Arabian Nights Heat Up the Screen

Directly after the release of Beauty and the Beast came Aladdin and with that, the Disney Princess identity progressed. With Jasmine, we are given our first princess with any sort of exotic ethnicity. Yes, Disney continued to break the ideograph of the princess by giving Jasmine a cultural origin and context but with Jasmine, we begin to see the emergence of the Disney Princess being sexified. I used to want to be Jasmine when I was younger because she was so attractive. But in hindsight, I was only six years old.

However, there are some positive things to be said about Jasmine. First of all, she is rebellious and refuses to be won over as some unknown man's bride. There is also something to be said about her falling for the commoner Aladdin but being repulsed by the debonair Prince Ali. Another interesting aspect of the movie in general is that Jasmine is the first Disney Princess to not be the main character of the film. She still holds her own as a powerful, in control princess who refuses to settle for the life she was born into.

We can applaud the ethnic diversity of this Disney movie, but it is important to analyze the way in which this Arab culture is portray. The bad guys, such as Jafar, and the impoverished commoners in the movie may have some Arab-like qualities, but the beautiful Jasmine and handsome Aladdin are merely dark skinned Europeans. Accepting this quality of the movie as a norm only reinforces the misconception that it is okay to be Arab looking if you are poor or a bad guy, but if you are good, you must be beautiful and European looking. Below is a picture of Prince Eric next to Aladdin.