My Writings

Summary of the “Dark Side of the Nights”

Sofia Tartakovskaya

9/19/2022

Long Summary of The Dark Side of the Nights by Robert Irwin

Who would have thought the story Aladdin is based around would have such bad messages? The Dark Side of the Nights by Robert Irwin explains how the story of the Arabian Nights displays all the wonders of the world, like manipulation, dishonesty, adultery, racism, sexism and more. He states that “the innocence of pre-modern fantasy is precisely a fantasy”, and thus it is not out of the ordinary for books and stories of the past to have racial and misogynistic prejudices, just because of how religion and society was in the past. The bizarre story of the nights takes advantage of this and includes sexual narrations of black slaves committing adultery and bringing shame and bad connotations to the race as a whole. Many other Arabic stories are similar to the Arabian nights in this way, describing black skin and really anyone that didn’t look like them as ugly, dirty, and uneducated. Though these were pretty consistent with the views of the past, Irwin explicates how “the racist abuse has been heightened or [even] invented” in the more recent translations of the Arabian Nights like in English and French, because of the claim of ‘westernized views’ and the desire to make stories more interesting and relevant. In modern times, most people equate racism to have started in the Modern West, and there are not many western books to prove otherwise because it wasn’t as controversial and what everyone found entertaining at the time. The story of the Arabian Nights on the other hand used these topics  in order to draw in readers and fascinate, as opposed to ignoring and normalizing it like others have done in the past.

150 Word Summary of The Dark Side of the Nights by Robert Irwin

The Dark Side of the Nights by Robert Irwin explains how the story of the Arabian Nights displays all the wonders of the world, like manipulation, dishonesty, adultery, racism, sexism and more. It is not out of the ordinary for books and stories of the past to have racial and misogynistic prejudices, just because of how religion and society was in the past. The bizarre story of the nights takes advantage of this factor and includes sexual narrations of black slaves commiting adultery and bringing shame and bad connotations to the race as a whole. Many other Arabic stories are similar to the Arabian Nights in this way, describing black skin as well as really anyone that didn’t look like them as ugly, dirty, and uneducated. The story of the Arabian Nights prospers off its use of controversial subjects and prejudiced views in order to advance this bizarre story along.

150 Character Summary of The Dark Side of the Nights by Robert Irwin

This article illustrates how Arabian Nights examines common interactions like manipulation, dishonesty, sexism, etc. and how problematic it really is.

Reflection on Summary vs Paraphrase:

The difference between summarizing and paraphrasing is how you look at the text. The point of summarizing is to shorten a whole text into a digestible excerpt. When you are paraphrasing, there should be no details left out and the entire meaning of each sentence should still come across in the writing. I think paraphrasing personally helps me understand the text better because it forces me to not look over any details and understand the whole meaning of each word and sentence connected to the context. Summarizing is still very important and helpful, especially when reading long texts in order to remember the point and quickly understand what the text was talking about, I just feel like they are used for different purposes.

In Other Words… Haddawy’s Arabian Nights

By Sofia Tartakovskaya

09/11/22

1.
“So has the drab fabric of life been transformed into the gossamer of romance, as these stories.” (Haddawy, page X)

– With these stories, the dreadful reality of our life changes into anything we could ever imagine. 

-These stories are like out-of-reach dreams that life will never really have.

-The romantic life you seek is found within the stories of the past, with your reality no longer in view.

“And the road to truth is, like the road to fairyland, fraught with perils and requires an innocent suspension of disbelief in the self and what it creates.” (Haddawy, page XXIX)

-To express the truth, you have to let people see the journey of how you got there with all its hardships and conquests to follow.

-To expose the exact meaning you wish to portray, the doubt that you generate in the self is principal to understanding.

-Believing entirely in something is difficult and will come with many challenges, but surrendering to the truth and its outcomes is how you comprehend reality.

2.

