Racist Disney

As a child, I loved watching Disney films that always had some kind of love story involved. I was always intrigued by the music and how it fit so well in with the whole story. As a child, I sang along to these songs without knowing the true meaning behind the image Disney was portraying. I never realized the racism in Disney films.
I feel that as a child growing up I looked down on Arab's because of the film Aladin. Subconsciously, I had this negative view on the Arab people and I was scared of them. In Aladin, they were portrayed as dark, mysterious people who had to cover themselves with turbines, to commit crimes around the town. Now the city I live in is dominated by Caucasians and growing up I didn't see too many Arab's. This portrayal of Arab's was the way I viewed them in society when I was a kid. They were the bad guys with the weird accents. And although Jasmine and Aladin were both Arab, I for some reason did not picture them as one of them. Like the article states Aladin and Jasmine did not have an accent and therefore I separated them from the Arab group.They were Americanized and viewed as better people in the film.

The song "Arabian Nights" also emphasized the darkness of the Arab people and shifted my views as a child. I may have not really listened to the lyrics but when I watched Aladin continuously as a kid, I probably could figure out what they were so saying. Or it was a positive or negative connotation. The part when it says "Oh I come from a land/From a faraway place/where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear/ If they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." I can still sing this song in my head today, matching the rhythm of the song. I know how it exactly goes in which part of the movie. It really shows the power of Disney films and how it can shape your mind about different cultures. As a kid we don't know what is going on and Disney films play a huge role in teaching kids about different societies and races. I feel we have to be more attentive to what we show to kids because they subconsciously take in all the hidden messages in films, advertisements and movies.