Americanisation of Folktales by Disney: How much does it take away? How much does it add?
Disney is the biggest media conglomerate on this planet. Its control ranges from news channels to amusement parks. The Walt Disney company is one of the biggest companies in the world, and undoubtedly holds the most influence in America, as far as mainstream media power is concerned(Beattie). Disney has been producing films from as early as the 1930s, and film producing still is one of the most profitable ventures of the company. Disney produced its first animated feature film in 1937 called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was based on a German folktale by the Brothers Grimm. Disney is known to adapt foreign tales into feature films from its early days. This adaptation comes with a heavy price. Most of the times when Disney adapts a story it, Americanises the story to sell it to the greater American public (Setiawati,79). That is, Disney tells a story in a way that appeals to the public in order to generate more revenue. The company has been criticised numerous times because of its strategy of white washing foreign stories to fit the American social context. I examine two of Disney's most controversial films, Aladdin and Mulan to find out how much Disney has strayed from the original story in order to carve it into an American mould. I tried to analyse how much it takes away from the original story and how much it adds. I examine Aladdin from a visual point of view where the characters are depicted in an American like manner. In the case of Mulan, I analyse the forceful inclusion of American feminist idea onto the character as an ideology. This paper discuss is the original animated feature films Aladdin and Mulan Which were released in 1992 and 2003 respectively.
Aladdin:
The film is based on the Arab folktale of Thousand and One Night. It was the highest grossing film of 1992 and was the highest grossing animated feature film for a while. The film also garnered heavy critical acclaim. Despite the critical and box office success, Aladdin is no innocent of controversy. The film raised eyebrows since its release and is still critiqued till this date. It was heavily criticised for its offensive lyric in a song when it was released. The original song Arabian nights, a line was used that was deemed as racist and offensive, and as a result Disney had to change the lyrics to a different one. But that was not the only controversy of the film (Galer).
As time passed, the film was criticised more and more. One of the major criticisms of the film was that the cast of the film was almost made of white Caucasians. it is problematic when Disney is trying to tell an Arabian story, but none of the cast is of Arab origin. It brings up the question and discussion of representation of different cultures in Hollywood, especially in the Disney universe. With only a few exceptions most of the characters including Aladdin and Jasmine have an American accent. Moreover, the characters use American expressions while delivering their dialogues. As a matter of fact, the look of Aladdin was designed based on Tom Cruise, a white Caucasian male (Setiawati, 84). Most character’s skin tone was lightened to make them look as American as possible. This is a blatant attempt of Americanising the characters in terms of their looks and expressions. Disney does not stop there. It also gives them American characteristics which is totally different from what was described and the actual folktales. Princess Jasmine, whose actual name is Buddir al Buddoor to begin with, is built on an image of an American teenager, rather than a genuine Arab princess’s (Setiawati, 96). Critics argue that Jasmine is presented as more of a sexual figure than a royal one to meet the mass’ expectation. Disney gave her an independent, free-like characteristics which is totally unlike what was written in the original stories (Setiawati, 85). Alexandrova sees this as an attempt to push feminist American ideas out in the world through the lens off an Arab female, where the film had already established Arabia as a barbaric place (Alexandrova, 74). To make matters worse, amongst the main characters, the character which represents Arabia the most is Jafar, the main villain of the film. He has a beard and a turban, and the darkest complexion compared to Aladdin and others. The irony is that the story is supposed to be Arab but Jafar ends up having the most Middle Eastern look. This is a clear case of subtle racism and an attempt to demonise Arabs from Disney’s part (Galer).
Aladdin is also far from accurate in terms of illustrating the original folktale. Disney had taken some creative freedom to change the story from the original. The original story of Aladdin is, in the Thousand and One Nights, in fact set in China, not the Middle East. Just because of the fact that it is an Arabian story, Disney set the film in a city called Agrabah, which again was supposed to be called Baghdad but was changed because of the ongoing war against Iraq at that time. Not only that, in the original story Jafar is an African magician, unlike the Disney movie where he is the advisor to the King. The original Jafar convinces Aladdin that he is his uncle in order to get Aladdin to retrieve the lamp. Needless to say, that this once again, is a divergence from the original story. Genie on the other hand does not give Aladdin the condition of only granting 3 wishes. In the folk story there is no mention of Genie putting in the condition of granting only three wishes. It was done in the film as a plot point to make the film interesting. I personally think the condition of granting only three wishes was smart, as it made the film more interesting and captivating.
