Princess Jasmine is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin. She is the independent and rebellious princess of Agrabah, a Middle Eastern kingdom ruled by her father, the Sultan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The DARK TRUTH About Jasmine In Aladdin | Disney Theory
Which Disney Princess is Arab?
Jasmine debuted in Aladdin (1992) as the Princess of Agrabah, daughter of the Sultan. Frustrated with constantly having decisions made for her and being pressured into marrying a prince by law, Jasmine disguises herself as a peasant and escapes the palace.
While the voice cast of the 1992 movie was entirely white, the live-action film boasts a diverse cast. Mena Massoud, who plays Aladdin, was born in Cairo, Naomi Scott (Jasmine) is of Anglo-Indian descent, Numan Acar (Hakim) is Turkish, and Nasim Pedrad (Dalia) and Navid Negahban (The Sultan) are Iranian.
Galland's Aladdin story is explicitly set in China, but the world it describes doesn't seem to match up with the real place. “The characters live in a society defined by Muslim practices,” says Horta.
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”.
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.
About this DVD: Mulan is a young Chinese woman who breaks tradition and joins the Imperial army, accompanied by her guardian dragon, Mushu, to battle an invading army. In Mulan 2, Mulan and Shang are engaged to be married and must journey to a distant city in a valiant quest to save their beloved empire.
Mena Massoud (Aladdin) is Egyptian, Nasim Pedrad (Jasmine's handmaiden) and Navid Negahban (the Sultan) are Iranian and Marwan Kenzari (Jafar) is Tunisian.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
4. When Jafar tries to manipulate the Sultan into letting him marry Jasmine, the Sultan makes a remark that Jafar is "so old". Granted, he is most likely younger than the Sultan, but old enough for it to be considered wrong for him to marry a fifteen-year-old girl. Again, no actual age is ever given.
Princess Ananya, has been confirmed by the team, but they have also added that it's quite in the early stages and the team isn't even close to launching her. Having grown up with Ariel, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Snow White, having a Disney Indian princess is a big step towards cultural representation.
“Jasmine is called a “Muslim Princess” by some sources though the movie draws heavily from multiple cultures, including a lot of Indian influences (her father wears a turban which is usually a Sikh tradition, though some Muslim men do wear turbans so it doesn't necessarily indicate a specific belief or origin?).
The rise of our current era of big names plastered over animated film posters has been traced back to Robin Williams in the 1992 Aladdin. And it's that same Aladdin that gives Tom Cruise a connection — albeit a loose one — to animation: he was actually a model for the main character.
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.
BuzzFeed views Snow White as a German woman, and suggests that a "historically accurate" Snow White would have been raised within the "austere and religious" culture of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century.
They were given an official number in the franchise line-up based on the chronological order in which their films were released, starting with Snow White as the first and original Disney Princess, with Cinderella being the second, followed by Aurora and so on.
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.
In the original movie, Jasmine gets enslaved by Sorcerer Jafar, who seems to have forced her into a cleavage-baring red outfit with a bandeau top and hip-hugging pants. While clad in this ensemble, Jasmine pretends to be in love with Jafar to help Aladdin sneak by.
She has olive skin, high cheekbones, brown eyes with full eyelashes, and straight, lush hair reaching her thighs. Jasmine's casual outfit was designed to be simple, resembling that of Arabian Harem women.
