Is Aladdin really Chinese? How Hollywood invented the tale’s Middle Eastern identity
- The original story was set in China and added to the first European version of the Arabian Nights folk story collection in the 19th century
- When Hollywood put the story on the silver screen from the 1920s onwards, it became more Middle Eastern
“Aladdin”, the classic tale of the plucky boy and his magic lamp, is known and loved by children and adults across the globe.
In books and films, Aladdin is often depicted wearing a turban or fez and baggy, Middle Eastern-style harem pants, flying on his magic carpet with his princess, who is dressed in what could pass as a belly dancer’s outfit.
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 Chinese setting of the story, however, has in most recent iterations, notably the Disney animated film of 1992, been almost entirely rewritten. And in Disney’s new live-action film, due for release in May, the omission is likely to be perpetuated.
Even before its release, the film – and how Aladdin is portrayed in it – set social media aflutter. Rumours circulated online that Disney had difficulty finding an actor to play Aladdin, which critics said perfectly signalled Hollywood’s diversity problem. Commentators pointed to Bollywood, the world’s biggest film industry, in which hundreds of talented actors who could pass for Aladdin sing and dance in thousands of films each year, as an obvious pool of talent.
