They're supposed to be happily married. Why is Aladdin still a street rat??
There is a Disney Princess activity book, from sometime in the 1990s, featuring a story about Jasmine taking a magic carpet ride without Aladdin. In it, Jasmine is bored and frustrated because Aladdin was out all day on the Carpet without her – the story never specifies why Aladdin was out all day on Carpet, whether he was on some kind of royal business for the Sultan or just went off on a solo joyride. When he comes home he's so tired he goes right to bed, without so much as a good-night kiss which must not have helped Jasmine's mood any, and Jasmine convinces Carpet, even though he is tired too, to take her out on an adventure now. They fly to an island and have a fun and exciting time until Jasmine arrives back home, just as Aladdin is waking up. Somehow the sight of his One True Love standing beside his bed first thing in the morning does not make Aladdin feel amorous, and all he does is ask Jasmine what she's doing there. Jasmine makes an excuse, “happy her island adventure would stay a secret”.
The story raises a lot of questions, not least why outspoken Princess Jasmine would be so concerned about keeping her island adventure a secret. Doesn't she want to share that fun experience with her husband, aka the guy who introduced her to magic carpet rides in the first place? Doesn't she at least want to tell Aladdin, very pointedly and angrily, that she was out all night on an adventure without him because he didn't take her with him yesterday (my emphasis is here to demonstrate how Jasmine should say this)? But, I mean, what did she think Aladdin was going to do, order her not to go out on the Carpet anymore? I'm not going to get into why Aladdin and Jasmine have separate rooms, although I suspect it might have to do with the sequels' decision to have the fully committed couple who were literally about to “get married at once” wait for ages and ages before actually bothering to do it. And most important of all, how did this happen in the first place? How is Aladdin suddenly so unaware of Jasmine's needs, the very same needs he fulfilled for her on the night of their first Carpet Ride, that he doesn't even consider Jasmine might want to come with him when he's out all day? After being so drawn to and devoted to her in the movie, doesn't he want to spend time with her now? And why does bold, fiery Jasmine not say something about all this? If she can't tell him how she feels about being left behind or about her fun island adventure, if she's either scared of his reaction or thinks he just won't listen... what we have here is not a light, funny story but a very clear case of a couple in serious trouble who needs immediate marriage counselling.
This isn't the only time I've seen a less-than-ideal dynamic portrayed between Aladdin and Jasmine. In the Aladdin television series, which ran for one season of 90 episodes in the 1990s, Jasmine sometimes feels like one of the most minor characters, with only the Sultan and Rajah getting less screen time. The episodes often open with Aladdin flying off on adventures to some place or other, or else finding them right there in Agrabah, and Genie, Abu, Iago, and Carpet are almost invariably along for the ride. But spunky, adventurous Jasmine is treated as entirely optional, and is just as likely to be completely absent, presumably back at that palace she always felt trapped in, than she is to be coming along for the fun. In one episode, she even calls Aladdin out on this, and tells him that every time they're together “the guys” are always around. Very self-aware of the television series, but then they wreck any progress they could have made when Aladdin just reluctantly promises Jasmine one solo date, and then sneaks his guy friends along and spends the entire time running away from Jasmine to instruct his friends on how to conduct a treasure hunt. Yes, there were a number of episodes where Jasmine does come along for the ride, and some very sweet moments where Aladdin shows affection for her (usually when he's just had to rescue her from some danger), but overall we get the distinct impression that Jasmine is not a particularly major part of Aladdin's life. (Especially with that narrative that they're not even supposed to be married yet.)
