b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2019-20mimics that which is dominated by Western culture. East. In conclusion, Disneys Aladdin - A Musical Genie is known through the discourse that DisneySpectacular propels this notion through the dichotomy of construct which benefits their ideological agenda and theirpresenting the Genie as Other, the ethnic slave to serve goal of making profit disguised as innocent entertainment.and entertain the Western audience; whilst simultaneously As Eddarif contends, the reality is that Disney eventuallydepriving him of his Otherness and lending the stage to a facilitates the claiming of Arab land and legitimizeswesternised version who is, in comparison, superior to the Western empire (Eddarif 2016: 61-62). Whilst Genie isfeminized Orient represented by Carpet. By acknowledging all-knowing, he lives within the constraints set by DisneysOrientalism as a cultural and political fact (Said 1997: 13), hegemonic cultural institution. The quick pace andit disallows denial of any continuing colonialist power as numerous references constitute them as not having specificit is deconstructed through postcolonial theory (Gilbert meaning encoded other than using the Genie as a means1996: 3). The political agenda of this theory has enabled me of centring the West. to critique Disney as a hegemonic institution and analyse the ways in which dominant ideology is instilled. I agreeAll showmen have support acts and Genies is Carpet.with Gilbert who writes on the affinity of postcolonial The audiences first encounter with Carpet is whentheory with feminist discourses, due to alterity, which has Aladdin is puzzled and asks the audience Does anyonefacilitated my analysis of Carpet. Postcolonial theory has speak carpet?- she is mute and communicates throughbeen critiqued by Marxist and material critics for its lack gesturing, often mimicking Genies body language of methodological structure (Gandhi 1998 : 167). It also exemplifying what Gilbert states, that in imperial history,doesnt address the capitalist goals behind Disney and so and theatre, the colonised subject has traditionally beenI claim it would be beneficial to analyse the performance figured as silent, in opposition to the linguistically adaptfrom a cultural materialist approach, especially considering coloniser in whose language is situated the key to authorityits purpose was to renew the parks image after it had not and knowledge (Gilbert 1996: 189). Carpet remains tomet expectations (Boehm 2003). Postcolonial analysis be objectified despite being personified. For example,demands a lot of background reading of context and during Friend like me, Carpet is used by the ensemblehistory as well as tracing the various palimpsest of to display tricks; Genie refers to his ability to make thisAladdin which deserves its own paper. The difficulty with object disappear in which Carpet descends into the stagethis is we can no longer speak of determinate histories immersed in smoke. Carpets costume is an orientalistof determinate structures (Ahmad in Gandhi 1998: 168) depiction with a vague mandala pattern and yellow tassels the challenge in consolidating ideas in relation to the on each corner, held by the actress in a star-shape. She sitscomplex history of colonisation which transcends beyond in Genies shadow. When he takes the space she is tuckedto physical and into ideology. Nonetheless I contend itaway in the back corner of the stage. I argue that theis an important theory, necessary in interrogating and signing of her gender and language intersect to positionoverturning the dominant ways of seeing the world and her in Spivaks dialogue Can the Subaltern Speak?:representing reality (McLeod 2000: 22).[T]he ideological construction of gender keeps the male dominant. If, in the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak, the sub-altern as female is even more deeply in shadow (Spivak in Eddarif 2016: 9). She is subject to the objectifying gaze of both male and coloniser. Carpet is therefore inferior, as the feminized Orient (Ueno 1997: 3) to Genie whos idealised whiteness is centred and signifies, what Hall refers to as the the West and the Rest. The discourse the West and the Rest, became the dominant way in which, for many decades, the West represented itself and its relation to the Other (Hall 2018: 93). In other words, the West comes to define itself by constructing a falsified image of the Orient thus,orienting it, placing itself as superior against the inferior 30'