Aladdin is very
unique from many Disney movies in that the love story is far more complicated.
First, the princess falls for poor and normal Aladdin and then he becomes rich
and she is uninterested. Then, using his charm, Aladdin makes Jasmine fall in
love with his newly rich (via genie magic) self. Then he becomes poor and
normal again and she still loves him. Now that’s what I call complicated. All
the while, she has a prince trying to marry her in the beginning, then Jafar
suiting her, and her father in control of it all. If I were Jasmine I’d be
pretty damn confused. She went through a hell of a lot to finally end up with
the man of her dreams.
Just a quick digression: I really want my own Abu. That
monkey is so cute and surprisingly clever. He ends up being a huge factor in
Aladdin coming out victorious in many instances. He would make such a great
pet, but sadly I don’t think I can have monkey’s in my dorm.
Back to the important stuff. I want to talk about Jasmine’s representation
of a single woman. I think Disney did a relatively good job of showing an
empowering woman who makes her own decisions and chooses a man for the right
reasons. I really respect that Jasmine was not about marrying some rich guy who
flaunts his money. She seemed to care way more about what was on the inside.
This was shown the first time they meet and Jasmine was almost taken aback by
how nice Aladdin was without even knowing her identity. Then when Aladdin
gained his wealth from the genie she dismissed him until she realized how
genuine and charming he was on the inside. This really teaches a good lesson about
marrying for the right reasons and not for the reasons a parent might want. She
also disobeys her father when he urges her to marry and she tries her best to
fight back as Jafar forces her into a relationship, showing her strength and
courage.
In my opinion, however, the most important moral to be found
in this movie is conveyed through the genie. The lesson that is learned is that
true power comes from within, not from outside sources. At the end of the day, Aladdin
defeats the evil Jafar not using the genie, but rather using his brain by
outsmarting Jafar. When Aladdin had the genie, he lost focus of what was
important and didn’t keep his word for the third wish, which caused his nearly
permanent downfall. Luckily, Aladdin realized that he didn’t need to genie to
defeat Jafar, he just needed what was inside of him. The genie can also teach
the viewer that with all the power in the world, it is very easy to become
corrupter and power-hungry. Jafar couldn’t have enough power just being the
Sultan, he needed more. This, along with Aladdin’s wit, caused him to wish he
were a genie and then get imprisoned in the lamp. What a shame.
