the disney company was criticized for only producing movies featuring white characters. in response to this, from the 1980s, disney started producing movies such as pocahontas, mulan and aladdin, featuring non-white characters. aladdin was disney's first movie taking place in the middle east, with a non-white princess. nevertheless, the movie received a lot of criticism because of how the middle eastern people, places, and cultures were shown. many people protested to change the lyric of the song at the beginning of the film: “""where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home., since it described the middle east as a violent, scary, and barbaric place. the women were portrayed as integrally veiled, dressed in belly dancing-outfits, playing with bengal tigers. they were exoticized, and not in line with the reality. jasmine and aladdin, the main characters, speak with an american accent and have lighter skins than the villain jafar, who has an anglo-arab accent.