Finding Magic in Aladdin
A fairy tale is a story for children containing magic, mythical creatures, and anomalies. When I was seven years old, I used to love watching fictional cartoons on my television. One day I was just sitting with my remote switching channels until I stumbled upon a title screen, “Aladdin”. I always wanted to watch this movie because I saw trailers and posters of new Disney movies and Aladdin was one of them. This movie in particular intrigued me as the story took place in an Islamic setting. Whenever I watch movies, I always have a bias for the characters when I can connect with them on a personal level. Aladdin being about an Arab Islamic setting got me even more excited as we come from similar backgrounds. Even though we are from different nations, just having the same religious background really made me connect with Aladdin on a personal level.
One of the significant moments of this movie was the mystery of the ‘lamp’. I don’t remember if it was mentioned at first if there was something special about the lamp, however I imagine that I did not know about it until the movie reached a certain point. When the lamp was first shown and it slowly made its way to Aladdin, I really got more interested because of the suspense and mystery that was created by the lamp. I was asking questions such as; “Is the lamp priceless”? Or “Is there a treasure map hidden inside the lamp”? I kept wondering what kind of symbolism it had until they finally revealed the Genie. I remember I was superbly amazed at how the lamp really came to play as the story went forward. I really enjoy it when movies depict a certain object of crucial importance to the plot and as the story goes on…BOOM! There comes the big plot twist.
My favorite moment from this movie is the infamous scene where Aladdin describes Jasmine to the Genie. He said, “Well, there’s this girl… She’s smart, and- and fun, and…”, the Genie interrupts, “Pretty”? Aladdin replies, “Beautiful! She’s got these eyes that just… and this hair, wow, and her smile? Ah… But she’s a princess. To even have the chance, I’d have to be.. Hey. Can you make me a prince”? In this scene, Aladdin seemed very humane to me. I believe anybody else who saw this scene would agree and sympathize with him. Just because of Aladdin and his story with Jasmine, I really got inspired to watch more movies that have love stories which hold a crucial place in a bigger plot. As I grew older, I also came to romanticize rom coms and get super biased whenever I connect with the characters. I believe having watched Aladdin and it being etched into my core feelings is to blame for that.
Aladdin was not all just about magic. It was also adventurous and inspirational. Aladdin was always venturing somewhere along the lines. Sometimes getting chased by the royal guards for stealing bread and then later trying to save everyone in the final showdown emerging victorious each time. This really made me want to explore places and get out more rather than just enclosing myself and stick to being a nerd. “Yes, I was a huge nerd back then”. I believe that some kind of drive for adventure is necessary to keep yourself in a flow in life. After all, you do get one life.
Watching this movie was not just all about it sparking my imagination. I also improved my vocabulary. As a kid I learned new words like “sultan”, “genie”, and “royal guards”. This expanded my general knowledge about different cultures like the way I immediately googled on my computer what a sultan and a genie is and the genie scared me because it was derived from “Jinns” which my mom would use to scare me for not going to sleep because I thought Jinns were the equivalent of demons.
All in all, Aladdin was a huge inspiration for me. The message I took from this movie is to always be true to yourself and not lose your way, your values are important so stick to them, and always be brave in the face of predicament or you will lose the battles in life. I really resonate with this movie on an emotional level because of its inspiring narrative, amazing adventure, and relatable characters. Aladdin influenced my admiration not only for the stories that have magic and internal love stories but also sparked my curiosity for adventure and exploring new things. This movie had a huge impact on me and it changed how I viewed the world and gave my life a whole new perspective.
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