Cuentos del Mundo's Arabian Nights (2014)

Pedro Alonso Pablos writes from Spain where he is producing an Arabian Nights animated series. The series has been included in an animation compendium called "Tales of the World" ("Cuentos del Mundo", in Spanish) and has been released through the VOD Spanish portal http://www.filmin.es for Spain. It is available for rent or to subscribers of that website. Filmin is an independent VOD page in Spain backed by Almodovar's production company and financed in part by the Spanish Government.

Three episodes are currently available, many more to come. 

English version (featuring minor dialogue editing by myself!) is also coming soon and to be released through Amazon video.

IMDB:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4025596/

Watch at filmin (fee): https://www.filmin.es/serie/cuentos-del-mundo

About Cuentos del Mundo:  La serie consta de tres capítulos, el primero dedicado a cuentos occidentales, el segundo es una selección de tres cuentos del compendio "Las Mil y Una Noches", y el tercero son dos cuentecitos íntegramente creados por Pedro. En total más de 20 minutos de animación que han consumido grandes recursos, temas musicales originales para cada pieza y años de trabajo.

Here is the trailer:

"The Prince and the Tortoise" - Fairy Tale Comics

A rarely found Nights story, “The Prince and the Tortoise,” appears in graphic form in the newly recently published book Fairy Tale Comics. The book is edited by Chris Duffy who has been the editorial brains behind significant reboots of series like Nickelodeon Magazine and several key DC Comics titles. The story is illustrated by well-known comic artist Ramona Fradon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramona_Fradon) and written by Chris Duffy.

“The Prince and the Tortoise” first appears in the Nights in the Mardrus translation. According to The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia “This tale does not feature in the standard Arabic manuscripts of the Arabian Nights. According to Chauvin, Mardrus appropriated the tale from Yacoub Artin Pacha’s Contes populaires de la vallee du Nil” (Vol 1: 330).

The story concerns a prince who must choose a bride by shooting an arrow into the city and marrying an eligible daughter living in the house the arrow hits. Of course there are issues. The arrow strikes the same house multiple times but it’s not a daughter who lives there but a tortoise.

The prince decides to go ahead with the marriage. His two brothers marry human women. The three couples must then compete for their father the King’s favor and all sorts of hijinks follow involving the tortoise. I won’t spoil the story or the end but it’s happily ever after.

The book Fairy Tale Comics also contains many standard fairy tales rendered by contemporary graphic and comic book artists. These include two of my favorites, Jaime Hernandez (here doing “Snow White”) and Gilbert Hernandez (“Hansel and Gretel”), who pen the fantastic adult graphic series Love and Rockets. The book overall is a great addition to the continuation of fairy tales and is perfect for kids. My daughter reads it constantly and it’s the first exposure she’s had to many canonical fairy tales.

If you are interested you can buy it (with no financial reward to myself by the way) on Amazon here -

 http://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Tale-Comics-Extraordinary-Cartoonists/dp/1596438231/ref=sr_1_1

Sharaz-De: Tales from the Arabian Nights

Sharaz-De: Tales from the Arabian Nights is a book by Italian artist Sergio Toppo, who unfortunately passed away last year.  The visual artistry is easily worth the cost of the book, but he has also included wisely conceived elaborations of several key stories from the Nights.

The book was published in English only recently.

Publisher's website (also includes an extensive preview) - http://www.archaia.com/archaia-titles/sharaz-de/

 

 

My Little Disney: Arabian Nights

Well, there's a lot of people who really really like My Little Pony - its cartoons, comics, and characters and they aren't all kids - here's a "bronie" (perhaps!) version of a mashup of My Little Pony clips and the opening song to Disney's Aladdin:

Jafar meets Family Guy

The satirical animated series Family Guy has aimed its focus on Disney, with this brief segment, thank you to Michael for passing it along!  Here is the Family Guy wiki page's info on Jafar's appearances - http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Jafar

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Magi:  The Labyrinth of Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi_%28manga%29) has been a long running manga series by Shinobu Ohtaka being released as an anime series beginning next month.  It has a Nights theme and bases itself on several Nights-esque tales (via the unique frame of manga).

