One Thousand and One Nights

Part 1 - Aladdin is Chinese

Just before the new live adaptation of Aladdin by Disney, a polemic rose about the choice of Naomi Scott, an English actress of Indian origin for the role of Princess Jasmine. Many regretted this choice which rules out the possibility of putting forward an actress of Arab origin.

The reasons given by the studio are understandable (difficulties finding young actors who know how to play, dance and sing well) and their good faith seems sincere because Disney Studios have almost always employed dubbers from the countries presented in their animated films. In addition, from the Hollywood point of view, highlighting an Indian main actress is as rare as an actress of Arab origin, so they really took an additional risk in making this choice which can frustrate (quite understandably) the Arab population.

But another question arises under these conditions: must the studio absolutely continue to faithfully remake its old animated films?

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Part 2 - A history of adaptations

After studying Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, we will now see with Sinbad the Sailor that, since Antoine Galland who "resurrected" One Thousand and One Nights, the very essence of the tale is in its multi-cultural origins.

Now let's take a closer look at his second work in connection with China to discuss the usefulness of adaptations from Disney Studios.

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