Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Aladdin and the Wonderful lamp is a fairy tale that is riddled with certain aspects holding it back from being a great story. Firstly, the power of the Genie is just unmatched. Rather than the generic trope of three wishes, the genie grants unlimited power to any person who possesses it due to an unlimited amount of wishes. This brings up a few issues. First, why did the magician believe that Aladdin would be dead if he had the lamp? While I understand he may have believed Aladdin wouldn’t have been able to figure out the magic, it would make more sense if he double checked to ensure that his precious lamp was not in the hands of an idle hoodlum who would certainly abuse the powers of the Genie to gain the life of fame and fortune that he never received. Secondly, magical creatures must have a chink in their armor so to speak in order to make a compelling character in the story. If a magical character is untapped, then there is no conflict throughout the story. This leads to most of the story being very dull, as the reader knows that any item that the Sultan requests will be created by the Genie. Another problem the story sees is the lack of influence granted to the Vizier, specifically in how he accredits the success of Aladdin. If a high ranking official, the closest adviser to the Sultan, made it a point that the palace and deeds of Aladdin were made by enchantment, then why does the Sultan not even acknowledge this as a possible issue? A palace that is described as something that would dwarf the Taj Mahal literally appears, disappears, and then appears again with the only reaction of the Sultan being him rubbing his eyes in disbelief. For something that appears important to the Vizier, the Sultan clearly does not care for the means by which Aladdin accrues his wealth, as the Sultan only desires the wealth he can bring and the prestige granted to his daughter. The third problem that the story runs into is the racist and sexist undertones that are incorporated into the story. Before embarking on this, a reader does need to understand the contextualization of this text, and not accost the writer for including these undertones in the text, as in the time period that they were written it was acceptable. However, because our society has evolved, they are important to point out. The slaves raise an issue. While both black and white people are enslaved, the black slaves are relegated to manual labor while the white slaves dress nicely and lead the other slaves. There is also a large display of gender roles applied in the text. The Princess is treated like an object and sold to the highest bidder by her father. As well, the Princess repeatedly falls for the schemes of conniving magicians that bring on the initial fall of Aladdin, and almost bring him to his complete demise. When not under the watchful eye of Aladdin, the Princess is foolish and jeopardizes the lives of herself and Aladdin. This plays on a trope found throughout literature that women need a man to control and direct them in order to not be detrimental to their family unit.