I have been known, a time or two, to take issue with Disney films. (See The Horrifying World of Disney, or even Sexism on Screen, to revisit some of those issues.) Today, I’d like to talk about Aladdin.
Don’t get me wrong--Aladdin isn’t terrible. After all, it has Robin Williams in it. But it is, in itself, inherently and fatally flawed, and I can’t get past the main issue in the film. Here’s the problem:
Aladdin wishes for the genie to make him a prince. The rest of the movie, he agonizes over telling Jasmine the truth: that he’s not really a prince.
If he’s not really a prince, then the genie never made him a prince.
Do you see the problem there? That’s like wishing for a new car, and not getting a new car. It looks like a new car, but it’s not. It’s a 1978 Ford Granada with rusting floorboards made to look like a new car. If that’s what you’d wanted, you would’ve wished for a 1978 Ford Granada that looked like a new car. You didn’t. Where’s the new car, genie?
If the genie never made Aladdin a prince—which, clearly he didn’t, if his not being a prince is the main plot point of the film—doesn’t that kind of make the genie the worst genie ever in the history of genies? And what happens to genies that don’t grant wishes? Do their lamps get downgraded to catheters? Do they have to chill out in the Cave of Wonders for another 10,000 years, until they’ve learned their lesson?
Disney chooses to ignore this obvious question (demoted to leprechaun? Why no repercussions for the genie?) and instead teaches us some important life lessons, like:
Now don’t get me wrong: I like Jasmine. She’s got a mind of her own, she’s not willing to bend to the whims of ancestral tradition, and she owns a tiger. I just think she could do better than Aladdin, who, might I remind you, fell in love with her because she was pretty. If you recall, he first sees her when she’s accidentally stealing from a street vendor. What does he say? Not “My goodness, that woman is resourceful,” but “Wow.”
Mmm-hmm.
No worries, though. By the end of the movie, Jasmine distracts Jafar with her feminine wiles (instead of, say, clocking him in the apple bag with a heavy metal genie lamp), setting it up so Jafar can imprison her in an hourglass and Aladdin can rescue her. Great lessons to teach your daughters—use your sexuality to get your way with men, and the bonus lesson: no matter how independent you are, you still need rescuing. After Aladdin and the genie save the day, Aladdin nobly uses his last wish not to become a prince "again," but to set the genie free. Is this because he’s a good guy at heart? I don’t think so. I think it’s because Aladdin himself realizes that since the genie couldn’t even grant him his first wish to be a prince, wishing it again is pretty much pointless. When you’ve got the most useless genie ever, what else is there to do but set him free?
My advice: if you’re looking for Robin Williams at his best, watch Aladdin. But if you’re looking for a movie that actually shows a magical being that can do real magic and thinks for herself . . . rent Frozen.
Don’t get me wrong--Aladdin isn’t terrible. After all, it has Robin Williams in it. But it is, in itself, inherently and fatally flawed, and I can’t get past the main issue in the film. Here’s the problem:
Aladdin wishes for the genie to make him a prince. The rest of the movie, he agonizes over telling Jasmine the truth: that he’s not really a prince.
If he’s not really a prince, then the genie never made him a prince.
Do you see the problem there? That’s like wishing for a new car, and not getting a new car. It looks like a new car, but it’s not. It’s a 1978 Ford Granada with rusting floorboards made to look like a new car. If that’s what you’d wanted, you would’ve wished for a 1978 Ford Granada that looked like a new car. You didn’t. Where’s the new car, genie?
If the genie never made Aladdin a prince—which, clearly he didn’t, if his not being a prince is the main plot point of the film—doesn’t that kind of make the genie the worst genie ever in the history of genies? And what happens to genies that don’t grant wishes? Do their lamps get downgraded to catheters? Do they have to chill out in the Cave of Wonders for another 10,000 years, until they’ve learned their lesson?
Disney chooses to ignore this obvious question (demoted to leprechaun? Why no repercussions for the genie?) and instead teaches us some important life lessons, like:
- It’s okay to screw over your monkey friend/pet for a woman.
- If you’re a woman, dreaming of “bigger things” means traveling into town before marriage.
- If something’s happening that you don’t like (say, being forced to marry Jafar), you should run away from your problems.
- If a man lies to you (‘”I’m a prince!”) and you find out on your own because he never had the decency to tell you he’s a dirty liar, you should forgive him.
- Tigers make awesome pets.
- Parrots: also fun pets—if you make them do slave labor for you.
Now don’t get me wrong: I like Jasmine. She’s got a mind of her own, she’s not willing to bend to the whims of ancestral tradition, and she owns a tiger. I just think she could do better than Aladdin, who, might I remind you, fell in love with her because she was pretty. If you recall, he first sees her when she’s accidentally stealing from a street vendor. What does he say? Not “My goodness, that woman is resourceful,” but “Wow.”
Mmm-hmm.
No worries, though. By the end of the movie, Jasmine distracts Jafar with her feminine wiles (instead of, say, clocking him in the apple bag with a heavy metal genie lamp), setting it up so Jafar can imprison her in an hourglass and Aladdin can rescue her. Great lessons to teach your daughters—use your sexuality to get your way with men, and the bonus lesson: no matter how independent you are, you still need rescuing. After Aladdin and the genie save the day, Aladdin nobly uses his last wish not to become a prince "again," but to set the genie free. Is this because he’s a good guy at heart? I don’t think so. I think it’s because Aladdin himself realizes that since the genie couldn’t even grant him his first wish to be a prince, wishing it again is pretty much pointless. When you’ve got the most useless genie ever, what else is there to do but set him free?
My advice: if you’re looking for Robin Williams at his best, watch Aladdin. But if you’re looking for a movie that actually shows a magical being that can do real magic and thinks for herself . . . rent Frozen.
Maybe you'd get more respect if you actually granted wishes, genie.
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