Aladdin: How Can We Be Free?

Disney’s Aladdin centers around a universal question: how do we achieve freedom? Support ScreenPrism on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7792695​

Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie each have their own freedom, but also constraints. It is only when they use their freedom to help others and build a better society that they are truly free.

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Transcript provided by Youtube:

00:03
The Disney classic “Aladdin” is full of extravagant displays of wealth, power, and magic.
00:09
But all of this is there to ask a basic, universal question:
00:12
“I’m listening.”
00:14
How do we achieve freedom?
00:16
Every main character struggles for independence.
00:19
Poor “street rat” Aladdin longs for the advantages of the rich.
00:24
Princess Jasmine would happily trade her royal position for Aladdin’s freedom to roam.
00:28
“You just feel trapped.”
00:33
And the nearly all-powerful Genie is the most trapped of all — a slave to the wishes of
00:38
his master.
00:39
Over the course of the film, the characters learn what it really means to be free.
00:43
Their happy ending only really comes when they start using their freedom to help others,
00:48
and they learn that freedom also has to be built into the legal foundation of society.
00:52
“Aladdin” is the most egalitarian and class-focused Disney movie.
00:57
Ultimately it argues that both free will and social power for all people are essential
01:02
to any civilized state.
01:04
“Some day, Abu, things are going to change.”
01:10
Aladdin and Jasmine experience oppression in opposite ways,
01:14
but for both, their social class is a prison.
01:17
Aladdin is a poor orphan with no way to move up the social ladder,
01:21
and no way to eat besides stealing.
01:22
“I steal only when I can’t afford.
01:25
That’s everything.”
01:26
He’s looked down on and detested by his society, which offers him no help, trust or
01:31
dignity.
01:32
“You’re a worthless street rat.
01:34
You were born a street rat, you’ll die a street rat, and only your fleas will mourn
01:41
you.”
01:42
He has a lot of a certain kind of freedom — free time, free movement and free will.
01:47
He can do as he pleases and make decisions for himself.
01:50
But still he can’t do what he’d like — because he has no money, opportunities or power.
01:56
So he can’t take control of his life and make his dreams a reality.
01:59
Jasmine has all the wealth and privilege anyone could dream of.
02:03
“I’ve never even been outside the palace walls.”
02:05
But she lacks the very basic independence that Aladdin or anyone living on the street
02:10
has.
02:11
“The law says you must be married to a prince by your next birthday.”
02:16
Her major life decisions are dictated by the law and the men in her life.
02:21
“How dare you?
02:23
All of you, standing around deciding my future!
02:27
I am not a prize to be won!”
02:30
So wealth alone doesn’t guarantee freedom, either, as it often comes with many social
02:35
constraints.
02:36
Jasmine is just as limited as Aladdin.
02:40
She can’t do anything with her privilege without free will,
02:43
and he can’t do anything with his free will without means and opportunity.
02:48
Whatever side of the class divide the characters fall on,
02:51
Aladdin makes it clear that the dividing line itself is a breach of freedom.
02:55
We can understand the parallels in their situations by looking at the concept of positive vs.
03:02
negative liberty.
03:03
Philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote a famous essay clarifying these two liberties.
03:08
Negative liberty is the freedom from external pressures and constraints.
03:12
Aladdin has a lot of this because he’s not tied to overbearing parents or needy dependents.
03:17
He’s his own man.
03:18
But he has no positive liberty, or the ability to act on his desires,
03:23
since he has no means or opportunity.
03:25
Meanwhile Jasmine has the lion’s share of positive liberty.
03:29
She has access to endless resources and luxuries.
03:31
But she has none of Aladdin’s negative liberty because her life is full of constraints.
03:36
One of Aladdin’s key mistakes is that he blindly thinks that
03:40
having wealth is everything, because he’s never had it.
03:43
So he doesn’t understand how Jasmine could also feel frustrated and trapped.
03:47
He tricks her into thinking he’s rich without understanding that this isn’t what matters
