Arabian Nights and the Story of Aladdin
In the medieval folk tale Aladdin, from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), it's nearly the common fairy tale story where the girl falls in love with the prince, except backwards. The young Aladdin is in love with the beautiful princess and goes through every possible way to get her; the only one that actually causes the love to fully stem is the use of a mystical lamp that grants any wish. When comparing the original tale to the 1992 Disney version of the story, one may see that they are actually quite similar. But when looked at in much more detail, the reader can see that these characters are a lot different in each and really change how the story overall is looked at.
Disney has a weird way of warping their movies into things that resemble a story, have the same title as, and keep a similar plot as old famous tales that everyone has heard of. Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, and Snow White are just a few examples. Aladdin is yet another. The basics are the same. Poor kid falls in love with someone he can't get, almost dies (many times may I add), gets girl he can't have, then marries said girl. These elements of the story and the film are the same but many of the minor details are also changed, making the characters feel a little different when you look at them the second time around.
One of the main things that bothered me when I watched the movie after reading the book is the actual character of Aladdin. In the story he is portrayed as this young person who is a very lazy, "careless and idle boy who would do nothing but play all day long in the streets with other idle boys just like himself". It's hard for a reader to really like a character that is opened up to us like this. The reader doesn't actually bond with the character or pull for him the entire way. It is said that his father dies because he is so grieved about his son and even after his mother begs of him to mend his ways he does not change. In the movie Aladdin is a very charismatic person whom everybody seems to enjoy except for the local authorities. He has no parents and steals food every day. The one major difference between the Aladdin's is their personality. The movie's Aladdin is very loving and kind. He gives up a meal to give to two starving children and he risks his life to save the princess even when he doesn't know her true identity, which he eventually learns is indeed that of the princess. I find it hard to believe that the story's version would choose to do this. The princess always traveled around with her face covered so no low class person would see it. One day Aladdin snuck into the bathing area where she was going and hid behind the door and peeped through a tiny hole. He only learns to fall in love with her when he has hidden himself in a place where nobody is supposed to be and then simply sees her face, causing himself to fall in love at first sight. I assume that Disney changed the story in such ways as to make the collection of characters more rounded. Anyways, who wants to read a story about a kid who seems not to care about his father's death that was said to be his own fault? The changes that are made to Aladdin seem to be primarily for the viewer affection and is a common move by Disney. Changing the lead character to one that can be related to by everyone and one that can be loved by all seems to be something the Disney does a lot of and it's probably a good move on their part.
In the actual Arabian Nights story there seemed to be a happy ending for most of the story. Aladdin was receiving wishes nonstop and each one came with nearly no consequence. He wasn't afraid of the princess really figuring out who he was; he didn't care if the truth was known. And that really adds to another huge part of the story. The princess never really questions him and especially never questions all of his magic. That is a huge part of the story. They constantly had magical things happening. Whether the Sultan was being magically persuaded by a snake looking cane or a parade was going on where very miraculous events constantly occurred, magic had a major presence. Maybe this presence was lacking in the story because of the very different antagonist. The main villain was an African sorcerer who claimed to be Aladdin's long lost uncle. Shortly after his arrival in the beginning of the story he disappeared and didn't come back into the story until the end when he heard about the resurfacing of the mystical lamp. There were a lot of happy moments in the middle of the storyline where Aladdin got everything he wished for, literally, and all was well in the kingdom in China (in the movie it is a fictional kingdom called Agrabah).
The additions and subtractions of many things like a magical ring that brings out a weaker genie than the "slave of the lamp", the unlimited wish factor compared to the three only rule, the comical genie, and the talking parrot and monkey somewhat change the story. These changes aren't completely bad though and they don't really change the basic storyline too much. They add to the viewers experience and they create a more laughable familiarity with all of the characters. One may find themselves saying how their favorite character was the genie because he was really funny, or how they like Abu because he's a cute lovable monkey. People who only know of the original story may be confused when somebody talks about the genie being funny. "The genie wasn't funny, he only talks once", or "what monkey?" These things never exist in the story but really add to the movie version. Disney always seems to do well in this category. Adding characters like the clock and candlestick to The Beauty and the Beast; they argue nonstop but add a humorous element to the movie as did Abu the monkey and the Magic Carpet in Aladdin.
In the end all of Disney's additions to the movie really did payoff. They made the movie a bit more enjoyable while sticking to the same plot line that is shown in the original story. Nothing changed so dramatically as to completely ruin anything at all. One constant that seems to remain the same though is Disney's strategies of creating similar ideas with movies. Conflicting side characters, small personality changes, and a bigger role for women of the film, all add to the movie and take little away from the story. This tale is no exception and this tale is one of the best.