Disney’s long history of oreintalism/racism towards West Asians + Egyptians and erasure; a thread 🧵
Orientalism, based on the definition by Edward Said, is a "created body of theory and practice" which constructs images of the Orient or the East directed toward those in the West.
Representations of the East as exotic, feminine, weak and vulnerable reflect and define how the West views itself as rational, masculine and powerful.” Orientalism is built on inaccurate assumptions about West Asian cultures.
Disney is one of the biggest companies in the world, most of their work is received well by the public and many grew up watching the harmful stereotypes/portrayals they had of West Asians. Everything in this thread is based off inaccurate descriptions of our cultures.
The west had always presented west asians in a certain image. The women as sexual beings, weak, and submissive. While the men are barbaric, violent, and hyper sexual. Disney took that image and had it in all of their movies/shows, even if it wasn’t implied.
Disney also refuses to represent Egyptians with their cultures as of today, they only represent them in their shows if it’s about ancient Egypt, which treats them as fictional characters.
The Karnival Kid (1929), hoochie coochie is a term to describe “sexually provocative” belly dance-like dances from the mid-to late 1800s. Belly dancers are HEAVILY sexualized by the west for doing their own cultural dances. This is just one of the many examples.
Mickey In Arabia (1932), showing Mickey and Minnie riding a camel through the “Arabian Desert” and they stumble across a small town(?). The video is self explanatory tbh…
thePluto: Bone Trouble (1940)
Dumbo (1941)
Ducktales "Masters of the Djinni (1987)
Sphinx of the Memories (1987)
Aladdin (1992), I already made an entire thread about the movie. Even the live action in 2019 had the same issues and failed to accurately represent arabs, instead they erased them.
Aladdin show “Seems Like Old Crimes” (1994) fatima
Aladdin “Some Enchanted Genie” (1994) eden
Aladdin (1994-1995) Mirage
Sadira in Aladdin (1994)
Hercules (1998)
Jackie the Jackal in Pain King vs cleopatra Kim Possible (2002)
Around the World in Eighty Days (2004)
Egyptian characters such as Jackie the Jackal, Toth-Ra and Nefir Hasenuf are always portrayed as villains who antagonize disney protagonist.
Disney's Learning Adventures: Mickey's Around the World in 80 Days: Seeing the World (2005)
The Emperor's New School “Citizen Kronk” (2006) Yzma
Wizards of waverly place “Little sister” (2008)
Princess and the frog (2009)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film) (2010)
Kickin it (2011-2015) Falafel Phil. Mockery of west asian women, stereotypes and racism. Him not being from a real place is a consistent issue.
Toth Ra in ducktales (2017)
Mickey Mouse Funhouse: Bottled Up (2021)
Mickey Mouse Funhouse: Donald's Razzle Dazzle Deal (2022) Jinn
West Asians and North Africans are erased from media and the issue isn’t going anywhere. The only representation we get is fictional, which completely erases us, our diverse cultures, and limit us to only our ancient history.
Egyptians are always portrayed during ancient Egypt times and west asians during the ottoman empire times is refusing to acknowledge that we actually exist and is racist because we were only “good brown” when it was in the past.
Disney is currently working on a new movie which is just a reimagining of 1001 nights, continuing with using elements of our cultures and treating us as fictional characters. deadline.com/2022/10/disney…
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