03:52
to her.
03:53
In fact, Jasmine falls in love with him despite his Prince Ali persona,
03:57
because he offers her something else that she’s never had before —
04:01
the experience of free movement through the magic carpet ride.
04:04
So eventually he learns that he was short-sighted not to imagine that
04:09
others could have different problems than he does.
04:11
And he was wrong to base their romance on dishonesty.
04:15
Ultimately lying and deception are also ways of taking away someone’s freedom of choice.
04:20
“Oh!
04:21
Wow!
04:22
Does it feel good to be outta there!”
04:25
Like Jasmine, the Genie is locked into a situation where he has many gifts,
04:29
but no free will to make use them.
04:32
The Genie is the most powerful character we meet — an incredible sorcerer — but he’s
04:37
a slave.
04:39
“Phenomenal cosmic power…itty bitty living space.”
04:43
He can grant any wish — except his own.
04:46
His golden bracelets look beautiful to us, but they’re really shackles.
04:50
“What would you wish for?”
04:52
“Me?
04:54
No one’s ever asked me that before.
04:56
Well, in my case…ah, forget it.”
05:01
“What?
05:02
Come on, tell me!”
05:05
“Freedom.”
05:06
So the Genie proves that power also doesn’t guarantee freedom.
05:10
And the film also uses the Genie to personify the lack of freedom that the central characters
05:14
feel —
05:15
however much they might seem to have from the outside.
05:18
Like Aladdin’s first interactions with Jasmine,
05:22
his initial reaction to the Genie shows us key differences in how various people think
05:26
about freedom.
05:27
“Provisos?
05:28
You mean, limitations on wishes?
05:32
Some all-powerful genie.”
05:33
Aladdin assumes that the best way to milk the Genie for all the wishes he can get is
05:37
to question his power.
05:39
Since Aladdin has almost no power to affect change in his life,
05:42
it stands to reason that he would think magic or wealth would be the most valuable things
05:47
to someone else.
05:48
But the Genie’s reaction tells a different story.
05:50
“Did you rub my lamp?
05:52
Did you wake me up?
05:54
Did you bring me here?
05:55
And all of a sudden you’re walking out on me?
05:57
I don’t think so!
05:59
Not right now!
06:00
You’re gettin’ your wishes, so sit down!”
06:03
Genie doesn’t care to brag about his magic abilities,
06:05
and he’s hardly offended at the suggestion that he isn’t all-powerful.
06:10
The Genie he’s offended that Aladdin might send him right back into the lamp
06:14
and squander the little freedom he has.
06:16
Genie actually sees Aladdin as one with the power,
06:20
because Aladdin has free will and controls the Genie’s fate.
06:24
“But to be free!
06:26
To not have to go, poof, what do you need?
06:29
Poof, what do you need?
06:30
Poof, what do you need?
06:31
To be my own master, such a thing would be better than all the magic and all the treasures
06:37
in all the world!”
06:38
So we see that great power can actually result in not being free at all,
06:43
as it can come with rigid conditions and burdens.
06:46
Isaiah Berlin argued that people’s freedoms can actually clash or contradict each.
06:52
Essentially, something I want to do might infringe on your freedom.
06:56
So Berlin wasn’t sure it was actually possible for everyone to have lots of both positive
07:01
and negative liberty
07:02
in a society where people want and value different things.
07:06
“Aladdin” also explores rules and restrictions to power and freedom.
07:10
The Genie outlines three unbreakable restrictions on his magic.
07:13
“Uh, rule #1: I can’t kill anybody.
07:16
So don’t ask.
07:18
Uh, rule #2: I can’t make anybody fall in love with anybody else.
07:24
You little punim there.
07:25
Rule #3: I can’t bring people back from the dead.
07:29
It’s not a pretty picture.
07:32
I don’t like doing it!”
07:33
These rules all relate to either the natural laws of life and death, or to free will.
07:38
No person should be able to control life and death, manipulate other people’s feelings,
07:42
or have the god-like omnipotence of unlimited wishes.
07:46
So ultimately there’s no such thing as unlimited power or unlimited freedom.
07:51
“The only way I get out of this is if my master wishes me out.”
07:55
“Aladdin” argues over and over in its story that we all have a basic right to freedom.
08:01
Any time this freedom is violated in the movie, things start to fall apart.
08:06
This happens most clearly when Aladdin goes back on his promise to free the Genie with