And here is the commercial for the series:

Pedro Alonso Pablos' Animated Series

Pedro Alonso Pablos from Spain shares his intro video to his upcoming animated series on the Nights:



You can follow him at his website:  http://www.pedroalonsopablos.com/en/

1001 Nights Season 2 - Big Bad Boo

Here is the intro to the popular Canadian children's animated show 1001 Nights by Big Bad Boo Studios. In its second season the series also has English and Arabic comics and is trying to actually reach 1001 stories!



Watch complete episodes at their website: http://www.1001nightsshow.com/

Tomb Raider - Arabian Nights

From 1001 Nights

The cover of the comic Tomb Raider: Arabian Nights (2004)

Habibi by Craig Thompson

Many thanks to Irfan for passing along this news item about the graphic novel Habibi, a 750+ page book with a Nights-esque relationship.

Here is the book's website: http://www.habibibook.com/

This website is from Minnesota Public Radio and features an interview with the author: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/state-of-the-arts/archive/2011/09/graphic-novel-habibi-intertwines-holy-books-with-comic-books.shtml

"Thompson spent seven years researching, writing and drawing his latest book "Habibi," a love story that takes place in a Middle Eastern desert. MPR's Euan Kerr met up with Thompson recently, who explained that his childhood in a strictly religious family in Wisconsin has had a lasting influence on his work.

"The book is like a mash-up of the sacred medium of the holy books, like the Koran and the Bible, mixed up with the vulgar story of pulp medium of comic books, which would have been my two biggest influences growing up, the Bible and comic-books," Thompson said.

"And then there is a nod to "1,001 Nights" and this sort of theme of Sheherezade telling stories for survival, and one story folding in on an other, so that you lose track of where you began."

Thompson also makes use of the magic squares designed by Arab mystics, who found meaning in the shapes, designs and even narratives in numeric patterns.

"It's basically mystical sudoku," he says. "Sudoku has its own narrative, it's a mathematical narrative, and I exploited that for the sake of the book."

Habibi is a complex interweaving of the sacred and the profane, touching on themes of power and politics, human trafficking, environmental exploitation and the joys and sadnesses of love. Critics have raved about its beauty."

--------------------------------

Here is a critique of Habibi in the post "Can the Subaltern Draw?" - on this blog:  http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/10/can-the-subaltern-draw-the-spectre-of-orientalism-in-craig-thompsons-habibi/

"I find that Habibi is a tragically familiar Orientalist tale that a reader can find in books by Kipling or many a French painter."

Howard the Duck 1st Annual 1977

The following are scans (excerpts for my (non-commercial, educational) blog!) from the comic book Howard the Duck from 1977 with a Nights theme.  The ending of the story is a direct lift of/riff on 1944 Thief of Bagdad.  I don't know much about Howard, besides the movie from the 80s is widely panned as being one of the worst films ever made.  Wiki on Howard (the wikipedia page says he's existentialist!):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_the_duck

Here are my scans, each one a different file, I picked some particularly Nights-esque pages, there is a "view in full screen" button at the bottom of each page that makes it easier to see close up.


Howard Cover

Bag Mom

Underground

Hall

Thief

Treasure Comics (1945)

Here's a picture of Treasure Comics #2 from 1945.

From 1001 Nights

Details below from mycomicshop.com:

"Cover Details
Genre Adventure
Pencils H. C. Kiefer (Signed)

Inks H.C. Kiefer (Signed)

10 page Arabian Knight story "The Thief of Bagdad"
Genre Adventure
Pencils H. C. Kiefer
Inks H. C. Kiefer"

Mr Magoo in 1001 Arabian Nights

Here are a couple of pictures relating to the film 1001 Arabian Nights starring Mr. Magoo, including the cover of the film's soundtrack, recently spotted for sale on ebay.

