You know Americans don't think anything negative about Indians and have the ''smart doctor'' image. And you know how they feel about Arabs by contrast.. oh boy.
shareLet's be honest, most can't tell the difference.
shareSince they want to remove any trace of religion from a story set in an extremely religious region, they can't afford to re-create the culture with any degree of accuracy.
Plus, they have to find some way to get the heroine into skimpy clothing. No Islamic standards of modesty allowed!
Considering that the original story of Aladdin from The Arabian Nights actually took place somewhere in CHINA, Disney never got it right in the first place!
shareThe story came to the West through the Middle East, as part of the "1001 Nights" or "Arabian Nights" saga, translated from the Arabic by explorer Richard Burton (not the same person as the actor). So in the west it's thought of as a Middle Eastern story, and Disney went with that expectation for their first film.
Although now that you mention it... funny they didn't change the setting to China, now that Hollywood is scrambling to make money from the Chinese mass market! Maybe they'll do that for the next time they remake it.
Although Aladdin and his mother were Chinese, Aladdin's father, Mustapha, was of Arab descent from North West Africa, which is where Aladdin is brought to find the lamp. The Sultan, his daughter, and the Vizer are all parts of the original story, and are not Chinese, nor in China.
shareMena Massoud is of Egyptian heritage, you don´t get much more Arab than that. To be honest, its about as diverse and politically correct cast enough as it is, to bother worrying about Naomi Scott not being Arab... Where is the outcry over Will Smith as Genie? He´s not Arab either, but he gets a pass because he´s black. So pathetic...
shareIt really didn't matter who played the genie since the genie isn't even human. As far as the other 2 are concerned sjw's will complain they are both not Arab meaning they are not Saudi Arabian, but Jasmine and Aladdin are from Agrabah which is a fictional place. Of course if they just lied and said both the lead actors were Arabs there would be no argument from the pc police since what they don't know can't hurt them
sharePortraying some Indian influence may not be completely inaccurate. While the original 1994 film Aladdin didn’t fully explore the full extent of Agrabah, the follow up mid-1990’s Aladdin cartoon series did a better job of doing so. I remember Jasmine making reference to an area known as Ganistan, which was an obvious play to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. These countries have mid to strong Indian influence.
shareIn love with Jonny ting
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