Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

After reading the original story and the two articles, I amazed at what was the same and different from Disney’s version. Overall the story seemed very focused on wealth and social standings. After reading the articles I definitely understood how the story could have been written by a European and added after to the The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, since it wasn’t even in it at first. Aladdin the clear protagonist and hero, is scrappy and poor at first, and is not tempted by the wealth the genie promises, but by family, since he thought the magician was his uncle.  Him being untainted by greed, and rather motivated by purer motives clearly place him in the ‘hero’ role. His heroic intentions continue when he is motivated by love, when he sees the princess. The princess, who has no name, already an indicator that she will play a small role, and will likely be demeaned. Compared to the ‘romance’ of the Disney version, Aladdin in the fairytale literally forces himself into the princess’s bed, forcing out her husband. Of course, she falls in love with him, because she is the nameless female character love interest. I was a little shocked when the Sultan threatened to chop off the princess’s head, since she was his daughter. Perhaps this was just a thing of the times, or it was meant to show ‘savagery’. The dismissal of the princess’s concerns as dreams also showed her being demeaned. I was a little confused by the genies, since it seemed like there were two, one for the ring and one for the lamp, but the genie from the lamp was more powerful. Locations were kind of just thrown in like Africa and China. I wonder if it was to show that they were foreign places. The ‘Jafar’ character in the Disney version is a combination between the Vizier and the magician, since he places both roles. Both characters are clearly villainous, since they are shown as greedy and ambitious. The Vizier wants power through the throne, and therefore tries to get the princess to marry his son. The magician is greedy since he wants the lamp to give him power and or wealth. Despite not setting out for wealth or power, Aladdin still ends up with exorbitant amounts of both. He is the sultan and the military commander and gets the princess. The wealth is always portrayed in exuberant detail. From the wealth Aladdin’s mother has to show to impress the Sultan, to the palace Aladdin and the genie built. I thought it was really funny that Aladdin was so specific with his building requests (of course to flex on the Sultan with his wealth). I wonder if having slaves of multiple races was impressive, since the Sultan insisted that Aladdin had slaves that were  white and black. I found the random addition of the magician’s brother at the end to be rather abrupt and quite amusing. It felt like a last minute addition to further the plot a little, since the ending turned out happy (for Aladdin) anyways.