Mulan:
Unlike Aladdin, which is a folktale, Mulan is considered as a true legend In China that was written as a poem in the Ballad of Mulan. Disney tells the story of Mulan who joins the army so that her old father does not have to get conscripted. Just like Aladdin Mulan was a critical and commercial success and was the seventh highest grossing film of 1998 (Giunta, 157). Despite being a Chinese legend that is taught in schools in China, Mulan surprisingly did not do well in the Chinese market. As a matter of fact, it came under immense scrutiny from China regarding the narrative and appearance of the film. Just like Aladdin Mulan is not free from controversies either.
Disney, for this film cast mostly Asian actors. It seems like they have learnt a lesson from Aladdin about casting. Although the main character Mulan speaks in an American accent and is still Americanised in many ways, some of the other characters are given Asian accents in an attempt by Disney to strike a balance. Yet Disney could not escape the criticism regarding the appearance of the characters. Most of its criticism came from China and the biggest complaint was that appearance and characters looked foreign, like Koreans, rather than Chinese (Tamaira, 313). This is one of the biggest reasons why Mulan failed at the box office in China. The other big criticism that came from China was that the legend of Mulan is of patriotism and sacrifice. However, Disney's Mulan showcase a self-centric character who is driven by her own will and not cultural and traditional values. This brings forth the discussion of characterisation of Mulan.
The legend of Mulan in China is well celebrated and is taught in schools. The legend is already of bravery and contains messages of woman empowerment. Disney attempted to forcefully inject western ideas of feminism in the film, Setiawati argues. She says that Disney’s attempt to make a big reveal of Mulan’s after the first battle “exposed American feminist idea”(Setiawati, 91). To elaborate, we need to look at the context of the legend. In one version of the legend some of her fellow soldiers and the general already knew she was a female. In one of the battles she entered the ground wearing female clothes revealing her identity to all the soldiers. The soldiers appreciated and applauded her bravery (Klimzack). In other versions of the legend no one found out that she was a female till she retired. The intention of Disney to manipulate the story to forcefully bring in a conflict that would haul out a feminist idea in the big reveal scene is flawed and problematic. This is not the only case where Disney has done it in the film. The idea that Mulan was to get arranged married was also forcefully inserted in the film so that Disney can build a feminist narrative, whereas the concept of arranged marriage did not exist during that period (Setiawati, 94).
The film shows Mulan leaving her parents at night without letting them know. The original myth however says that Mulan discussed joining the army with her parents. This change in story might seem irrelevant, but within the context of Chinese culture has a far greater impact. Mulan’s escape to join the army without letting her parents know was seen by the Chinese people as an act of defiance. Critics argue that this was triggered by her will and determination. But in the legend, it was triggered by patriotism and her love for her father. As a result, Disney had changed and distorted the true essence of the folktale, which is patriotism rather than the feminist outlook of Mulan (Christina, 33).
Conclusion:
Disney in the recent times has stepped up efforts to tell stories in a more authentic manner. The example of Moana can be used to illustrate how Disney is showing its eagerness to make films that narrates a more accurate presentation of the original stories, such as the Pacific Islanders (Tamaira, 304). However, Disney will never be able to shrug off its criticisms regarding the Americanization of different stories Setiawati actually uses a harsher term where she says that “the films are a bastardization from the original tales” (Setiawati 81). This powerful quote reveals the anger and frustration scholars and critiques have for Disney. We see the justification behind their frustration in the analysis of Aladdin and Mulan. In Aladdin, Disney use of Americanised images to depict the good guys and Middle Eastern images to depict the bad guy is an attempt to conform to the audience expectations and needs and can be called orientalism. In Mulan, Disney enforces Americanised feminist ideas onto what is already a genuinely feminist narrative folktale.
Disney’s telling of stories takes away a lot from the original essence of the tales. In return it adds American elements to the story which is disturbing in many ways. Critics call it whitewashing of Disney. There is hope though. Disney casted Middle Eastern originated actors the live action version of Aladdin. This may not seem like a big step, but it is progress compared to the 1992 film where almost no one was of Arab origin and was filled with racist connotations.
References:
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Beattie, Andrew. “Walt Disney: How Entertainment Became an Empire”. Investopedia. May 16 2019. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/11/walt-disney-entertainment-to-empire.asp
Christina, Christina and Setefanus Suprajitno. “The Americanization of Confucian Filial Piety in Disney’s Mulan (1998).” Petra Christian University (2014).
Galer, Sophia. “The Aladdin Controversy Disney Can’t Escape”. BBC. 14 July 2017. Online. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape
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