Erin Addison's Saving Other Women from Other Men: Disney's Aladdin brought up many good points. I found Addison mainly focuses on Jasmine and Aladdin's roles in comparison to Islamic and American cultures. She states, "Aladdin's missionary project replaces Islamic Law, social codes, and local aristocracy with American individualism, romance, and the aristocracy of wealth" (page 8). This meaning, Aladdin represents American culture that takes of Islamic culture by influencing Jasmine. I especially enjoyed how Addison goes into the physical descriptions of the main characters. She talks about how Aladdin is much more American looking while the others are much more "Arabic" with thick facial hair and heavy accents. This helped me see Addison's point that Disney is clearly portraying Aladdin as different. Addison then goes on to describe Jasmine's role as a "legal tender, the currency traded in the economy of male relationships" (page 8). She describes that Jasmine does not have real power in the film and can even be thought of having only looks and not brains. Because of the ownership of Jasmine, Aladdin ultimately becomes powerful and able to use his "American" influences to impact the Arab world by changing the laws freeing women from marriage.

In general, I thought Addison did not effectively organize her essay. Mainly because of the beginning of her essay. The first part of the essay got confusing when she began talking about orientalism. I'm pretty sure she never fully explained the idea of orientalism, or did so too late in the essay. This confusing beginning made it a bit hard for me to follow along in the essay. Once I got to the descriptions of their appearances I began to follow along better. The later part of her essay was better organized. I understood that Addison was then explaining Aladdin's role and Jasmine's role. Finally, I especially liked Addison's final points about the idea of freedom. She brings up the point that in Aladdin freedom ultimately means wealth and political power. This got me thinking about what freedom really is. After all, Aladdin suggests that Aladdin was unable to be free because he was trapped by poverty. Ultimately some may argue he was freed by "love" but this love comes along with a plethora of wealth, because after all, Jasmine is still a princess. So in order to be completely "free" in today's society, does one need wealth and power to fulfill these dreams of freedom?