Analyzing the Disney Formula: Aladdin (1992)

I'm currently washing laundry on my last day of school before spring break!! YES! My class is at 5 p.m. and it's a screener -- we're watching 24 today. FUN. After that, I have nothing to do for the rest of the night. No studying, no pressure, no nothing. And all my classes are cancelled tomorrow (or optional -- bump that). So I'm leaving home tomorrow morning. I'm very nervous. I have to face my parents about certain college/major related things. I pulled a switch on them that they didn't like (Biomedical Engineering to Radio-Television-Film). Anyways, I figured I might as well update this blog. What better topic than Disney, too? I'm trying to keep these entries as diverse as possible. I don't really like this paper but I haven't got much else. Here goes.

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Aladdin (1992)

dir. Ron Clements & John Musker

Walt Disney, probably the largest producer of animated film classics and undoubtedly the most famous, essentially uses the same formula for each of their movies – and they do this because the formula works. Two of the most prominent, which I’ve noticed even before reading Janet Wasko’s “Understanding the Disney Universe,” are the themes of escape and fantasy (characters’ longing to live in a world unlike their own) and sexual stereotypes (the role of the dominant male and submissive female), both of which are very evident in Aladdin.

Not surprisingly, Disney constructs Jasmine and Aladdin to fit these themes. In terms of escape and fantasy, each wishes for a life like that of the other. Jasmine, imprisoned within the walls of her palace, wishes to escape and explore the world beyond her walls as Aladdin does. We see her sneak off into the marketplace, obviously naïve in its workings as she unknowingly steals an apple from a merchant’s cart and does not realize what she does is wrong. Aladdin, on the other hand, tires of pilfering food just to survive and having to live such a difficult life. Upon meeting Jasmine, he longs to become a prince in order to marry the princess, an unfathomable task and transformation which he realizes as such due to his social status as a mere “street rat” with no money and no other resources.

Only when Aladdin finds the Genie and the magic lamp do his wishes come true – an example of Disney’s penchant for fantasy fulfilled by magic (a simple, easy process), rather than by hard work and determination. Jasmine’s dream to see the world, too, is solved by magic; a flying carpet possesses the supernatural abilities to fly – and all over the world they fly as they experience “a whole new world / a dazzling place I never knew.”

Though they ride on this magic carpet, it is essentially Aladdin - the man, the hero that “saves” Jasmine from her prison and takes her on this outing. With sequences just like this, Disney blatantly conveys sexual stereotypes as a theme in their films.

The males play the dominant role while females play the domesticated and submissive. This theme is prominent not only in the two protagonists but in the other minor characters that exist within the story. We see the women either hanging clothes or in brothel-type buildings and clothing, while the men set up markets, selling items to make a living. The way in which each gender solves problems, too, differ. In the final climax of the film in which the hero and heroine, Genie, Abu, and carpet attempt to defeat Jafar, we see a disparity in the way Aladdin and Jasmine think and act. Jasmine, the “sexually attractive” woman she is, immediately thinks of using her sexuality to distract Jafar while Aladdin attempts to steal the lamp. Aladdin, in the end, uses his quick thinking to trick the villain into defeating himself. Whereas Aladdin uses his cunning and wits instinctively, Jasmine – I guess, intrinsically as well? – thinks of using her body, even resorting in kissing a man she hates, anything she can do, to assist Aladdin in saving the day.

Janet Wasko, along with this presentation of the Disney formula, asserts very interesting views on Disney as a company, all of which I can’t say I disagree. I grew up with Disney – my family owns many VHS’s and DVD’s of all the classic films, we’ve attended Disneyworld in Orlando, and we continue to support the franchise by seeing new releases and expanding our collection of movies. Disney has always been something of a struggle for me to accept. Though I am a complete fan of its works, I can’t say I agree with their corporate management and handlings. They’re like Wal-Mart to me – they do what they do not for their consumers or fans, but for money, and the fact that Disney is a corporate giant and at times, an unethical company, incites anger in me. Lately, their formula has overtaken their desire to produce art (like Walt’s vision in the early stages of his career), and in doing this, they produce merely products. Though I don’t like the fact that a lot of the films they produce are racist and sexist, I suppose they only reflect the views of our life and time.