Talking Colour
Point out to students that when talk about people, words like “White” and “Black” that don’t really match the colours of people’s skin but describe where their families came from. “White” mostly means people whose families came from Europe and “Black” mostly means people whose families came from Africa, either directly or from places like the Caribbean where many people from Africa live. People from other parts of the world are usually described with where they’re from, like “East Asian,” “Indigenous” or “Middle Eastern,” not with colours.
Ask students:
Do you know where the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp came from? (Arabia, where today there are countries include Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Oman.)
Does the actor who plays Aladdin in this movie look like he came from there? (No. He has very pale skin and in fact was from France.)
Have they seen the Disney version of “Aladdin”? If so, does the main character look like he came from Arabia? (He definitely looks much more like he is Middle Eastern.)
Why might the Disney version be more accurate when it comes to how the characters look, even though it’s a cartoon? (Point out that it was made much more recently. It’s not considered okay anymore to have White actors play non-White characters.)
Are there any actors (not characters) in the movie who are clearly not White? (The servants who bring treasure at 6 minutes 30 seconds.)
How are their characters different from the others? (They have much simpler costumes, with just skirts and bare chests. They only appear as servants to Aladdin.)
How do you think you might feel, if you saw a movie where the only people who looked like you were shown that way?