From 1001 Nights

From 1001 Nights

Ali Baba - Arabic Cartoon - علي بابا والاربعون حرامي

Here is an Arabic version of Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves.

From: Heykayat 3almyih حكايات عالمية ~ علي بابا والاربعون حرامي

Aladdin (film) Bibliography

UC Berkeley's Library has a great list of resources and bibliographic information on representations of race in other works, especially film at their website here:

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/FilmBibMenu.html

Part of their list is on the Disney film Aladdin and most of the material in their bibliography is (like most all info written on the film) focused on the "representation of Arabs" in the film.

I've pasted their bibliography below though if you go through the UCB website (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/disney.html#aladdin) you'll have direct access to many of the articles for free if you are online via your local university's library website and even more if you are a UC user.  I've also deleted their annotations on this list to avoid plagiarizing and I'll be adding more to the list as there are several articles not listed on their website and articles not dealing with Orientalism that should be on this list.  So!  If you are studying the film Aladdin come here and go there!  Recheck citations too for any papers you use these in.

Addison, Erin.  "Saving Other Women from Other Men: Disney's Aladdin." Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, vol. 31. 1993 Jan-May. pp: 5-25.

"'Aladdin' Bows to a Protest." New York Times v142, sec1 (Sun, July 11, 1993):9(N), 16(L), col 4, 8 col in.

 

"'Aladdin' Song Lyrics Altered." Facts on File v53, n2747 (July 22, 1993):552.

 

Anwar, Farrah.  "Aladdin." Sight and Sound Dec 1993 v3 n12 p38(2).

Bannon, Lisa.  "How a Rumor Spread About Subliminal Sex in Disney's 'Aladdin"', The Wall Street Journal, l0/24/95.

Britt, Donna.  "2 Films Spin Their Own Special Magic.” Washington Post v115 (Fri, Nov 13, 1992):D1, col 1, 18 col in.

Cooperson, Michael. “The Monstrous Births of Aladdin.” The Arabian Nights Reader. Ulrich Marzolph, ed. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2006: 265-282.

Corliss, Richard.  "Aladdin's Magic." Time v140, n19 (Nov 9, 1992):74 (3 pages).

Corrigan, Don.  "Aladdin - Like Much of U.S. Entertainment and Media - is Flawed by Stereotypes." St. Louis Journalism Review v22, n153 (Feb, 1993):13 (2 pages).

Felperin Sharman, Leslie.  "New Aladdins for Old." Sight & Sound ( III/11, Nov 93; p.12-15).

Felperin, Leslie.  "The Thief of Buena Vista: Disney's Aladdin and Orientalism."  A reader in animation studies / edited by Jayne Pilling. London : J. Libbey, c1997.

Fox, David J.  "Disney Will Alter Song in 'Aladdin.'" Los Angeles Times v112 (Sat, July 10, 1993):F1, col 5, 17 col in.

Geist, Kenneth.  "Aladdin."  Films in Review March-April 1993 v44 n3-4 p127(2)

Gorchev, Leila.  "When Will it be Okay to be an Arab?" Washington Post v116 (Sun, Dec 27, 1992):C7, col 2, 16 col in.

Irwin, Robert.  "Aladdin." TLS. Times Literary Supplement Dec 24, 1993 n4734 p14(2)

"It's Racist, But Hey, It's Disney."  New York Times v142 (Wed, July 14, 1993):A14(N), A18(L), col 1, 6 col in.

Klawans, Stuart.  "Aladdin." The Nation Dec 7, 1992 v255 n19 p713(4).

Kraidy, M.M.  "Intertextual Maneuvers around the Subaltern: Aladdin as a Postmodern Text," in C. Degli-Esposti (ed.) Postmodernism in the Cinema, pp. 44-59. New York: Berghahn Books, 1998.

Kreck, Dick. "Is 'Aladdin' More Than Meets Ear?" The Denver Post, 4 June 1994.

