The Misrepresentation of Middle Eastern Women in Western Media and Fiction Aladdin 2019 vs. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp 1909
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Date
2021
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UNIVERSITY OF ABBES LAGHROUR-KHENCHELA
Abstract
Abstract
Western representations of Arabs and Muslims are not a recent fabrication; they have
been operational and deeply ingrained in Western conceptions from the earliest interactions
with Arabs and Muslims. Centuries later, in the time of Globalization, live audio-visual images
on the big screen and television went beyond a thousand words in propagating these orientalist
preconceptions and clichés. Our thesis focuses on Hollywood's projection of negative portrayals
on Arabs, particularly women based on the study of a Disney movie and its original book; it
shows how moviemakers are led to believe that all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims are
Arabs and thus project their cultural and biased ideologies on screens, theyhave twisted the
original lenses of the book and showed Arab women on films as moresexualized and
objectified.The thesis therefore compares the stereotypes found in the original book 1909 with
its 2019 movie adaptation. And the conclusions suggest that stereotypes are evident in films
more than books and are detrimental to Middle Eastern women.Finally, the research
approach used for this thesis comprises a qualitative descriptive study using a content analysis
design that necessitates the use of movie scenes as well as book passages and conversations as a
tool. To ensure the validity of our research findings, we have conducted a psychoanalytic study
based on the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. We have selected one movie from
2019 that received international awards and its book from 1909 as a corpus of our research;
weexamined them both in terms of cultural values and political plus ideological themes that the
west seeks to transmit to a global audience.