08:10
his third wish.
08:11
Denying the Genie his basic human rights leads to disaster for everyone.
08:15
“This is all my fault.
08:17
I should have freed the genie when I had the chance.”
08:21
Because Aladdin has treated his friend as a mere possession,
08:23
that possession — the magic lamp — can be stolen by Iago.
08:28
If the Genie were a free individual, of course none of this could happen.
08:32
But the Genie can’t escape, and he’s forced to make Jafar’s wishes come true because
08:37
he’s still a slave.
08:39
All this shows us that exploiting people for our own gain and acting like we “own”
08:43
them backfires on us.
08:45
“Genie, no!”
08:46
“Sorry, kid.
08:47
I got a new master now.”
08:50
Finally, Aladdin makes a sacrifice to give Genie his freedom,
08:54
instead of continuing to put his self-interest first.
08:56
He acknowledges that the Genie’s fundamental rights must come before anyone’s personal
09:02
desires.
09:03
“But what about your freedom?”
09:04
“Hey, it’s only an eternity of servitude.
09:07
This is love!”
09:10
“Genie, you’re free!”
09:12
As the Genie is wished free, his bracelets fall from his wrists like handcuffs,
09:17
creating a clear visual image of his liberation.
09:20
“Wish for something outrageous!
09:22
Say I want the Nile!
09:23
Wish for the Nile, try that!”
09:25
“Uh, I wish for the Nile.”
09:27
“NO WAY!
09:28
Hahahahahah!”
09:29
Liberating other people is the ticket to our own freedom.
09:32
Aladdin can only have his happily-ever-after once he learns to empathize with both Jasmine
09:37
and the Genie,
09:38
and understand that no one can live free and breathe easy
09:41
until everyone’s intrinsic rights are recognized.
09:45
The villain Jafar is the extreme example of not learning the lesson Aladdin does, of what
09:50
freedom is worth.
09:51
Jafar has absolutely no respect for other people’s free will or basic rights.
09:56
“He’s obviously lying.”
09:59
“Obviously?”
10:00
He sees other people as mere pawns in his game of pursuing wealth and absolute power.
10:05
“The one who has the gold makes the rules.”
10:08
But because he doesn’t understand the value of other people’s freedom,
10:11
he also not aware of the freedom he already has is worth — and this is his downfall.
10:17
“The genie has more power than you’ll ever have!”
10:19
He willingly becomes a genie for the promise of infinite power,
10:23
without understanding what that means.
10:25
Jafar has never understood what freedom means, or how it must co-exist with power,
10:30
so his fate of becoming a genie-slave is poetic justice.
10:36
The movie teaches that an ideal society must achieve a balance of free will, opportunity
10:43
and power.
10:44
This is the only way to guarantee true liberty for all.
10:46
After Aladdin frees Genie from slavery, everyone in Agrabah is much safer
10:51
because Genie can’t be stolen and used for evil purposes.
10:55
So a society that doesn’t guarantee all of its people’s freedom
10:59
is ultimately risking the good and security of the entire nation.
11:03
At the beginning of the film the Sultan insists that Jasmine obey a sexist, classist and outdated
11:09
law
11:10
And he suddenly realizes that he’s been trapping himself into following unfair laws,
11:14
when all along he’s had the power to change what’s unjust.
11:18
“It’s the law that’s the problem.”
11:21
“Father?”
11:22
“Well, am I Sultan or am I Sultan?
11:25
From this day forward, the princess shall marry whoever she deems worthy.”
11:30
Jasmine’s and Aladdin’s engagement at the end symbolizes them
11:34
combining their partial freedoms to form a new, fair society.
11:39
Genie draws the whole group into a magic bear hug —
11:42
these are all free equals from the highest to the lowest of society,
11:46
and Genie’s magic power is a part of all of them.
11:49
He shoots off into the sky and turns into a firework,
11:52
just like the fireworks we saw earlier when Jasmine and Aladdin fall in love during their
11:57
magic carpet ride.
11:58
The firework has become the ultimate symbol of the joy in feeling free.
12:04
Their happy ending once again is the experience of free movement and adventure.
12:08
And the real fairy tale ending is freedom for everyone.
12:11
The future must be bright for all, or it can’t be bright for anyone.
12:21
“Made you look.”

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This post was previously published on Youtube.
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