English 101
11/08/15
What the Cover of Aladdin really tells us. What is the purpose of all movie covers? To grab a certain audience’s attention and make them as interested as possible in that movie so they feel a need to buy it. Disney’s covers sole purpose is to attract a younger audience. They are constantly using different symbols, colors and images that appeal to that young audience. Disney is very well known for their creations of magical worlds and faraway places that children only dream of, and they use that to their advantage by putting a those images on the covers of their movies. By doing this they are almost telling the whole story before anyone have even seen it. They use the concepts of love, adventure, and good triumphing over evil to automatically attract the eyes of young children. Disney uses these symbols and images to create those concepts so at that moment a little girl or boy who sees the cover of that movie immediately begin to beg their parents to get them that movie. In this paper I will be analyzing the movie cover of Disney’s Aladdin. To see how Disney uses their covers you have to know what story is being told. In movie Aladdin, Aladdin is poor boy who lives on the streets but dreams of living in the royal palace. One day in the market he meets a girl and who he instantly falls in love with, and shortly after finds out that she is the Princess of Agrabath. Knowing that Jasmine and he could never be together unless he was a prince, Aladdin gets the help of his friends Abu, Genie and the magic carpet. They help Aladdin achieve his happily ever after with the princess and avoid Jefar and his parrot Iago’s evil plans to take over the palace and marry Jasmine. All of this is represented on the cover of this movie which effectively draws the eyes of young viewers. One of the biggest desires young children have is to see how good will always defeat evil. In order for them to see how that is going to happen the cover must clearly show who is evil and who is good. Disney does this by using colors and the expressions on the characters face. For example the bad guy or villain will be in a darker part of the cover and will have an unhappy look on their face. While the good guy or hero will be in a brighter and more inviting part of the cover with smiles or looks or endearment on their faces. This helps the audience make a clear decision on who the hero or good guy in the story will be and who the bad guy is. Color will help emphasize whether a character is good or bad. On the cover of Aladdin if you look at Jefar we see that he is in black robe with red highlights and Iago’s feathers are all red, giving them a more evil and dark look to them. We also see that Jefar is holding his fist in the air with a look of rage on his face. These dark colors and look on Jefar’s face are instantly associated with the ange,r which promotes the fact that Jefar and Iago are evil. On the other hand, Aladdin and Jasmine are in bright vivid colors, such as blue, purple, yellow, and green. They are also seen smiling, which gives them a happy, more innocent look. Disney uses these color schemes to differentiate the good characters from the evil characters. From this, children will assume that since Aladdin is happy and vividly colored he will be the hero and will win verses Jefar, who has a dark and evil look, so they automatically decide that he is a villain or the bad guy so he has to lose. Where each character is placed is also important when depicting good and evil. On the cover of Aladdin we see that Jefar and Iago are placed in the bottom corner of the cover with upset looks on their faces while Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Genie are seen on a magic carpet flying high above Jefar with happy and loving looks on their faces. Now because Aladdin and his friend are placed here it gives a safe and comfortable look to it and gives it that romantic look that foreshadows the happily ever after at the end of the movie. Also because Aladdin and his friends are above Jefar and Iago it makes them look like they have beaten them already, which directly correlates with good triumphing over evil both in a metaphoric way and a literal way. Children also look to feel that sense of security, and protection. Where characters are placed again plays a huge part in this. When we look at the cover again we see how Aladdin is surrounded by his friends Abu and Jasmine all riding on their friend magic carpet and of course Genie who is flying is right above them, and all of them are smiling and as happy as could be. The way they are placed gives them a happy and warm feeling. Genie plays a big part here because as we can see, Genie looks bigger than Aladdin and is smiling down on him giving the concept of protection. Children also gather that there is security in friends so Aladdin being surrounded with friends on the cover fills their need to be safe and comforted. Love is also greatly used in Disney cover especially in Aladdin. In every dream come true happily ever after there is a love story behind it. In Aladdin the love story is between Aladdin and Jasmine. Again where these characters are placed is also a big part of the cover; our eyes are automatically drawn to them because they are near the center of the cover. With this placement we can see Jasmine right next to Aladdin on the magic carpet, looking at him with love and admiration. This fills that love story sensation of the cover and this will also help give children that feeling of happily ever after. Then there is magic! Kids are crazy for the idea of magic it gives them that sense of wonder and amazement, and Aladdin’s cover does a beautiful job of portraying these intense feelings. Genie flies through the air with Magic Carpet where he is holding a mysterious lamp. We can also see the wispy tail that Genie has with a trail of sparkles following him. This gives the feeling of excitement and wonder, which children love. It also helps add that adventurous part of the story because with Genie in the picture it gives that “anything is possible” look to the cover and with him anything is possible. This character gives life to every child’s dream of a magical adventure with a mystical being with powers far beyond our own, which is a sure way to catch the eyes of children across the globe because this is the idea that they hold closest. From colors to the placement of each character Disney manipulates the young mind of children to make there cover of Aladdin irresistible. They use every idea and concept of love, friendship, magic and good over evil to captivate and fascinate their targeted audience making them unable to contain themselves from wanting that movie. In the cover of Aladdin Disney manages to portray a story of good verse evil, a magical adventure, and a feeling of security for the heroes in the story. The desire children have for that perfect, bright and happy world Disney is able to fill and create all of that with use of bright colors, happy faces and careful positioning and placement of each character.
CITATIONS
Muskers, John, dir. Aladdin. Disney 1992. Film.