Of course there�s stereotyping of the Middle Easterners. A passing glance over the credits does not uncover one �Mohammed� or even any last name that would sound right with �Mohammed.� It�s also worth noting that the important characters do not speak with Arabic accents, but sound like Americans or Brits. Only the peasants sound like they�re from there. This is only one of the reasons why Mickey Mouse is associated with universal American hegemony and the consumerization of the world.
As for the girl�the Disney movies of the last fifteen years, like this film, �The Little Mermaid,� and �Beauty and the Beast,� seem to rely pretty heavily on romantic courtships. When I was six, that stuff made me sick. Now I see them as basically the same kind of middling and tacked-on �romantic subplot� that might pop up in an action movie or a teen comedy. These romances are good for pacing and hammering home �the message� but don�t have a lot of magic to them. Luckily there was a lot less kissy-kissy in �Sleeping Beauty� and �Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.� I don�t recall the soft-focus prince courting the soft-focus princess in either of those movies. Mostly he just killed things. I mention this because there�s a part of me that keeps voicing a sneaking, cynical suspicion that Disney is trying to introduce children to uninspired romances as early as possible so that they�ll be prepared to spend a lifetime passively digesting more narratively-convenient-but-otherwise-uninspired romances. They�re easier on writers.
It�s a tribute the pervasiveness of Disney animation that it is the definition of normal and neutral to those of us who grew up with it. What was groundbreaking in 1992 looks a little jerky now, but it is the yardstick by which we measure all other animation. Everyone of my generation sees Disney and says �Yes, this is what animation is supposed to look like when it doesn�t want to draw attention to itself. This is how animation looks when it wants to look �invisible,� the way that movies like �Casablanca� are directed invisibly, without a noticeable style.� When we say that �Triplets of Belleville� is more emotive than most cartoons, we�re comparing it to Disney, and when we say the backgrounds in �Belleville� are intentionally flat, again, we�re comparing it to classic Disney.
I have to end the way I began by emphasizing what a quick, bright, and energetic film this is, with the exact right tone of pure, unadulterated fun. Any logical inconsistencies are swept under the rug by streamlined and efficient storytelling. �Aladdin� is a ninety-minute confection: it�s characters get in, get out, get chased, fall in love, and then just when you think you might start to lose interest there�s a big climax and the credits roll. And speaking of credits� isn�t everyone who loved that �A Whole New World� song over the ending credits kind of embarassed now?
Finished August 26, 2004
Copyright � 2004 Friday & Saturday Night
Page one of "Aladdin" (1992). Back to home.