Paraphrasing the sentences helped me look in depth to what every word means and the connotation behind it, which was very helpful for understanding the context. Having to rewrite the sentence in 3 different ways made me think about the different meanings behind how I phrase things. Because there are infinite possibilities to phrasing something, there is no correct way, but one word could offset the whole tone of the sentence. I tried to show off the examples in different ways for each rewrite like: through the person’s view, looking at the sentence objectively, exaggerating the greatness of the author’s view and more. Writing these in each of these separate ways helped me look at all different perspectives to get the true understanding within the context.

My Thoughts on Rereading Sources Multiple Times

For class we had to read the Said article 3 times, which had both some benefits and disadvantages in my opinion. Because the article is so complex and there are a lot of different parts to it, I feel like I did catch some things I missed and understood the tone of the writing a bit more. Especially with the excessive sarcasm, it is hard to catch what exactly Said means in his text, but after rereading it a few times I feel like I gained a better understanding. On the other hand, by the third time we started reading I felt myself losing interest in the text and paying less attention to it. Regardless of the text, if you read something enough times it starts to honestly just get annoying and repetitive, which I feel like lessened the experience. That being said, there are many instants where rereading the text a few times helps the person understand a lot more than if they just read it once.

The Problematic Side to Aladdin

Sofia Tartakovskaya- 09/20/2022

It was hard to elaborate for the full 15 minutes based on what we thought was really good or well done, but the discussion group agreed that for the time that it was made, it was pretty good production value. This is a children’s story so it gave us all nostalgia, but as I started paying more attention to the plot I noticed so much more. The interactions between all the characters I think was really well done, and I liked the banter between the Genie and everyone. The Genie’s character helped push along the whole story with his spunked out personality, and the story made the Genie have all the power. Whoever had the lamp would have the power to do whatever they want, so everyone fought over the lamp.

There are a lot of problematic things with the movie Aladdin. Disney created the first Disney Princess of color but basically made her complacent and not be able to change anything. The city of Agrabah was still starving and homeless but the movie was mostly based around the princess being saved by a random person she met stealing food. Both Aladdin and Jasmine met under dishonest circumstances and only found out the full truth later in the movie. The lying is problematic because it shows that they didn’t actually know each other fully and fell in love with each other under false pretenses. Throughout the whole movie, Jasmine just kept having problems and being taken and lied to, not only by Aladdin but also her father and Jafar, the movie’s Villain. Though he didn’t get far, Jafar tries to force Jasmine to be in love with him with the magic of the Genie, which is just one of the many ways the Genie and she could have been taken advantage of. If it wasn’t a kids movie, a villain with magic powers would have done a lot more damage than try to marry the princess. The ruler of the country was easily manipulated and taken under control of the villain, so he could have done a lot of stuff with that, but instead just tried to marry the princess. I think this movie is made for kids because it doesn’t go very in depth with story or character development. The problematic things like the age of marriage and the lying mostly goes over the kids heads, so all they see is a cool action movie with a happy ending.

My Interpretation of The Arabian Nights Prologue

Sofia Tartakovskaya- 09/13/2022

I think this interpretation of the Arabian Nights is very engaging, there are many things that keep you drawn in but compared to modern books that everyone understands, this is definitely different. What was mostly hard to follow was all the different changes throughout the text with no character or story development to back it up. For example, when the brothers are randomly by the sea, they  see a giant pillar and go to hide in a tree, then they find out it is a demon who captured a woman. The outrageous turn of events that happens quite a few times in the prologue makes it harder to connect to, since that is not the culture we have today. I also found it interesting that the king and men in general think so low of women and marry them just to murder them, but both Shahzaman and his brother were completely heartbroken and rageful after they found out of their woman’s disloyalty, even though he shows no actual value for her life. This just goes to show how there is no genuine care for relationships from some people in power, but more the control and adoration from women. So within all of the randomness and sudden chaotic changes, lies common themes that the average person can go through every day. For example, the concept of preservation and adultery is still common thousands of years later within the modern day world. The thought process may be slightly different, but everyone connects with the text in some way; so readers like to see how others would react. Most people continue to be engaged because they are curious about the storyline as well, personally; I kept wanting to know if the king finally got tired of Dinarzad’s stories and killed her like he said he would at the beginning.

