this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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For me it's Dragon Ball Z, that was a pretty fucked up show tbh.

Like holy shit, all the characters are terrible people except maybe Gohan and Trunks.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Disney's Aladdin is pretty racist in that ”if you steal, we'll cut off your hand” depiction of Middle Eastern society, and it never questions whether having a monarch who lives in a massive palace and forces his daughter to get married is actually bad.

Plus, when Aladdin becomes Prince Ali, the song says he has slaves cringe

[–] [email protected] 83 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Aladdin's first instinct upon gaining access to incredible cosmic power was to catfish a sheltered underaged girl.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I instantly remembered that back and forth dueling choirs "both sides equally right and wrong" song. centrist

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There's a much worse song that is just straight up about how the indigenous people are "barely even human". That's a line in the song! There's also the moment where Pocahontas first realizes there's white people invading and she's all crawling around on the ground like an animal trying to spy on them.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a much worse song that is just straight up about how the indigenous people are "barely even human". That's a line in the song!

It's pretty obvious the audience isn't supposed to agree with that. It's still bad in how it both sides's it, but the point of that line is to depict the people saying it as bad and racist.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Oh I know, but kids just latch onto things and sing them everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Working in kitchens I have done that song both with sandwiches and sausages in place of the yeeeah

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you my old coworker? We used to sing "sandwiches sandwiches, can I get a Reuben?"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That’s the same song I think, in fact the “barely even human” line is said both by the white villain about the indigenous and also by the indian chief about the whites. It was definitely both sidesing in a shitty way.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I may be missrememberig but shouldnt aladdin be from china? Isnt the only middle eastern guy the wizard, because in the tropes the evil wizard is persian, maybe the djin is also middle eastern?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's sort of a medley of the middle east, India, and central Asia. Very 19th century orientalism.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

The original story takes place in China, but I think I've heard that it's used by the creators as a shorthand for a faraway, unknown place. The Disney movie was originally set in Baghdad but it was changed to a fictional country. Still pretty awful either way, with all the inaccurate stuff drawn from countries outside of the Middle East on top of the racism.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The story comes from the north west part of China. Yes, that part. Same as Mulan though actually.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You would think that. Because they are muslim. And he marries a petty kings daugther insted of the emperors daugther.

But there are muslims all over china and there were even more before an lushans revelion. i always figured they were raiding zhou zhengs mausoleum and as such it would be set in shaanxi.

Wich put things in perspective whoever was the original owner of the main djin built a great empire, and while aladin also becomes king his ambitions seem more reduced.