KANJI SEMPAI 49 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin https://interestingliterature.com/2013/01/30/surprising-facts-about-aladdin/ It's funny ppl are complaining how a black man is portraying the genie and Naomi scott whitewashing Princess Jasmine. Click here to view the Tweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzKittyKath 11,686 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JihyoStoleMyHeartAYAYAY 22,189 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_✖✖_ 2,949 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 He doesn't look chinese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelir 327 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I've seen real middle eastern people who look way more white than Naomi though (I mean she doesn't really look as white as people make her to be imo ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Your Juan and only 5,432 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 most people know the original story he's Chinese but everyone is going by Disney version. I'm kinda glad Disney changed Aladdin though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue7kaoru 17,423 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Pretty sure the original story is Persian....so no Aladdin ain't Chinese lol Also the name Aladdin itself is not Chinese... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KANJI SEMPAI 49 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Pretty sure the original story is Persian....so no Aladdin ain't Chinese lol Also the name Aladdin itself is not Chinese... I am talking about the nationality of Aladdin's character. He's a Chinese muslim as far as the original story of 1001 Arabian Night goes. It's Disney who made Aladdin Middle Eastern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KorAm 21 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Actually all the original books of the story had Aladdin and the Princess as Chinese. This changed with Hollywood (not just Disney.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris_Tae 1,617 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_✖✖_ 2,949 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I am talking about the nationality of Aladdin's character. He's a Chinese muslim as far as the original story of 1001 Arabian Night goes. It's Disney who made Aladdin Middle Eastern. so what is he ethnically hui chinese or uyghur or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigo 16,433 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 so what is he ethnically hui chinese or uyghur or? it was just exoticism, setting the story in the far east made it more mysterious. It wasn't really based on anything actually Chinese, hence everything still being Arab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KANJI SEMPAI 49 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 so what is he ethnically hui chinese or uyghur or? All we know is that Aladdin is a Chinese boy living in China with an Arabic name and it doesn't say he's a Ughyur. The problem is the original writer didn't seem to know much about Chinese culture and probably assumed it was similar to middle eastern culture which is why there's so much cultural confusion going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonete 560 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I mean, isn't the Disney movie itself a kind of amalgamation of Middle Eastern and Indian cultures ? The Sultan's palace is a replica of the Taj Mahal, there's a tiger named Rajah, and Jasmine's look isn't even remotely historically accurate. My point being: with the original Disney material sometimes doing approximations, they could have done it exactly like the animated movie or changed things up and it would have pissed people off either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelir 327 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I mean, isn't the Disney movie itself a kind of amalgamation of Middle Eastern and Indian cultures ? The Sultan's palace is a replica of the Taj Mahal, there's a tiger named Rajah, and Jasmine's look isn't even remotely historically accurate. My point being: with the original Disney material sometimes doing approximations, they could have done it exactly like the animated movie or changed things up and it would have pissed people off either way. Also the princess's name was Badroulboudour and not Jasmine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camelliabloom 4,557 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I'm so done with people invalidating actors because they aren't from a specific culture. You understand that acting requires talent right? They probably wanted someone who looked like Jasmine but were more focused on someone who could actually act well enough to portray Jasmine in a rendition of a classic movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venus in converse ~ 845 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Any Arabic speaker? I read somewhere that "China" is like methaphor for a place that is far far away. And in Islam the there is a quite famous quote from the Prophet “Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China", even tho the authenticity of the source of that hadith is weak, some even say it's a fake hadith. I just think that maybe in that story do not literally mean China (like how we understand China today) but just pointed out it took a place in a far far away land (?) But the story origin isn't even verified from middle east anyway. And we can't expect accuracy from the French writer when you remember that white people even calling every piece of land they "discover" India and brown people as Indian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venus in converse ~ 845 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I mean, isn't the Disney movie itself a kind of amalgamation of Middle Eastern and Indian cultures ? The Sultan's palace is a replica of the Taj Mahal, there's a tiger named Rajah, and Jasmine's look isn't even remotely historically accurate. My point being: with the original Disney material sometimes doing approximations, they could have done it exactly like the animated movie or changed things up and it would have pissed people off either way.just want to point out that The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian and earlier Mughal architecture. Basically middle eastern influence, but yeah I agree that that the story itself is based off Orientalism of Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonete 560 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 just want to point out that The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian and earlier Mughal architecture. Basically middle eastern influence, but yeah I agree that that the story itself is based off Orientalism of Asia.Ooh that's interesting, thanks for the info ! On the topic and about the Mughal Empire, I've just read about people speculating that Agrabah is probably located in the Indian subcontinent because it's where Islamic, Persian and Hindu cultures have actually coexisted and influenced each other ? Eh, the more I read about it the more this casting controversy seems unwarranted. (So far Naomi Scott has been a meh to mediocre actress tho, that's what ppl should be worried about). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandabear 188 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 I've seen real middle eastern people who look way more white than Naomi though (I mean she doesn't really look as white as people make her to be imo ) The middle east is the melting pot of the world as it used to be trading center of multiple cultures. You'll find features of pretty much every ethnicity in the world among the people there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefacts 338 Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Do people realize that Black Muslims and Afro-Arabs exists? I really don't get why people are pissed at Will playing Genie. Genie can be any race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaiKook 76 Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 I've seen real middle eastern people who look way more white than Naomi though (I mean she doesn't really look as white as people make her to be imo ) Real middle eastern ethnic groups do not look white at all Those who do look white have white blood in them Many lebanese people and syrians have European blood in them and that's why they "look white" (fair with germanic features such as a high nose bridge) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STORM BLOOM 1,739 Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 I'm so done with people invalidating actors because they aren't from a specific culture. You understand that acting requires talent right? They probably wanted someone who looked like Jasmine but were more focused on someone who could actually act well enough to portray Jasmine in a rendition of a classic movie. every races and ethnicities has talent and no way an excuse not to hire the person of the specific background for the role. OT: Disney made it as a different rendition but originally it's a Chinese legend from what I've heard, yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yumine 391 Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 Mess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solfa 7,163 Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 It's true he was from China, but not in the meaning we understanding it today. China in the original was used in the meaning "easternmost part of the (known) world". In contrast, the original villain of the story was from Maghreb, which was the westernmost land they knew of. Thus, these two characters come from so far away (relative to Persia), they are in the opposed ends of the world. Aladdin changing appearance to look as an ethnic Chinese person was a post-colonial development. It's unlikely original tale did meant to imply that. The Persian storytellers who recited/wrote down the tale were average people who did not have contact with Chinese people, they simply knew it as a the easternmost land, that's why other than the name of the location, everything about China, from culture to architecture, as it's described it's not Chinese. In way, Disney's adaptation brought it back to its roots, giving it a fantasy Middle East look, which might bring some familiarity, but it's also exotic enough for Middle Eastern people to fulfill that "far, far away" role that China meant to fulfill in the original version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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