of entertainment.
Professor of Communication, Dana Mastro, explains that problematic representations of ethnicity are rooted in oversimplification, presenting complex groups with layered identities and cultures in simple ways to tell a story that can be understood by large audiences. This is grounded in the fundamental way humans understand the world, categorization. But personal identity and culture do not fit into the categorical mold our brains long for. We cannot place an entire ethnic group into a box because by viewing ethnicity through the lens of a black versus white dichotomy, we forget to see the world in color.
Word count: 2,801
Works Cited
Abdulaziz, Jasmin. Aladdin Response interview. 2 December 2019.
Galer, Sophia Smith. “Culture - The Aladdin Controversy Disney Can't Escape.” BBC, BBC, 14 July 2017, http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape.
Ho, Karen K. “How Crazy Rich Asians Is Going to Change Hollywood.” Time, Time, 15 Aug. 2018, https://time.com/longform/crazy-rich-asians/.
Hunt , Darnell, et al. Hollywood Diversity Report. 2019, Hollywood Diversity Report.
Kasperkevic, Jana. “Poll: 30% of GOP Voters Support Bombing Agrabah, the City from Aladdin.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Dec. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/republican-voters-bomb-agrabah-disney-aladdin-donald-trump.
Lawson, Kimberly. “Why Seeing Yourself Represented on Screen Is So Important.” Vice, 20 Feb. 2018, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmwq3x/why-diversity-on-screen-is-important-black-panther.
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