In the Disney animated film "Aladdin," Princess Jasmine is not specifically identified as Indian. Instead, the fictional city of Agrabah is presented as a fantasy setting in the Middle East, and Jasmine is depicted as a Middle Eastern princess.
While some claim Jasmine is Arab because the movie opens with a song called Arabian Nights, others believe that the architecture in Agrabah is clearly based on the Taj Mahal, making Jasmine Indian. It's a debate that has fueled speculation that in Hollywood, Indians and Arabs are interchangeable.
However, while the fact that the princess is Middle Eastern is considered to be "a breakthrough," at the same time the characteristics of both Jasmine and Aladdin have been met with controversy; observers widely criticized the characters for being Westernized and Anglicized.
Most species of jasmine grown today were originally native to tropical Asia and parts of China. The jasmines that can be grown as houseplants are tropical or subtropical vines or subshrubs grown for their fragrance.
Mena Massoud (Aladdin) is Egyptian, Nasim Pedrad (Jasmine's handmaiden) and Navid Negahban (the Sultan) are Iranian and Marwan Kenzari (Jafar) is Tunisian. Interestingly though, Naomi Scott (Jasmine) is a British actress whose mom is Ugandan with Indian decent, neither of which are Middle Eastern.
Most people consider Aladdin to be set somewhere in the Middle East. Ron Clements and John Musker, the directors of the 1992 film, said in 2015 that the movie was originally intended to be set in Baghdad, Iraq.
If Ritchie's film was based on the original story, the entire cast would be Chinese - apart from the sorcerer, who would be North African - but as it's said to be a faithful remake of Disney's animation, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine should really be Middle Eastern or South Asian, despite the film not being an authentic ...
Common jasmine, or poet's jasmine (Jasminum officinale), native to Iran, produces fragrant white flowers that are the source of attar of jasmine used in perfumery.
The original Arabic folk tale of Aladdin was originally set in China, specifically an Islamic city in China (most likely an Uyghur kingdom in the Xinjiang region). As revealed in "Do the Rat Thing", the Sultan rarely leaves the palace.
And he's no foreigner abroad either: he's a native Chinese boy, not an Arabian youth who's ended up in China. (Nor is he an orphan: in the earliest versions of the story, Aladdin is not an orphaned street urchin but a lazy boy living at home with his mother.)
She is also the first princess who is from the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia. She is the second princess to have her own television series, the first being Ariel. She is also the first princess who is from the Hellenistic Era (Ancient Greece) as it is confirmed in the Hercules crossover with Aladdin.
In 1992, we got Aladdin's Princess Jasmine, she of indeterminate Middle Eastern heritage, but it's taken another 23 years to give us our first Latina princess.
In the collection of tales recorded around the 15th century in Arabic, and which comprise "The Thousand and One Nights" or "Arabian Nights," Aladdin and Jasmine were actually residents of Baghdad, Iraq, a city widely considered a center for Arab culture and civilization.
She comes from the South Asian-inspired Kingdom of Sherabad, which Jafar wanted to conquer to expand Agrabah. She also is mentioned to have been the victim of murder, which caused her husband to keep their daughter inside the palace for protection.
So it may come as a surprise to many to learn that Aladdin and his princess might actually be Chinese. In the original story, Aladdin is born to a poor tailor in “the capital of one of China's vast and wealthy kingdoms”.
The original story of 'Aladdin' is, maybe surprisingly, set in China. In the earliest versions of the story, Aladdin is Chinese. He's also not an orphaned street urchin but a lazy boy living at home with his mother. All the characters in the tale are also Chinese apart from the wicked magician who is from North Africa.
The original Aladdin story was actually set in China. Aladdin is one of the stories compiled in The Thousand and One Nights — a collection of Middle Eastern and Indian folk tales, however, it did not appear in the original Arabic text. It was added by a French translator.
The name Jasmine is of Persian origin, meaning ”gift from God." It is derived from the Persian word ”yasmin,” referring to the plant, meaning "fragrant flower." Origin: Jasmine is a Persian name meaning "gift from God" or "fragrant flower."
After Aladdin tells Jasmine the story of the Star of Persia, they decide to find the jewel. Princess Jasmine discovers that she is wise, kind, fair, and special—just like the queen who once owned the precious jewel.
The common name "Arabian jasmine" leads us to believe the plant originates from Arab regions, yet it is native to the Himalayas. It most likely picked up the "Arabian" moniker as it made its way from its native Asia to be cultivated in Arabian and Persian gardens and then eventually introduced to Europe.
The casting call for Aladdin asked specifically for Middle Eastern actors and performers, and the company ultimately decided on Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud in the title role, and Indian-British actress Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine.
3. Aladdin doesn't come from Agrabah. In the both Galland's text and Richard Burton's popular 1885 English translation, Aladdin lives “in a city of the cities in China.” Illustrations of the tales from the Victorian era depict the story and its characters as Chinese.
On Oct. 15, Disney Plus introduced a new disclaimer that appears before older films like Dumbo (1941) and Aladdin (1992), warning viewers that the films include harmful stereotypes. The new message replaces the one that came with the original launch of Disney Plus late last year.
