Shower Thoughts – Aladdin Replotting
So, this morning in the shower – my favorite location for freethinking – I somehow transitioned from Boondock Saints to Aladdin, and came up with a new, much better plot line for Aladdin. Better here means “much more palatable and without nonsensical decisions”, not “more enjoyable film”.
So the old plot went something like “Aladdin meets jasmine, wants to get on her, but he’s a “street rat”, so he can’t, finds lamp, gets genie, wishes to be a prince, is made into the illusion of a prince, woos her but keeps trying to hold the illusion which pisses her off ’cause she doesn’t like princes, gets noticed by evil jafar who steals the lamp, big conflict, jafra is defeated by his own ego, the sultan make aladdin into a prince, hey presto, he and jasmine live happlily ever after”.
My new version goes like this: “yada yada, find lamp, gets genie, wishes to be a prince, is whisked to the palace by the genie where he exposes Jafar, jafar is killed and the genie nudges the sultan who makes him into a prince, he and jasmine live happily ever after. ”
See, he didn’t wish to “look like a prince” he wished to be a prince. This has, for whatever reason, always bugged me about the Aladdin plotline. And now I’ve solved it, and can move on with my life. :-)
Aladdin??!!!
And what about the fact that Jasmine doesn’t really LIKE princes? Why would he want to be turned into one if she doesn’t like them? In fact, why DOES Jasmine fall for Aladdin if she hates princes? Methinks there are some holes in this alternative reality.
Well, thats why the alternate plot works. See, in the alternate plot, Jasmine knows that Aladdin is “just a street rat”, not a prince, and that he is doing something good and advancing on his own merit. Her problem with princes is not the title, but rather the fact that she’s just going to swoon because they were born wealthy. This is the problem that she has in the actual plot-line…she hates it when Aladdin acts like one of the prigs. When he acts like himself, shes cool with him.
QED.
Ahhhh. The power of dreams.
What Jasmine really wants then is someone who acts unpretentious but actually DOES have a lot of money and power….
Well, I don’t think the money and power hurts. More than just acting unpretentious, I think she wants someone who will understand her yearning for freedom, and allow her that opportunity.
Still, she is a princess, and used to having everything provided for her. Not likely to give that up, is she?
True, true and related.
And a good point about her yearning for freedom. Unfortunately, the price of freedom is often tied in with financial insecurity. Makes for one of those unexpectedly and unfairly difficult decisions in life.
You know what I never really understood? Why didn’t he just wish the genie free FIRST? Were Genie’s magical powers dimished as soon as he became free? (Not having watched the sequels, I have no idea.)
Well, that I can understand. See, if I were an evil genie, I’d act real nice around new folks, and winge about being all locked up alot. That would get me free.
Besides…he does have PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS, so I think two wishes for freedom is fair. Although, I would’ve just got them done in short order, I think, and then maybe wished him mostly free with a caveate that he can’t destroy the universe and he can’t do anything with malicious intent.
But then what if the genie is, as one must assume, a clever lawyer type? You’d have to be very careful about the limits you set on his freedom. Otherwise, he migth just destroy the universe as we know it just because he’s pissed off at being held prisoner.