Free-Write on “The Scope of Orientalism” by Said

Throughout the article Said uses multiple people trying to explain how the Western world is above Egypt because of how they act and govern themselves. He explains how ‘knowledge is power’, and since the only European knowledge of The Orient is that the Arabs are dumb, dirty, cant follow directions, etc: England wants to take over and colonize Egypt because they feel it would benefit them. The point of having different cultures is the differences between them, but since England doesn’t understand these changes, they think that the Arabs are less than and unworthy, even going so far as to say that they are “incapable of drawing the most obvious conclusions” (Cromer 38)  and more insults against them. Said spends his time in the article to combat these views, explaining how Egypt actually has a longstanding history of self-government that has succeeded throughout the years, and how their justification for taking over is not enough. There are many points in the story where Said elaborates on how knowledge is power, but the Europeans dont actually have the real knowledge of the Orient, just what they have seen and think is true.

Agrabah: Aladdin Creator’s Recreation of the Middle East

Sofia Tartakovskaya 10/16/22

“Aladdin” is a children’s movie that is well loved and promotes Arabian cultural representation, but whether its a good or bad representation is the question. The movie follows a poor Agrabah citizen, Aladdin, stealing food from a marketplace who meets a girl; princess Jasmine, who is having her own troubles revolving around the kingdom. He later gets lucky and finds a magical lamp with a wish-granting genie inside that helps solve the problems of the movie. When watching the movie as a child, you tend to overlook all of the questionable content because it’s about a pretty princess and a magical blue genie; but when the adults have a closer look, they start to notice all the things with it that just doesn’t seem quite right. From the child having to be married at such a young age, the starving people in the city forced to steal, and exploring how much control the royal family actually has. This portrayal of the middle east is an unfair and demeaning collection of stereotypes that displays a precedent about The Orient. But what is most troubling, is how Aladdin portrays the manipulation and capture of the royal family and all the effects that come with it. Of course a happy ending is mandatory with these types of Disney movies: Though it would be a much different story if it actually happened somewhere in the Middle East, like the movie is representing. The stability and reputation of these countries is put at risk because of this incorrect and frankly demeaning illustration. The white and uncultured creators of this new-age movie show representation of brown people in traditional middle eastern clothing, but it is still americanized so much that it is unrecognizable to the culture. Jasmine is well known as the ‘teenage rebellion American princess’ because it is obvious that the movie is not geared to teach about the culture, but instead uses the culture for publicity and attraction.

While we may not know if magic is real, and the mind control couldn’t have happened in real life, it does speak on the fact of how easily manipulated the royals are, and what effect it can have.  Jafar was a trusted helper of the Sultan, and though he did use his magic snake staff to gain control, it is a very real thought that the crown and any position really can be taken at the snap of a finger. It may not be a magical weapon, but even the people closest to you can betray you and stick a knife to your throat. Even though the movie has a happy ending, Jafar still tries to take control of the people in charge; which could have genuinely led to an entire devastation of the country. The introduction of the movie explains all the bad things about Agrabah, and especially the Arabs living there. Aladdin showcases the villains as darker skinned and with jumbled accents being seen as ugly, barbaric and scary people, while the heroes are more lighter skinned and americanized. These stereotypes perpetuate bad views about The Orient from a young age, making ignorant people believe more racist views about Arabs than there already are. Stanninger even explains that “Aladdin and  Jasmine  break that stereotype, it is  true,  but  in  a  distinctly  Western,  not  Middle  Eastern,  fashion,  and  are therefore not useful in  improving the… Arabic image” (Stanninger 68) The introduction song and all the comments later on explain Agrabah as a gross and uninhabitable place, but the people don’t care because “hey, it’s home”. As if showcasing someone’s home as disgusting isn’t bad enough, the royal family throughout the movie does nothing to fix these problems of starvation and heat within their country. In fact there is barely any mention of it throughout the entire movie, it is just based on the internal affairs and drama of the royal family and how it affects them as opposed to the common people they are meant to protect. This interpretation of how the Middle East operates is harmful to the image, and makes it seem like countries in the Middle East are dirty, overlooked, and broken; which is an untrue view no one would want to have in their country.

