No Magic in ‘Aladdin’s’ Offensive Lyrics

There’s no arguing with success, is there? Disney Studios’ award-winning hit “Aladdin” is the first animated feature to gross more than $200 million.

Well, profits aside, there is something to argue about. At the very start, a cartoon narrator sings:

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.

The narrator’s shrugged, smiling message? All Arabs are merciless, violent and cruel.

Whether you’re Arab-American or not, have you told your child it’s only a cartoon?

Sometimes the only way to realize something’s wrong is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. We apologize to anyone who may be offended by the following parodies of this lyric. Our goal isn’t to perpetuate ethnic distortions but to eliminate them.

Imagine an equally masterful cartoon feature, dealing with a different culture, like American Indians. The story begins with one singing:

Oh, I come from the wide-open spaces out West

Where the Indian ponies roam.

Where they scalp you dead if they don’t like your head.

It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.

Or it’s Latin America, and a Latino character shrugs:

Oh, I come from a land where they sleep in the sun

And the gangs of bandidos roam.

Where they hang you in jail, if you don’t have the bail.

It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.

Or it’s the Holy Land, and a Jewish or Israeli character smiles:

Oh, I come from a land where religion is law

And the prophets and rabbis roam.

Where they stone you to death if you question the faith.

It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.

There’s no more truth to that than the “Aladdin” lyric about someone cutting off your ear if they don’t like your face.

Plain and simple, the lyric was thoughtless and in bad taste. Yet, despite the fact that the composer had written alternate lyrics, the studio let it remain.

There’s still time to dub in those alternate lyrics before “Aladdin” comes out on video (“Discount Magic May Drop ‘Aladdin’ to $13 in October,” Calendar, April 30)--or any other configuration. It would take very little time or money and would make great publicity for Disney, let alone help correct the damage done to an entire ethnic group.

Other, more subtle slants remain. For example, shouldn’t all these Arab characters, including the heroes, Aladdin and Jasmine, have similar accents? As the film stands now, American filmgoers from all ethnic groups hear the good guys speak only standard American English--while most bad guys growl in Old World accents. (Unfortunately, this has gone on for years in our movies and cartoons.)

If Disney chooses to do nothing about “Aladdin’s” negative stereotyping, the film will surely continue to be successful. But at what cost? And to whom?

If Disney chooses, instead, to make a few changes in the name of fairness, it will set a resounding precedent for the rest of the industry. And no one will argue with that kind of success.