Macleod, Dianne Sachko. "The Politics of Vision: Disney, Aladdin, and the Gulf War."  The Emperor's old groove: decolonizing Disney's Magic Kingdom / edited by Brenda Ayres. pp: 179-91. New York: P. Lang, 2003.

Maslin, Janet.  "Aladdin." The New York Times Nov 11, 1992 v142.

Phillips, Jerry.  "Telling Tales to Children: The Pedagogy of Empire in MGM's Kim and Disney's Aladdin." The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature vol. 20 no. 1. 1996 June. pp: 66-89.

Nadel Alan.  "A whole new (Disney) world order: Aladdin, atomic power, and the Muslim Middle East." Visions of the East: orientalism in film / edited by Matthew Bernstein and Gaylyn Studlar. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, c1997.

Phillips, Jerry and Ian Wojcik-Andrews.  "Telling Tales to Children: The Pedagogy of Empire in MGM's Kim and Disney's Aladdin." The Lion and the Unicorn 20.1 (1996) 66-89.

Rossmiller, David. "Get Naked? Aladdin Allegedly Makes Crude Remark."The Phoenix Gazette, 12 March 1994.

Scheinin, Richard.  "Angry Over 'Aladdin."  Washington Post v116 (Sun, Jan 10, 1993):G1, col 1, 36 col in.

Shaheen, Jack.  "Aladdin: Animated Racism." Cineaste, vol. 20 no. 1. 1993. pp: 49.

Scheinin, Richard.  "In Its New "Family Film," Disney Clobbers Arabs-Again!" The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. May 2004. Vol. 23, Iss. 4; p. 66.

Schmidt, Carolyn Speer.  "Not just Disney : destructive stereotypes of Arabs in children's literature." Arabs in the Americas : interdisciplinary essays on the Arab diaspora / edited by Darcy A. Zabel. New York : Peter Lang, c2006.

Sharman, Leslie Felperin.  "New Aladdins for Old." Sight and Sound v3, n11 (Nov, 1993):12 (4 pages).

Simon, John.  "Aladdin." National Review Dec 14, 1992 v44 n24 p53(2)

Staninger, Christiane.  "Disney's Magic Carpet Ride: Aladdin and Women in Islam."  The emperor's old groove: decolonizing Disney's Magic Kingdom / edited by Brenda Ayres. pp: 65-77. New York: P. Lang, c2003.

White, Timothy R. and J. E. Winn.  "Islam, Animation and Money: The Reception of Disney's Aladdin in Southeast Asia." Kinema, Spring 1995.

Wise, Christopher.  "Notes from the Aladdin Industry: Or, Middle Eastern Folklore in the Era of Multinational Capitalism." The emperor's old groove: decolonizing Disney's Magic Kingdom / edited by Brenda Ayres. pp: 105-14 New York: P. Lang, c2003.

Mr Magoo in "1001 Arabian Nights"

Filmthreat.com has a new great review of the Mr. Magoo animated film 1001 Arabian Nights.  It's a relatively difficult film to track down though I did manage to buy a VHS copy on ebay for not too much money.  I'll just have to venture into the depths of the garage one day to look for the VCR and make a digital copy.

The film is Mr. Magoo-ish take on Aladdin.  For those who don't know Mr. Magoo was a popular cartoon in the 1950s-70s.  His whole character and his adventures are based on his lack of eyesight, he often confuses the world as other things and finds himself in irreverent adventures because of it.

Here's a link to the entire article, I've excerpted the plot review (and posted a youtube trailer for the film) below:  http://www.filmthreat.com/features/23731/comment-page-1/

from the review: “1001 Arabian Nights” is a fun, entertaining riff that deftly integrates the Mr. Magoo character into the wild fantasies of magic lamps and flying carpets. Set in the mystical Arabian kingdom of Egomania (!), the film presents “Abdul Aziz Magoo” as the myopic lamp retailer who mistakes barnyard animals for truant schoolchildren and the contents of a broom closet as front door visitors. Magoo is the uncle of the handsome young Aladdin, who doesn’t appear to do anything but lie around all day.

