Episode 21 - Aladdin (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992) (with Steve Henderson)
Aladdin (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1992).
The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!
In Episode 21, Chris and Alex are joined by Steve Henderson - Editor of the Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and Director of the Manchester Animation Festival, and Senior Lecturer in Animation at the Manchester School of Art - to discuss the Disney animated musical Aladdin (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992). With the live-action/CG remake soon to hit cinema screens, this episode provides the perfect opportunity to revisit what has made this popular cel-animated fantasy so enduring among audiences. Expect all your wishes granted as the conversation turns to reflexivity and narration, the Disney Renaissance, star voices and vocal artistry, the film’s use of digital visual effects, Orientalist discourse and the representation of ‘Otherness,’ and even the Gulf War. You’ve never had a friend like this podcast!
Suggested Readings
Amidi, Amid. 2018. “‘Aladdin’ Writer Unhappy That He Was Excluded From And Not Paid For Disney’s Live-Action Remake”. Cartoonbrew (October 15, 2018), available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/aladdin-writer-unhappy-that-he-was-excluded-and-unpaid-for-disneys-live-action-remake-165286.html.
Butler, David. 2009. Fantasy Cinema: Impossible Worlds on Screen. London: Wallflower Press.
Felperin, Leslie. 1997. “The Thief of Buena Vista: Disney’s Aladdin and Orientalism.” In A Reader in Animation Studies, ed. Jayne Pilling, 137-142. London: John Libbey.
Pierson, Michele. 2002. Special Effects: Still in Search of Wonder. Columbia: Columbia University Press.
Stewart, James B. 2008. Disneywar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom. New York: Simon & Schuster.