The sheer comedic genius of Robin Williams still stands the test of time in all of his works. Anyone who glances over his career is sure to point a finger at 1992’s animated gem Aladdin and yap for hours on end about how the Genie is one of the best secondary characters in Disney. Though, we could argue that he stole the show and is the biggest word associated with the flick.
As iconic as his voice was, the character design of Genie himself was a standout. The guy looks like Robin Williams drenched in blue! It wasn’t the only striking feature in Disney’s animation style, however. Aladdin had a very distinct and unique flavor… Take a good look at any scene and you’ll question, “Why is everything so curvy?”
As limited as the straight lines are in this timeless masterpiece, there is something, owing to this style, that perhaps hasn’t aged as well and was a huge talking point back in the day- Jasmine and her curves.
The hullabaloo over Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin
Aside from great secondary characters, memorable voice performances, and snappy tunes, Aladdin brought with it some controversy most notably over Jasmine. Though she was Disney’s first princess of Color, Jasmine wasn’t necessarily seen as a heroine by many.
For one, despite the Middle Eastern orientation, Jasmine was deemed “Whitewashed”- drawn in an Anglicized manner fit for the male gaze. Adding fuel to the fire was also the fact that her clothing wasn’t necessarily in line with the religious standards of the Middle Eastern theme the movie was based on.
A White voice actor, for what was Disney’s first step towards more inclusivity in animation, was met with even more criticism when Jasmine’s waist came into the picture. While Disney has, in its recent animated works, moved away from the ‘drawn for the male gaze’ characters, this princess finds herself stamped in the long list of Disney’s controversial moves.
While the overtly curvy nature of her waist was considered blasphemous, it’s not owing to sexism that she finds herself so snatched. That actually has to do with Disney’s artistic rule for the film.
Disney’s “Curve”ball for Aladdin
In the documentary (A Diamond in the Rough) that followed the making of the 1992 hit, it was revealed that the artists loved caricaturist Al Hirschfeld’s works. His works boasted curvy lines and sweeping strokes, something that Disney used a launchpad for their art-style.
In the 2004 DVD bonus feature, The Art of Aladdin, Ron Clements (co-director) mentioned-
One of the principle rules of the movie (as seen in the note to the artists) is “Avoid Straight Lines”.
The note further detailed, “Rendering can seem to straighten your drawing, so push to get ‘s’ curves and broad arcs in your line drawing.”
John Musker (co-director) went on to detail how the characters were treated as simple shapes and none of them boast straight lines, but rather a curvilinear shape. And this is why the movie still lingers in our minds.
Not just Robin Williams‘ performance of a lifetime as Genie, but how his curves were in sync with the world drawn around him, only to be complemented by the groovy and slithery tunes to set up an Arabian night feeling.
Hop on the magic carpet ride with the animated feature and the live-action remake of Aladdin, available to stream on Disney+.
