So my sister watched the 1992 Disney version of Aladdin with her kids sometime during the week. She said they loved it and that they wanted to watch it with me since I was sitting them tonight. During the musical sequence where Aladdin is running from guards the youngest asks why he's being chased. I tell him because he stole some food. He asks why he stole it and I say because he was hungry. He asks why Aladdin didn't just buy it and I tell him he's poor. So then he asks why didn't Aladdin just get a job? That question stumped me because I don't know enough about modern Middle-Eastern culture, politics, and religion let alone old Arab culture, politics, and religion to give a definitive answer. So I told him ask his mother when she got back. How would you have responded?
How do you explain Aladdin?
- Thread starter sequio
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Well the cartoon didn't exactly deal with modern arab culture it was set waaaayyy back in the past infact. But in that part of the world even today for someone to hire you your family had to have at least a "slightly above horrible" honor standing. They are big on that there. Even today a father can do something that his grown sons had nothing to do with and shame them so badly that they will take thier own life. So maybe Aladdin's family members did something in the past to where no one would consider hiring him to do even the lowliest of jobs.
I'd have said that he's a street rat, noone wants to employ him because he has no education or training in whatever job he would've done. Either that or said because he's a lazy git who idolises theft and stealing. But the second one is slightly less nice 
"Don't answer back" Slap to the head,
jk jk
Just say that times were different and people couldn't just apply for jobs, so they had to do whatever they could to survive.
(Whenever a Disney movie or Aladdin is mentioned it makes me think of the new Prince of Persia.)
jk jk
Just say that times were different and people couldn't just apply for jobs, so they had to do whatever they could to survive.
(Whenever a Disney movie or Aladdin is mentioned it makes me think of the new Prince of Persia.)
He was an orphan and had been living on the streets since he was a child. He didn't know a trade, didn't have an education...the only way he knew to survive was by stealing and/or begging. Very hard to get a job with no skills, and once you're past a certain age, even getting an apprenticeship would be very hard.
The basis for alot of employment in not only Ancient Middle Eastern culture, but European, Asian, and EurAsian cultures as well at the time had to do with family. Businesses were passed down through families, merchants preferred to hire relatives and, if not, hire people who came from other respectable families. This created a class of beggers, streetrats, and disenfranchised. These people had not the connections to obtain a well-enough paying job or even an apprenticeship with a guild or artisan. Beggars weren't were generally not even trusted with jobs like street sweeping. These people wandered through cities, towns, and countrysides, subsisting on the kindness of religious groups and individual patronage if they were lucky, but many would rather not live their entire lives struggling to barely stay alive on their knees before kings, so many turned to petty theft and crime to stay alive.
Bwahaha my sis just told me "YOU SUCK!" when I told her about it. I like the feedback. Basically Aladdin was a victim of circumstances without modern conveniences to aid him in becoming a productive citizen. So gonna tell the kids be thankful they don't have to live like Aladdin. I think I just ruined a Disney moment for them (it was bound to happen eventually).
Even in western standards, getting a job (espiecally because of the economy now) isnt very easy at all... just imagine trying to get one without the help of nice clothers, good groming and a decent education/job history..... I can tell you it is hard enough trying to get one WITH all that stuff :|
This is why I don't like Disney ripping off the tales of the knights. Aladdin, in the original story, wasn't a 'street rat.' Yes he was poor and lazy but he wasn't a thief, had a mother and a home. The story also contains two djinns, a lesser and greater, and a lot more then three wishes.sequio said:
As for the Disney version and an answer: A crippling economy completely controlled by a few wealthy families that kept it that way as they wanted no competition. These families looked down on the not-wealthy families as nothing more then a disposable workforce to be brutally beaten. Most of the lower classes where nothing more then slave labour to these rich people and Aladin wasn't willing to be someone's slave...
True or not, I can't really say, but if it is Disney then your not dealing with reality at all. Your dealing with a western story idea wrapped up in the dressings of the Persian setting to make it seem exotic. If they are allowed to butcher history then you can too when answering questions based on that butchered history!
Indeed, in those days to get anywhere you had to be born into a family that was wealthy. Castes where very much a reality, as they are still today but back then they where the building blocks of society. Aladdin original trade would of been a tailor, not a very wealthy trade as his family was barely making ends meet even while his father was alive but as that was his fathers trade it was the only trade available to him.Erana said:
There is one tale I want to inform people of where this is NOT the driving point of the story: Five wise words. The driving force in that story was by living a life without greed one may never become wealthy but will live to a ripe old age, often finding a happiness that power and money can never truly bring.
All the situations the main character would of been pulled into if he hadn't heeded those five wise words would of ended with his death.
My guess is that he's an orphan and seemingly abandoned, so he's poor and doesn't have a trade. Usually you learn a trade from your male relatives, without that your choices are severely limited. Thieving just seems to work for him and is easier than being a hard laborer.