It’s a childhood staple. You probably know the words to "A Whole New World" by heart, and Robin Williams’ Genie is, frankly, a masterclass in voice acting. But for decades, a nagging question has trailed the franchise like a stubborn shadow: Why is Aladdin offensive? It’s not just one thing. It isn't just a single "oops" moment from the early nineties. It’s a dense, complicated layer cake of stereotypes, messy songwriting, and a version of the Middle East that looks more like a fever dream than a real place.
If you grew up with the 1992 animated version, you might have missed the subtext. Kids usually do. But as the conversation around representation has evolved, the "Agrabah" we all loved has come under some serious fire. We’re talking about everything from lyrical choices that had to be censored to the weirdly specific way the "good guys" look versus the "bad guys." It’s a lot to unpack.
The lyrics that started a firestorm
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty immediately. Before the movie even hit home video, Disney was already doing damage control. The opening song, "Arabian Nights," originally had a couple of lines that were—to put it mildly—incredibly jarring. The original lyrics described a land "Where they cut off your ear / If they don't like your face / It's barbaric, but hey, it's home."
People were livid. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) didn't just sit back; they pushed hard for a change. Disney eventually blinked. They swapped the "ear" line for "Where it's flat and immense / And the heat is intense," but they kept the word "barbaric."
Think about that for a second. Even in the "fixed" version, the song still labels an entire region and culture as barbaric. It sets a tone right from the jump. You’re being told, before the plot even starts, that this is a place of inherent cruelty. It’s a classic "othering" tactic. It tells the audience that these people aren't like "us." Their rules are different. Their morals are lower.
The "Good Guy" vs "Bad Guy" facial features
Have you ever noticed how Aladdin and Jasmine look? They don't really look like they’re from the Middle East. Honestly, they look like American teenagers with a slight tan. Their features are Anglicized—straight noses, standard "hero" eyes, and they speak with perfect, unaccented American English.
Now, look at the other characters. Look at the street vendors, the palace guards, or Jafar.
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The villains and the "background" characters are often drawn with exaggerated, hooked noses and dark, heavy features. They speak with thick, often menacing accents. This isn't an accident. It’s a visual shorthand that has been used in Western media for a century to signal who is "civilized" and who is "savage." When the heroes of a story set in the Middle East look and sound like they’re from Malibu, while the villains look like caricatures from a 1920s propaganda poster, you have a massive problem.
It subtly reinforces the idea that "goodness" is synonymous with Western appearance. If you’re a kid watching this, the message is clear: the people who look like you (if you're Middle Eastern or North African) are the ones trying to chop off hands or overthrow the government.
Agrabah: A geographical mess
Where even is Agrabah? The movie says it’s near the Jordan River, but the architecture is a weird blend of the Taj Mahal (India) and various Islamic styles. This is what scholars like Edward Said referred to as Orientalism.
Basically, it’s when Western creators treat the "East" as one giant, interchangeable monolith. To the animators, it didn't seem to matter that India and the Arab world are thousands of miles apart with vastly different cultures, languages, and histories. They just threw everything into a blender to create an "exotic" aesthetic.
- The Sultan’s palace looks like a Mughal tomb.
- The clothing is a mix of Bedouin robes and whatever "harem pants" look like in a costume shop.
- The shopkeepers act out tropes that feel more like 19th-century British travelogues than reality.
By mashing these cultures together, Disney stripped away the actual humanity of the people they were supposedly portraying. It turns a real part of the world into a theme park. It’s a fantasy land, sure, but when that fantasy is the only representation a culture gets for decades, it starts to define how the rest of the world sees them.
The 2019 live-action remake: Better, but still weird
When Disney announced the live-action remake, everyone hoped they’d fix the issues. And they tried. Sorta. They cast Mena Massoud (who is Egyptian-Canadian) and Naomi Scott (who is of British and Indian descent). They updated the lyrics. They gave Jasmine a bit more agency with the song "Speechless."
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But then they made some bizarre choices. They introduced a character named Prince Anders from a fictional European kingdom called "Skanland," played by Billy Magnussen. Why? In a movie that was already struggling to escape the "white savior" or "Western gaze" trap, adding a goofy white prince felt like a weird move.
And then there was the "browning up" controversy. Reports surfaced that the production was using makeup to darken the skin of white background actors and stunt doubles instead of just hiring people of color. In 2019. It was a PR nightmare that proved the underlying issues with how Hollywood views Middle Eastern and South Asian identities hadn't really gone away. They were just being managed better.
Why this actually matters in the real world
You might think, "It’s just a movie, why does it matter why Aladdin is offensive?"
It matters because media doesn't exist in a vacuum. The stereotypes in Aladdin—the idea of the "barbaric" Arab, the "shifty" merchant, the "exotic" but oppressed princess—contribute to real-world biases. These images stick. They form the foundation of how people perceive an entire region of the world.
When you see a news report about the Middle East, and your subconscious is already primed with images of scimitars and "barbaric" laws from a movie you saw when you were five, it affects your empathy. It affects policy. It affects how people are treated at airports.
Jack Shaheen, a famous media critic who wrote Reel Bad Arabs, spent his life documenting this. He noted that out of over 1,000 films featuring Arab characters produced between 1896 and 2000, only a tiny fraction were positive. Aladdin is the most famous example because it’s the one we give to our children.
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Moving forward with a critical eye
So, do you have to throw your DVD in the trash? Not necessarily. But the way we consume this stuff has to change.
If you're watching Aladdin today, or showing it to a new generation, the "actionable" part is the conversation that happens afterward. You don't have to be a professor to point out the flaws.
- Contextualize the lyrics. If you're watching the original, talk about why that "barbaric" line is hurtful. Ask why the movie starts by insulting the culture it’s about to "celebrate."
- Point out the visual bias. Ask why Aladdin looks so different from the guards or the vendors. It’s a great lesson in how movies "code" characters as good or bad.
- Seek out authentic voices. If you want a story about the Middle East or South Asia, look for creators from those regions. There are incredible graphic novels, indie films, and books that don't rely on 100-year-old stereotypes.
- Acknowledge the Orientalism. Explain that Agrabah isn't a real place and that mixing up Indian and Arab culture is like mixing up Mexico and Norway because they both have mountains.
The goal isn't to "cancel" a childhood memory. It’s to outgrow it. We can acknowledge that the animation is beautiful and the music is catchy while also admitting that the film is a product of a time when Hollywood didn't think twice about mocking or misrepresenting millions of people. Understanding why Aladdin is offensive is basically just the first step in being a more conscious viewer.
Real progress happens when we stop settling for "exotic" caricatures and start demanding actual stories. Agrabah might be a "diamond in the rough," but it’s okay to admit the "rough" parts are pretty problematic.
Actionable Next Steps
- Watch with the "Disney+ Advisory": Notice the content warning Disney now includes at the start of the film. Use that as a jumping-off point to research the specific history of the ADC’s protests in 1993.
- Compare the versions: Watch the 1992 and 2019 versions side-by-side. Look specifically at the "Arabian Nights" lyrics and the character design of the Sultan. You’ll see exactly where Disney tried to pivot and where they stayed stuck in the past.
- Read "Reel Bad Arabs": If you want to understand the deeper history of these tropes, Jack Shaheen’s work is the gold standard. It’ll change the way you see almost every action movie from the 80s and 90s.