Within the kingdom, there is tumult at the palace – the sultan realizes he is near bankrupt, and he reluctantly agrees to replenish his treasury by giving the hand of his daughter, the beautiful Princess Yasminda, to the Wicked Wazir. UPA struck gold with the character of the Wicked Wazir: a pointy-nose, razor-toothed baddie who dwells in a deep cellar with a collection of icky creatures (spiders, rats, bats, snakes, and an alligator) that he treats like his children. There is one scene that offers a devastating parody of “Cinderella,” with the Wazir’s monstrous animals lovingly preparing his clothing and accessories for the wedding day.

The Wazir is voiced by Hans Conried, who is part of a stellar cast of voice actors that include Alan Reed as the sultan, Daws Butler as the harried weaver who creates a flying carpet, Herschel Bernardi as the sly genie of the lamp, and Kathryn Grant and Dwayne Hickman as Yasminda and Aladdin. And, of course, Jim Backus’ boisterous Magoo leads the pack with his unique brand of chaos.

For its time, “1001 Arabian Nights” offered a jolting alternative to the standard Disney fare. The film is fast, jazzy (both in its visual style and musical score), unapologetically slapstick, and rude without being unpleasant (Magoo’s crotchety personality is ratcheted down a few points, making him more eccentric than cantankerous). Even the Yasminda-Aladdin love story manages to avoid being syrupy – Aladdin’s initial bout of passionate love finds him walking absentmindedly over the turbaned heads of pedestrians, while the couple’s initial romantic tryst is depicted in an unexpected burst of proto-psychedelic abstract colors."

trailer:

Big Bad Boo Studios' 1001 Nights

Many thanks to Martyn for passing this on.  This summer (2010) marks the debut of a new animated series from Canada based on the 1001 Nights.  The animation looks really great and contemporary.  I look forward to seeing what they do with the stories of the Nights as they promise a variety of not-only-Ali Baba-and-Sinbad-Aladdin tales.

The series is aimed at children aged 6-9.

1001 Nights Main Title Song:



From their website (http://www.bigbadboo.ca/index.php/home?page=propertiesdetail&pid=9&st=1):

"A new animated comedy series, 1001 Nights is an original show that brings the delightful tales of the famed 1001 Arabian Nights to the screen with hilarity, excitement, and non-stop fast paced action. Filled with exciting stories, vivid animation, wonderful music, and unforgettable characters, 1001 Nights is eye-popping entertainment for both kids and adults. You’ve heard of Sinbad, Aladdin, and Ali Baba? You’ve got 998 more stories to go! 1001 Nights brings them to you in a way that will keep you coming back for more. Join the heroine Shahrzad as she weaves tales of adventure, intrigue, and excitement!"

Classic Comics - Arabian Nights - No. 8

Here's the entire version of the Classic Comics Arabian Nights that someone has uploaded on scribd.

I find the story fascinating in terms of its portrayal, or lack really, of Scheherezade. In this retelling of the frame story of the Nights Shahriar is just killing brides for no reason and just appears to be crazy for no reason: "so cruelly fanatic" is the only one given.

He sees Scheherezade and marries her but she comes up with a plan to tell her father stories (not her sister) in earshot of the Shahriar.

Here's the comic, which includes, of course, Ali Baba, Sinbad and Aladdin (click 'full screen' to read it better):

Arabian Nights (Classics Illustrated)

1001 noc

Here's a nice looking poster from the ex-Yugoslavia currently on ebay selling for around $65 US. It's of the Mr. Magoo film based on the 1001 Nights.

Popeye and the Nights

You can download and/or view all of these in good quality at archive.org:

Popeye meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937)

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_the_Sailor_Meets_Ali_Baba%27s_Forty_Thieves




Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_the_Sailor_Meets_Sindbad_the_Sailor



Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1939)

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_and_His_Wonderful_Lamp