This movie is meant to uplift kids that look up to the heroes that save the day, like most Disney movies. But before that happens, the villain Jafar tries to mind control the Sultan, ruler of the land, to allow him to marry Jasmine, and also attempts to control Jasmine herself into loving Jafar. This borderline assault could have been so harmful to Agrabah, as well as Jasmine; the young role model for little girls everywhere. This goes to show how amenable the country of Agrabah and therefore the Middle Eastern countries it represents really are. This alludes to The Orient not having control in their countries or towards other countries, portraying it as weak and fragile without a ‘magical genie’ to save the day. The movie also illustrates the place of women in those cultures and how little power they supposedly have. Like in Arabian Nights by Hussain Haddawy, when the king found out that the queen was unloyal with helpers in the castle, he killed her and then vowed to sleep with a different woman everyday and kill them in the morning because he felt like he had no control. This interpretation of the Thousand and one Nights showed how the possession of women as property is far more important there than actual relationships. This connects back to Aladdin with a common theme of how power is there for the taking, and also shows some examples of typical stereotypes of The Orient about how women are treated and viewed; this is not the best representation for little girls looking up to these movies for power and strength to keep going. When children are watching this movie, they get these internal biases stuck in their head about how bad people in the Middle East are, and about how girls/women should be treated. Overall the Aladdin movie may be a good superficial and uplifting movie for kids, but once you dive into the details, the representation it gives about “The Orient” outweighs all the good.

Why we think about “Reel Bad Arabs”

The movie gave  a lot of insight to how Arabs are being treated in the world and how the stereotypes in filmography are contributing to that. The movie explains how Arabs are either portrayed as buffoons only there to provide entertainment or cruel terrorists with no humanity. This draws a direct parallel to how we were describing the stereotypes in Aladdin. The movie describes how Aladdin actually uses a combination of all the stereotypes ever portrayed, from the dangerous desert, the torture threats, the barbaric manner and more, which is very interesting considering it is a childrens movie. The thing I find most upsetting is how this mindset is ingrained into everyone’s mind as we grew up. Books in the past also had bad renditions of Arabs and Muslims, but what really changed the outlook on Muslim citizens was 9/11, which got basically the whole country to blame Muslims and resulted in numerous hate crimes like being fired, profiled in airports, and even rounded up and detained while doing nothing wrong. It is hard to change our outlook because of how Arabs are portrayed with no humanity, so it is hard to give them some. I find it really powerful how the movie compares the stereotypes and treatment of Arabs to other minorities that have already been called out, like Jewish, African American people, Asians, and more. Nowadays, people get “canceled” or in trouble for speaking poorly on other minorities, so why is it not the same reaction when Americans and other people speak poorly on Arabs and force these stereotypes on innocent citizens? Because of the internal bias everyone has, and I think “Reel Bad Arabs” really illuminates that.

Agrabah: Aladdin Creator’s Recreation of the Middle East- Draft

10/05/2022

Aladdin might be a kids movie, but have you ever thought about the connotations of it about the orient and people there? This portrayal of the middle east is an unfair and demeaning collection of stereotypes that displays a precedent about The Orient. When watching the movie as a child, you tend to overlook all of the questionable content because it’s about a pretty princess and a magical blue genie; but when the adults have a closer look, they start to notice all the things with it that just doesn’t seem quite right. From the child having to be married at such a young age, the starving people in the city forced to steal, and exploring how much control the royal family actually has. But what is most troubling, is how Aladdin portrays the manipulation and capture of the royal family. Of course a happy ending is mandatory with these types of Disney movies, but it would be a much different story if it actually happened somewhere in the Middle East. The stability and reputation of these countries is put at risk because of this illustration. Though Agrabah is a made up land and is not claiming to be a specific real country, if you mix up the letters it actually spells “Baghdad” like Baghdad, Iraq. The white and uncultured creators of this satire shows representation of brown people in traditional middle eastern clothing, but it is still americanized so much that it is unrecognizable. Jasmine is well known as the ‘teenage rebellion American princess’ because it is obvious that the movie is not geared to teach about the culture, but uses the culture for publicity and attraction.