The series never shows us what Jasmine is thinking when Aladdin leaves for yet another trip without her. But the Disney Princess comics do. In one strip, Jasmine is sitting at home, bored and listless because Aladdin is off on a “trip” and she is left alone. Just like in the activity book, it's never specified whether this trip was for business or pleasure, or why Aladdin didn't take Jasmine. We could suppose, looking at the TV series, Aladdin was off on another of those adventures – except he couldn't have been, because Genie, Carpet, and Iago were all back at the palace with Jasmine. Once again, we don't know whether Aladdin realizes how unhappy Jasmine is at home without him, or whether Jasmine plans on talking to him about it. Genie takes Jasmine on a shopping spree and then Jasmine seems perfectly fine, and we never find out if she and Aladdin ever end up solving the larger issue.
In another strip, Jasmine tries to give a passionate kiss to Aladdin – for no reason other than she knows Rajah will try to get between them and then he will get out of the suitcase she's trying to pack. It's presented as light and funny and we're not meant to think about it too hard, but if you do think about it a little harder – the only way Jasmine could possibly know that would work is if Rajah gets between them every single time. And then the strip just goes on with the main story, completely oblivious, it seems, to the way they just showed us how Aladdin and Jasmine can never get romantic alone time.
All these examples add up to one thing I notice, over and over again, in after-Aladdin stories: we see Aladdin continuing his adventures and heroism, we see Jasmine coming into her own and helping the people – but we very rarely see Aladdin and Jasmine sharing their Whole New Life together.
I suspect a large part of this had to do with target audiences. The actual movie, like most Disney movies in general, has the ability to transcend specific appeal for children or adults – and in this case, for boys and girls. It has a simple, colourful story, but with enough depth, resonance, and engaging characters to not only hold up once you grow up, but to be enjoyed on a whole new level. It has the beautiful princess in her palace falling in love, and the adventurous hero tackling dangerous action sequences. (Although honestly, while I use that to demonstrate its boys-and-girls appeal, it's probably my favourite Disney movie in part because it has both!)
The TV show, on the other hand, seems to have been written specifically to target young boys. You can tell in the way it centres on Aladdin becoming even more of a hero that boys can look up to and aspire to be, also by its focus on adventure, how there usually is some real danger in the stories (very different from most Disney Princess content), and how the focus is usually on Aladdin and “the guys”. The times when they got Jasmine best were when Aladdin needed to rescue her, because then we got to see some genuine feeling between the two of them as well as letting Aladdin be the brave hero. But it often felt very much like the TV show writers didn't know what to do with Jasmine otherwise. They knew she had a fiery personality and was more than capable of helping on the adventures, but either they wanted more of a “princess waiting back at the palace” type of character, or they didn't think their young male target audience would want to see the love interest play a prominent role. Whatever the case, I felt like not enough care was taken when writing her. They were able to play up on various traits of her personality, but it never quite felt like they understood her driving force, leading to a very inconsistent character. Was she supposed to be this fiery, strong fighter, or does she just fill the role of “the woman”? Is she loving and supportive towards Aladdin, or does her fiery temper mean she should be constantly getting annoyed with him? Is she part of Aladdin's Adventure Group, or does she just sit around back at the palace waiting for him to make time for her?
The Disney Princess franchise, on the other hand, seems to take the focus away from the Princes. They're largely focused on empowering young girls, and so the Princes are usually more in the background while the Princesses are at the front of their stories, solving the problem of the day. And for most of the Disney couples, that works. Normally, what we see of the Princes is pretty consistent with what we see in the movies. There are some Princesses whose relationships are in the movie for such a short amount of time that you don't really notice how little their Prince shows up in the Princess franchise – like Snow White, Aurora, and Mulan. (Actually the Princess stories do a lot to give more screen time and development to both Aurora and Phillip, which I appreciate.) There are those Princesses whose stories always focus on a different part of her movie besides the Happily Ever After – like Ariel and Belle. There are those whose relationships in the movie were based more on banter anyway, so you don't really notice if you don't get a lot of those sweet happy-couple moments – Tiana and Rapunzel fit here – and then there are the ones, like Merida or Moana, who don't need to account for a love interest at all. Cinderella is an unusual exception to this pattern I've found – despite her Prince being in the movie for a total of maybe two minutes and speaking only a couple of not-very-memorable lines, their relationship is often the sweetest and best-explored out of all the Disney Princess franchise.
