Stuart Hall`s (2009) Representation Theory and the Color Theory Application to the Arab Ethnic Representation and Stereotypes in Disney’s Animation Movie Aladdin (1992)

Abstract

With a world full of people comes a diversity of cultures. Movies are the passage made to help people in exploring the world easily since they are available for everyone, and most importantly, they are rich in signs, messages, and symbolism that give different information about the topic dealt with. This study falls under the semiotics of visual codes in movies by investigating the Arab ethnic stereotypes portrayed in Aladdin (1992) Disney animation movie. By implementing Stuart Hall's Theory of Representation (2009), aside with the Color theory, the study set four research questions in order to reveal how the moviemakers portrayed the Arab ethnic group using stereotypes, on the one hand, and the color symbolism, on the other. The results showed that Disney created multiple stereotypes regarding the different aspect which build up the Arab ethnicity. The Arabs were mostly associated with savagery, masculinity, and misogyny towards women. Also, the Arabs were depicted to be living an uncivilized life in which the strong had rights over the weak. Interestingly enough, these stereotypes seemed to decrease in use in the latest version of the movie Aladdin2019. Concerning the color analysis in the study, the results showed how colors were judiciously used to draw the status of the characters and their evolution throughout the storyline. More specifically, the cold colors were mostly associated with the good characteristics, the characters' high status, and lavish life. Conversely, warm colors were usedto refer to negative characteristics and poor life. Finally, the findings suggested that changes in Disney production`s outlook about the Arabs were possibly due to the audience reactions to the negative portrayal of the ethnic group, which made Disney reconsider the use of some stereotypes in the latest version of the movie.