Aladdin displays a broken kingdom searching for a new king or Sultan, and even though the movie has a happy ending, Jafar still tries to take control of the people in charge, which could have genuinely led to an entire devastation of the country. The introduction of the movie explains all the bad things about Agrabah, and especially the Arabs living there. Aladdin showcases the villains as darker skinned and with jumbled accents being seen as ugly, barbaric and scary people, while the heroes are more lighter skinned and americanized. These stereotypes perpetuate bad views about The Orient from a young age, making ignorant people believe more racist views about Arabs than there already are. The introduction song and all the comments later on explain Agrabah as a gross and uninhabitable place but the people don’t care because “hey, it’s home”, but throughout the movie there is one major problem. The royal family does nothing to fix these problems within their country, in fact there is barely any mention of it throughout the entire movie, the movie is just based on the internal affairs and drama of the royal family and how it affects them as opposed to the common people they are meant to protect. This interpretation of how the Middle East operates is harmful to the image, and makes it seem like countries in the Middle East are dirty, overlooked, and broken; making tourism and the amount of people moving there go down.

While we may not know if magic is real, and the mind control couldn’t have happened in real life, it does speak on the fact of how easily manipulated the royals are, and what effect it can have. Jafar tries to mind control the Sultan, ruler of the land, to allow him to marry Jasmine, and also attempts to control Jasmine herself into loving Jafar. This borderline assault could be so harmful to Agrabah, as well as Jasmine; the young role model. This goes to show how amenable the country of Agrabah and therefore the Middle Eastern countries it represents really are.  Jafar was a trusted helper of the Sultan, and though he did use his magic snake staff to gain control, it is a very real thought that the crown and any position really can be taken at the snap of a finger, It may not be a magical weapon, but even the people closest to you can betray you and stick a knife to your throat. Like in Arabian Nights by Hussain Haddawy, when the king found out that the queen was unloyal, he killed her. This interpretation of the Thousand and one Nights showed how the possession of women as property is far more important there than actual relationships. The king was so distraught over losing his power, but didn’t care much for his wife or women in general as people, and vowed to sleep and then kill with a new woman every day. This connects back to Aladdin with a common theme of how power is there for the taking, and also shows some similarities of how women are treated and viewed; this is not the best representation for little girls looking up to these movies for power and strength to keep going. Overall the Aladdin movie may be a good superficial and uplifting movie for kids, but once you dive into the details, the representation it gives about “The Orient” outweighs all the bad.

Me as a Writer

Personally, I like math or science more than writing because those subjects actually have an objective answer. Though I may be creative in some ways because I like to do lighting design for theatre, writing is just not the same. I know not everyone is the same but it is just hard to think of things to write about. Once you have a topic, you then have to think of a format and what order your writing is going to be in, then you have to organize all your details in a way that is palatable for others and connects back to the point you are trying to make; otherwise there is no reason for your writing and people will be confused and get bored easily. Yes, if I know a lot about a subject or have a lot to say on a matter I will sometimes be able to blurt out quite a long piece of writing. But even then I just don’t like having to look over everything and make sure it’s all connected and there are no random details cause you know what, I like random details. But that’s not to say I will completely refuse to write, I’m just a perfectionist and I want to make sure everything seems well thought out. Overthinking and perfectionism is good sometimes, but I want to improve upon my writing and be able to creatively flow with words easily and quickly as opposed to dwelling on each sentence and word.