Christopher Wise on Aladdin in the Emperor's Old Groove

Author Christopher Wise brings up some interesting points in the "Notes from the Aladdin Industry: Or, Middle Eastern Folklore in the Era of Multinational Capitalism." In the later part of his argument, he goes off on some, what I think, far fetched theories about Eastern and Western law. However, he brings up an important point that really got me thinking about society today.

Wise states, "Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie are all victims who seek their freedom from social oppression, or from being "trapped" by the law and outmoded custom..." (106). He then goes on to talk about how Aladdin must steal food in order to survive and is "victimized by his social class status in  that he is born a street rat" (106). Aladdin's goal is to marry a princess in order to escape this lifestyle. Quoted above, Christopher Wise talks about how Aladdin is trapped by this outmoded custom of law; however, I believe this issue is still prevalent in society today. Like Aladdin, many people these days are born into poverty. They can barely live off of food stamps and may often have to find other methods to survive. In society today, especially with America's not-so-great education system, it is hard to break out of these social roles. A kid that is poor may only be able to learn to minimal amount taught in school, thus unable to use his knowledge to continue to grow academically. Already off to a slow start compared to kids in wealthy families, the opportunities are limited. A kid can't just go find a princess to marry. Life does not work like it does in Aladdin.

Disney does a good job portraying the lower class in Aladdin, but gives a false impression to viewers that moving societal classes is plausible, when in reality there are very limited examples in life supporting this theory. In order to do so, it takes a great amount of effort and determination, not the luck of marrying a princess.