Origins-Disney Version

Aladdin

Who didn´t like this movie? The answer  is me.

To make its history even more confusing, the story actually takes place in China. Supposedly Aladdin and the other characters (with the exception of the villain) are Chinese, but they have Arabic names and embody stereotypes about Muslims. There’s two competing theories for this – either the story took place in a Muslim area of China like Turkestan, or an early storyteller put it in China to make it feel exotic, but knew even less about the Chinese than he did about Muslims. Regardless, Disney moved the story to the Middle East.

In the original story, Aladdin is super lazy. So much so that his father dies from disappointment. His mother has to work extra hard to support both of them, but he still just plays in the streets. Then one day, an evil magician shows up. In the original, this villain isn’t the same character as the sultan’s vizier, so he can’t throw Aladdin in jail. Instead, he pretends to be his uncle, and takes Aladdin to the mountains to reveal the entrance to the treasure chamber. Aladdin has to put his hand on door and say his father and grandfather’s name, suggesting that his lineage, and not any “diamond in the rough” business, is responsible for his ability to open it. Then the magician sends him in to get the lamp.

But first he gives him a magical ring containing a lesser genie.

That’s right, Aladdin gets not one, but two genies. And there’s no three wish limit to these genies either; they just continually give Aladdin whatever he wants. Having the lamp is like having Q from Star Trek at your beck and call, 24/7. And when Aladdin insists on exiting the treasure chamber before handing over the lamp he just retrieved, the magician gets mad and shuts him in the cave – with both genies.

As you can imagine, Aladdin figures it out and transports home. For a while, Aladdin just sells some silver the lamp genie gives him. He doesn’t do more because he’s unambitious. That is, until he hears that the sultan’s daughter is heading to the baths. To prove he can be as creepy as any fairytale prince, Aladdin sneaks into the baths to spy on her as she removes her veil.* Upon seeing her uncovered, he decides he must have her as his bride.

Sorry, there’s no romantic carpet ride, or any flying carpets at all. Aladdin just buys her from her father. Having heard about his new obsession, his mother obligingly visits the sultan with gifts of jewels to arrange the marriage for him. The sultan is impressed and promises the princess in marriage to Aladdin.

But the vizier wants the princess to marry his own son, and convinces the sultan to go back on his word. When Aladdin finds out that his crush just got married to someone else, he has the lamp genie kidnap the newlyweds by transporting them – in their bed – into his home. He then transports the competing groom out, and sleeps next to the sultan’s terrified daughter, before returning both of them in the morning. The groom is also freaked out by this, and after three consecutive days of it happening, he asks the sultan to nullify their marriage just so he doesn’t have to go through it again. And the princess? Like a good, plot-convenient love interest, she stops being scared and starts being into Aladdin around the same time.

Aladdin gets the genie to make him an impressive palace full of servants* to bring his bride home to. But they don’t get their happy ending yet. The magician, who’s heard about Aladdin’s good fortune, returns to take it all from him. The lamp is apparently sitting out in the open, and Aladdin’s wife doesn’t know it’s magical, so it’s easy for the magician to trick her into giving it to him. Once he has the lamp, he flies the entire palace, complete with wife, servants, and treasure, to his home in North Africa.
The sultan, angered by the disappearance of the palace and his daughter, almost executes Aladdin. The hero gets him to relent by promising he’ll find the princess in no more than forty days. Without the lamp, Aladdin must rely on his wits and charm alone to find his wife and get the palace back. Just kidding, he uses the second genie in his ring. This genie can’t undo anything the lamp genie did, but it transports him to the palace. The princess then drugs the magician,* allowing Aladdin to get the lamp back and fly the palace home.
He sends the magician off in chains, but what do you know, the magician has a brother who wants revenge. Luckily this guy doesn’t have any more imagination than his sibling, because he uses the same “trick the wife” routine. This time it’s by dressing up as a wise woman.* The lamp genie warns Aladdin, and he kills the guy.

Aladdin and his wife live happily ever after. Like the Disney movie suggests, Aladdin one day succeeds his father-in-law and becomes sultan.