Aladdin isn't actually in the Princess stories any less than your average Prince. But when you consider he was the protagonist of his movie, and now all of a sudden the focus is all on Jasmine while Aladdin's just there – or else just not there – it feels like a lot less than it should be. If the specific Aladdin sequel stories only focus on Aladdin going on adventures, and the Jasmine Disney Princess stories mainly focus on empowering Jasmine, there's very little chance to show Aladdin and Jasmine building a happy life for both of them. In the movie, Aladdin and Jasmine clearly have similar values, similar life views, and each one can offer exactly what the other is missing. Aladdin and Jasmine, I will forever maintain, have one of the best couple dynamics in all of Disney. They have your typical Disney love-at-first-sight moment (at least on Aladdin's part, I think Jasmine was more of a likes-him-a-lot to head-over-heels situation), and then we get to see their relationship develop throughout the course of the entire movie. They meet early on and their feelings are immediately positive, so we get a lot of time to explore what their future dynamic could be like. We see so much physical chemistry drawing them to each other (and beautifully, but painfully, expressed by no less than three almost-kisses!!) One of the first things Aladdin sees Jasmine do is offer food to a hungry child: similar moral codes, similar values, I have no idea why Aladdin is never shown in any other story trying to feed the people of Agrabah. They have a beautiful moment where they literally say they feel trapped at the exact same time because they understand each other so well! Aladdin and Jasmine are the first Disney couple to sit down and have a conversation (that we get to hear and participate in) shortly after meeting. We get to see how similar their worldviews are, their hopes and dreams for the future. They both want more freedom and, though they don't know it yet, they're each in a position to give the other what they want most. Jasmine can give Aladdin that palace life he longs for, and Aladdin can fill Jasmine's life with adventure.
The song A Whole New World (quite possibly the most beautiful Disney song of all time) is not just about Aladdin and Jasmine's first date, it's almost like Aladdin's proposal to Jasmine. He tells Jasmine what their life together will be like if she chooses to marry him, and Jasmine is delighted with what she sees and accepts. And what does Aladdin tell Jasmine her life will be like if she marries him? Absolutely nothing about her waiting behind at the palace while he goes on adventures – and, let's be real, she'd never have accepted him if he did say that. Aladdin begins with that well-known opening line “I can show you the world”, and goes on to encourage Jasmine to let her heart decide and to keep her eyes open, not missing a moment. He takes her to a place where they can both be free, free of the restrictions they both felt which led to them saying they were “trapped” at the exact same moment earlier in the film. Later on in the song, he offers her “new horizons to pursue”, which is very clearly meant to be new horizons for both of them, not just for him to pursue and he'll tell her about it later. Jasmine in turn expresses wonder at the world Aladdin offers her, and tells him she can never go back to living her life as it was – which would mean never, ever wanting to spend another day sitting around the palace because she's waiting for Aladdin to return. Later in the song, they sing as one: “Let me share this whole new world with you”, my emphasis. The very last line of the song is also sung in harmony, where they tell us the whole new world is a place “for you and me”. I will venture to guess that means for the two of them together. Not for Jasmine to explore her end of the whole new world once Aladdin's done with it and has gone off to bed all exhausted.
Would Aladdin really forget how much Jasmine wants freedom and adventure, after winning her over with that magic carpet ride? Are we really supposed to assume he stopped caring about Jasmine's feelings once he got what he wanted from her? Would he really forget all that and just spend his life running off with “the guys” like that stereotypical (and rather outdated, if you ask me) man who goes off to the pub to have some drinks with his friends and get away from a life full of unfulfilling work, while his wife is left home alone with nowhere to go, nothing to do and no one to talk to??
