Talk:Aladdin
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NPOV
[edit]I didn't realise Jews were infallible:(although propagating negative stereotypes does no one any good)
- The original full text includes a very antisemitic episode, usually omitted in the bowdlerized versions, in which the naïve Aladdin is cheated and exploited by a treacherous Jewish merchant, and is saved by the Jew's honest and upright Muslim competitor.
Surely these members of society are capable of committing crimes, fictional or not, no more or less evil than the rest. Is ANY depiction of a contemptuous black person an act of white supremacy?
Response: While there are those among any nationality or race who will commit wrong doings, they do not create these stereotypes. Rather the existence of a stereotype pushes individuals until they emulate it. This, in addition to the fact that it is perhaps a bit unnecessary to include nationality/religion/race with a criminal of certain practice. This inclusion seems to serve no narrative purpose other than to rally the reader, actively or passively against a common enemy. This is antisemitism in practice.
Setting
[edit]A great deal of "virtual ink" has been spilt over the setting of the original story (China or Muslim Middle East?). But provided we make it clear that the original text of the story is inconsistent, and that in fact different "re-tellings" set it in "Chinese" or "Middle Eastern" versions of Fairyland - is speculation about historical/geographic background either notable or indeed relevant? Just a thought - but one that is (probably) just worth thrashing out before we redo this section. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 01:07, 21 September 2021 (UTC)
Andersens Tinderbox
[edit]Why is there no mention of Andersens Tinderbox as an adaptation? It seems to me that besides having 1) a magic object, 2) rags-to-riches and 3) a magician who sends him underground to retrieve the magic object there is a fourth crucial and rather non-obvious, highly original element preserved by Andersen 4) transportation of the Princess to the boys’ room with raunchy implications in both tales. 2.86.149.188 (talk) 19:20, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
A very old "talk" entry seems to answer this one!
Alternative plot lines
[edit]There are numerous versions of the story - in general I don't think these are in themselves particularly notable, at least not here. Point is that [trying to include all of them] could quite easily overwhelm the article, and be more a source of confusion than anything else. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 00:21, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
Although we have since added a good deal about "versions" of the original tale rather than stories that simply have features in common. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 05:04, 29 January 2022 (UTC)
Still more Disney
[edit]For all its faults the (silly) Disney version of the story has been the "best-known" version since "that" cartoon came out. This very sad - since of course the storyline is not improved, not to mention other features - but it is patent fact, and, alas, not an opinion. A whole generation of (especially) Americans are in fact unaware of any other retelling, to the extent that historically this article has been frequestly edited to bring it into line with Disney. Most English speakers are aware of the difference between "best" and "best-known", one imagines. Soundofmusicals (talk) 08:35, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
Origins in the Iliad
[edit]It seems reasonable to draw a connection between the genie trapped in the lamp and Ares trapped in the urn, but (1) we should cite a folklorist or similar drawing that connection, not just draw it ourselves, and (2) we don't (at least here) have evidence that that's where Hanna Diyab got the idea, directly or indirectly. Chronodm (talk) 19:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
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