"This is no ordinary lamp," our narrator exclaims, "It once changed the course of a young man's life. A young man, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed. A diamond in the rough."
This opening suggests that this is a story about Aladdin. There are many great arguments for that particular reading of the film. After all, we meet Aladdin, we follow him through his trials, tribulations, reconciliations and we revel in his joy and wish fulfillment. But there are parts of the Aladdin character that are not fully formed. The crux of his character arc is that he starts off as a thief with a heart of gold. Then, through magic, he becomes a prince. During the second act of the film, he struggles with reconciling his new found royalty with his humble past. While this is somewhat compelling, Aladdin's realization that he should just be the great guy that he's always been, is a somewhat hollow epiphany.
What makes Aladdin such a great film is the Jafar story. Jafar is always the smartest guy in the room. He's ambitious and cunning. He is much more than your average cartoon villain painted merely to accentuate the purity of the hero.
The Sultanate of Agrabah is in shambles. Orphans go hungry and often resort to crime in order to live, yet the Sultan spends his days playing with toys. The future of the kingdom rests in the hands of the man who can win the heart of a spoiled princess who feels trapped in her palace fantasy land and doesn't like princes who've come calling. In context, Jafar's choice to take the throne, by means suited to his understanding of the dark arts, seems somewhat rational. He is a man of great intellect and motivation. He defiantly has the stuff of an effective leader. And as the clip above shows, he is wittier and more ruthless than his foes.
We can quibble over the cruelty Jafar inflicts on the Sultan and Jasmain, but suffice to say, and the end of the movie proves, given a similar option, the "good guys" treat him the same way (as Queen Cersei Lannister would say, "In the game of thrones, you either win or you die."). Where Jafar does fail, is in his pride that he, alone, should weld ultimate power. Blind to any danger in gaining more, he is goaded by Aladdin to wish to become a genie. He ascends to that zenith of power but fails to realize a simple and universal truth said rather eloquently by Jesus in the gospel of Mark, "If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all."
This opening suggests that this is a story about Aladdin. There are many great arguments for that particular reading of the film. After all, we meet Aladdin, we follow him through his trials, tribulations, reconciliations and we revel in his joy and wish fulfillment. But there are parts of the Aladdin character that are not fully formed. The crux of his character arc is that he starts off as a thief with a heart of gold. Then, through magic, he becomes a prince. During the second act of the film, he struggles with reconciling his new found royalty with his humble past. While this is somewhat compelling, Aladdin's realization that he should just be the great guy that he's always been, is a somewhat hollow epiphany.
What makes Aladdin such a great film is the Jafar story. Jafar is always the smartest guy in the room. He's ambitious and cunning. He is much more than your average cartoon villain painted merely to accentuate the purity of the hero.
The Sultanate of Agrabah is in shambles. Orphans go hungry and often resort to crime in order to live, yet the Sultan spends his days playing with toys. The future of the kingdom rests in the hands of the man who can win the heart of a spoiled princess who feels trapped in her palace fantasy land and doesn't like princes who've come calling. In context, Jafar's choice to take the throne, by means suited to his understanding of the dark arts, seems somewhat rational. He is a man of great intellect and motivation. He defiantly has the stuff of an effective leader. And as the clip above shows, he is wittier and more ruthless than his foes.
We can quibble over the cruelty Jafar inflicts on the Sultan and Jasmain, but suffice to say, and the end of the movie proves, given a similar option, the "good guys" treat him the same way (as Queen Cersei Lannister would say, "In the game of thrones, you either win or you die."). Where Jafar does fail, is in his pride that he, alone, should weld ultimate power. Blind to any danger in gaining more, he is goaded by Aladdin to wish to become a genie. He ascends to that zenith of power but fails to realize a simple and universal truth said rather eloquently by Jesus in the gospel of Mark, "If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all."
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