The other reason I think Jasmine and Aladdin aren't being shown as a happy couple sharing their lives is because everyone – especially in the Sequel territory – is trying to keep them in the lives and roles we all recognize. According to the narrative of the sequels, and the television series, and of the video game Nasira's Revenge, Aladdin and Jasmine somehow got it in their heads that they should wait for years before they finally got married, and that because of this, Aladdin is still living in his hovel. (Apparently somehow, the literal palace doesn't have enough rooms that Aladdin can have his own quarters before this alleged delayed wedding happens??) And he has no furniture. And not even a proper bed to keep himself warm at night. And only just enough money to survive on, so that he struggles to buy basic things like presents for Jasmine. And he still wears his rags most of the time, and has no authority to avoid attacks from angry merchants or overrule the guards, who continue to openly show him no respect even though this is their future Sultan they're talking to. Basically, the sequels' version of Aladdin's Happily Ever After is as close to his former street rat life as they can possibly get without making it out like the movie never happened.
Thank goodness, the Princess franchise doesn't do that. Maybe most of the Disney Princess stories were meant to come after all the sequels, but whatever the case, Aladdin is most often seen inside the palace, sometimes even wearing princely outfits. But there's still hardly any focus on what Aladdin does in his new palace life. I don't think I've ever seen a story where the focus is on Aladdin adjusting to life inside the palace, or learning how to run a kingdom, or on the thrill of realizing he can actually help the people now without going hungry himself. Unlike with Cinderella's stories, neither franchise seems to focus – at all – on how Aladdin's life has changed since the end of the movie. And I think a huge part of that reason is – for Cinderella, our main iconic image is her ball gown, her shoes, and that beautiful carriage to take her to the ball. Her transformation. The moment this downtrodden slave to her own step-family becomes a princess. This is what we believe makes the story enduring to generations of young girls.
For Aladdin, his iconic image is being a street rat. Somehow, we don't seem to feel it's just as inspiring for the down-on-his-luck street rat to get out of his bad situation and become a prince. Even though that was the whole point of the story since it's first been told.
We see Jasmine using her newfound freedom to help the people. There's a story from a Disney Princess colouring book where Jasmine is trying to find Abu and eventually discovers him sharing food with the same street children Aladdin gave his bread to at the beginning of the movie. Jasmine then decides she wants to help the people of Agrabah too and organizes a whole big feast for them, and it's all very sweet, except – Aladdin isn't there, not even in the background of the final page where we see everyone who would have been living at the palace at that point. Perhaps we're meant to assume he's off on an adventure again, only – why would Aladdin be missing from a plotline like this? Wouldn't Aladdin feel even more strongly about his fellow street urchins getting fed than Jasmine, who is kind and caring but was never in that situation herself?? There's also a Disney Princess comic strip where she has to sit on the throne for a day because the Sultan isn't feeling well, but no equivalent story I have found where Aladdin has to spend a day on the throne.
And of course, take any episode of the TV series and Aladdin is going off on a heroic adventure and saving the day that way.
But where are the stories where Aladdin and Jasmine save the day together??
Why are Aladdin and Jasmine not both flying off to explore new worlds and find new adventures together? Why are they not teaming up to create better lives for the people of Agrabah? Why is Aladdin not happily settling into palace life (or at least trying to learn about it and making all kinds of mistakes in the process) while Jasmine helps him? Where is the Whole New World they promised to share with each other??
And perhaps more to the point, why are we the audience expected to either only care about what Aladdin is doing, or what Jasmine is? We all saw the movie, where Jasmine's role as deuteragonist was almost equal with Aladdin's role as protagonist, and presumably we all loved it if we are seeking out more stories about them. Isn't it pretty safe to assume most of us are not little boys turning up our noses at stories with girls, or little girls who will somehow start doubting our own strength if we get stories with strong men? Let's have more stories that are like the movie: let's see Aladdin and Jasmine sharing that Whole New World with each other.
留言