Aladdin is a classic Arabian fairy tale that was used as a basis for many movies and cartoons. The main character of the story is a poor young man who achieves the princess and other rewards with the aid of magical powers and own personality. Writers from many countries used similar plots. For example, Danish author Hans Christian Andersen used such characters and situations in his tales The Tinder-box and The Flying Trunk. Stories have many differences, like author, length or plot, but there is always one similarity – focus on main characters. The screen adaptation of the fairy tale helps people to know more about their surrounding as the director sees it. The Disney version of the Aladdin filmed in 1992 gives a perspective of the political stand of the country.
Agrabah is a big Muslim city with the sultan as a ruler. The cartoon shows that the government does not have close connections with people. There is also a serious level of inequality – ordinary people often do not have food, while palace inhabitants swim in luxury. The sultan is a slightly infantile old man who does not look like a political expert. Regardless of the position, characters do not care too much about events outside the palace’s walls. Princess Jasmine looks like an exception, but this is just curiosity, not a wish to know more about her potential future property.
It feels like ordinary people in Agrabah are left to their own devices. Guards chased Aladdin at the beginning of the movie, but their actions looked like an exception. When Jasmine took an apple to feed the child, the salesman tried to punish her by himself (Aladdin 0:20). The crowd did not see anything wrong in this decision, nobody tried to call guards or do something else to prevent the vigilantism. While the cutting off of thieves’ hands was like a traditional punishment in Arab countries, the situation supported the idea that people and government were separated and did not care much about problems of each other.
Disney’s Aladdin raises a classic issue that there should be a continuance for other characters after the “happy ending”. In real life the incompetent government and lack of attention to townspeople’s needs would lead to revolution and mass disturbances. Agrabah could end up like the Egypt in 2011. The city in the Disney movie had similar conditions like lack of free elections, economic problems, inequality or police (guards) brutality. Conditions for revolution would exist in Agrabah regardless of Aladdin’s or Jafar’s victory. In the first case the city would be ruled by an amateur, who would not care much about these duties because of his sense of adventure. The Vizier would create more pressure on Agrabah’s population and would make people to wish to oust the dictator.
While Aladdin is a children’s animation film, it shows a tense political atmosphere that can easily lead to similar events that happened in Egypt in 2011 or in Yemen in 2014. Townspeople were already ready to solve their problems with violence. There can be a small factor that will unite them into an aggressive crowd that wish to oust the government. And the movie showed many types of these “catalysts”, like crime situation, politicians’ incompetence or guards’ violence. Townspeople also could be furious about the fact that the local thief became their ruler. In spite of the happy ending, Agrabah left in a high risk of the political coup.
Works Cited
Aladdin. Dir. Ron Clements, and John Musker. Voices Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, and Jonathan Freeman. Walt Disney Pictures, 1992. Animated film.
