Animated Film Aladdin

One of the most successful animated feature films in recent years is the Walt Disney company's Aladdin, featuring the voice of the popular Robin Williams as the Genie. The film in its short life has existed in two versions, and the difference between those versions says something about the fantasy element as promulgated in the film, however unintentionally. The theatrical release of the film contained some lyrics in the opening song that Arab groups saw as prejudiced, and the company acquiesced and changed the lyrics for the video release and all subsequent releases. Yet, the film depends greatly on certain ideas about Arabia, stereotypes from earlier films more than from any examination of the real Arabia, historical or otherwise.

Rhetorical Claim: Aladdin plays to the desire on the part of the audience to see good triumph over evil and to see the hero and heroine united in a happy ending.

The film will be analyzed using Fantasy-theme Criticism, as created by Ernest G. Bormann. The purpose of this critical framework is to provide insights into the shared world view of groups of rhetors. The method was developed from the work of Robert Bales and his associates who studied communication in small groups, and they discovered the process of group fantasizing or dramatizing as a type of communication that occurs in small groups. Extending this into a theory, Bormann created symbolic convergence theory and the method of fantasy-theme criticism that can be applied to stu

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shared world view on the part of a large number of its viewers. Clearly, the film was speaking to something in these people and fulfilling some communication need within them. The popularity of the film shows shared fantasies, and the response of the audience at various screenings shows shared fantasies, all being addressed by the elements in this film. CODING FOR FANTASY THEMES This coding is to take place in terms of the three dramatic elements of setting, character, and action themes. Settings: The settings for this film are the desert, exotic bazaars, a minaret-topped castle, and a deep and magical underground cavern. These indicate where the action takes place in this film, though they are not real places nor are intended to be taken as real places. For one thing, this is an animated film, and though it might be based on real locations, it does no more than evoke a sense of what real locations might be like. In addition, these locations are drawn from mythology rather than reality. There is a desert in Arabia, but the desert in this film is only the idea of a desert and not a real desert. The underground cavern is a "fantasy" in the more traditional sense, and the castle is also the idea of a castle as evoked fro

Category: Film - A