#this isn't super detailed n other people can explain better but yh

[yangzhouman]

not meant to be rude but why do you say that aladdin post is bad? thank you

hey this isn’t rude at all dw

i guess the post looks like it’s saying the right things, when it talks about representation of arab actors in aladdin. accurate, meaningful representation is something we need and should want!

except aladdin doesn’t call for “arab” actors, because it isn’t a wholly arab story. the disney version conflated a load of suitably “ethnic” references from across asia (Agrabah etc) and so it would be v v fitting to have south asian actors cast in the film.

i think OP had their heart in the right place but lmao it’s kinda bad reading it knowing that whilst disney and other western coorporations may see brown people as one ambiguous source of exoticism, we have our own colorism and racism to tangle. really like how OP singles out “indians and pakistanis” as people to not be confused for “middle eastern”, when there’s a clear precedent of south asians being degraded by arabs. they’re treated badly, seen as lower, less beautiful, etc. there’s a whole history there

so yeah, the post looks ok on the surface, but misses a lot of nuance. the author probably has their own racial biases that they unwittingly revealed in their desire to separate themselves from desis. hope that helps

#Anonymous #this isn't super detailed n other people can explain better but yh #answered