Aladdin Complex

The obsession with appropriating elements from Arab and South Asian cultures, especially when one does not belong to said cultures, and using them for aesthetics. Inspired by the 1992 Disney film Aladdin in which non Arab and non South Asian viewers are left confused about where Aladdin is actually set because white people think all brown people are the same ethnic breed and have no purpose of existence outside of fulfilling their exotic fantasies. This fetishisation, however, is not exclusive to white people and many other PoC have fallen into it, namely East Asians. The end result of however these cultures are abused is so bizarre and confusing it can only be described as bastardisation. What was meant to look exotic and spicy (whatever the hell that means) is now a hot mess of genie lamps and bindis. Not the ideal melting pot.