It's one of the most timeless animated films of all time and the fourth movie created during
the Disney Renaissance period.
And with the live-action remake on it's way, we're looking back at the original animated
film with a lot of nostalgia.
Heart-warming and sweet (like most Disney movies), Aladdin is, beyond all, the story
of a poor boy who overcomes society's struggles and proves himself worthy of the Princess
he's fallen in love with.
Sounds innocent, so there couldn't possibly be anything dark about the movie, right?
Except maybe for Jafar, who, let's face it, is probably one of the darkest villains created
by Disney.
But, as it turns out, few people know that Aladdin actually hides some other dark secrets.
Or at least, that's what these theories suggest.
Like in the case of many other Disney movies, what you see is not always what you get.
These are Dark Theory's about Disney's Aladdin.
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whenever we upload.
Let's get started.
Jafar Was Just the Middle Man This theory sounds crazy when you first hear
it because, after all, Jafar goes a pretty long way to get his hands on the lamp.
Heck, he even kills someone to do it (and who knows how many others he murdered before
the movie starts?).
It takes a special kind of evil desire to do all that yet, when Jafar finally gets his
hands on the lamp, he doesn't know exactly what to ask of it.
You'd expect someone who has spent his life searching for a magic item like this to do
it for a very clear purpose but no, Jafar stumbles into his wishes and uses his last
wish kind of randomly, asking to become an all-powerful Genie.
Reddit user ctwstudios thinks this is a sign that Jafar was actually the middle-man and
that he didn't originally start searching for the lamp for his own benefit but for that
of his boss.
When he gets his hands on it, though, Jafar is corrupted by power and keeps the lamp for
himself.
So who is Jafar working for?
Well, here's the craziest part of this theory: he might actually be working for Jasmine.
Hear us out.
He couldn't be working for the Sultan because, well, let's be honest, he isn't the brightest
light on the Christmas tree.
Plus, even if the Sultan did want the lamp for himself, with his power, he wouldn't even
need back-alley methods like assigning Jafar to the task.
Iago and Abu seem to mostly be around for comedic purposes so we have to rule them out
too.
Jasmine, on the other hand, is a likely contender.
She is by far the smartest person in the movie.
And she shows how cunning she can be when she pretends to be in love with Jafar.
She wouldn't go public with her search for the lamp, but instead, she uses Jafar (who
is clearly infatuated with her) to find it.
When she is almost killed because of the lamp, she decides to free the Genie, rather than
have it in the hands of a manic monster ever again.
Seems like a stretch, but possible.
What do you think?
Aladdin Is Set in a Distant, Post-Apocalyptic Future
I bet you thought Aladdin was clearly set in Ancient Arabia, right?
Well, some think differently.
That it actually takes place in a post-apocalyptic future and here's why:
- When the Genie first gets out of the lamp, he says he's been there for 10,000 years;
- When Aladdin gets his makeover, the Genie says his current outfit is much too third
century'; - If you connect these two lines, you can
draw the conclusion that the movie isn't set in 1300 AD as we initially thought, but in
the year 10,300 (well, at least).
This is the foundation of the theory, but let's look at some evidence:
- The Genie is familiar with technology from our era (cars, for instance);
- He impersonates celebrities who were popular in the eighties and nineties (For example,
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson); - Iago possesses human-like intelligence,
so he must be genetically modified (plus, he can self-heal, as shown in the scene where
his feathers burn off only to grow back again just in time for the next scene although admittedly,
this can be chalked up as comedic creative decisions);
- Agrabah's fish seem to have been affected by some sort of radiation, making them giant.
(But interestingly, this might be tied in to the official SNES game, where an unexploded
atomic bomb appears in one of the scenes.).
- When he leaves to travel the world, the Genie returns with gifts from our era (which
might suggest he made those up so that Aladdin and Jasmine don't learn the truth about the
surrounding areas being a wasteland).
Now, I'll be honest with you every single one of these points can be easily counter-argued.
Like, for example, the timeline could start in 9000 B.C., which means that the action
is still happening in 1300 A.C. as initially thought.
But if that were the case, what's up with all the modern pop-culture references?
It's up to you to decide whether or not this theory makes sense but we have to admit, it
would be kind of awesome if it was true.
A Whole New World Is a Song about Sex There are a lot of sex-related Disney theories
going around and pretty much every single one of the major movies seems to be tainted
in this way.
In Aladdin, one of the main theories going around is that A Whole New World is not a
song about love, or the discovery of the world per se, but about the discovery of each other's
bodies.
According to this theory, when Aladdin asks Tell me, princess, now when did You last let
your heart decide?" he is asking her about having sex with him.
In the lyric "I can open your eyes.
Take you wonder by wonder Over, sideways and under On a magic carpet ride", the magic carpet
ride is, well, a metaphor for sex.
And when Jasmine says that every moment gets better, she is, you guessed it, talking about
sex.
This theory isn't even that crazy, given that the song might be nothing else than a metaphor
for making love - a technique similar to other Disney movies as well.
Most notably, The Lion King.
The Genie is A Manipulator The Genie seems like a nice, fun guy, but
what if he wasn't all that great?
Well, according to Redditor fantheories101, the Genie is actually pretty much a jerk who
plays everyone.
From the very first second he comes out of the lamp.
It all starts with the fact that the Genie tells Aladdin that he doesn't want to raise
the dead (meaning that he can, but he won't).
So, the Genie can refuse to grant wishes and he is not 100% bound to his owner only up
to a certain extent.
Furthermore, Aladdins first wish is to become a prince � and while the Genie dresses him
up as one, he doesn�t actually make him one.
In fact, to the end of the movie, Aladdin never becomes a prince (the Sultan only changes
the laws, so he doesn't have to be one to marry Jasmine).
Some say that this is just a trick the Genie plays on Aladdin to get back at him for having
tricked him in the first place.
Even with all this, the Genie doesn't become evil until he starts working for Jafar.
Since the Genie himself is the one telling the entire story of Aladdin, his perspective
is altered and he can present the facts not as they happened, but as he wants them to
be seen by those who listen to the story.
It might seem that he was forced by Jafar to do all those evil things but since he cannot
actually be forced to do anything (as shown before), the only conclusion we draw is that
he wants to do everything Jafar asks him to.
The reason?
The Genie might be angry at Aladdin for not having freed him.
Keep in mind that, although powerful, the Genie cannot free himself from the lamp because
he was bound to it by his creator.
In fact, the connection between the Genie and the lamp is so strong that, if the lamp
is destroyed, the Genie dies.
So, only the Genie's current master can free him from the lamp.
What the Genie wants from the very beginning is to be free and he is willing to manipulate
Aladdin into freeing him.
When this plan fails, the Genie tries to manipulate Jafar into freeing him.
When Jafar himself is tricked into becoming a genie, Aladdin's Genie gets very anxious
not because he didn't realize Jafar would be trapped in his lamp, but because he doesn't
want Jafar to use his third wish.
In the end, the Genie sees his own wish come true when Aladdin frees him but that does
not necessarily make us forgive all his previous plays.
Jafar Was the Good Guy Now, wait a second.
How could this seemingly evil villain be the good guy?
To understand this theory, go back to the beginning of the movie where the city of Agrabah
is already ran by Jafar (well, indirectly, through the Sultan who he's hypnotized)
As we can see from the introduction, Agrabah is actually a prosperous city under Jafar's
ruling.
The crime rates are very low, the economy is booming, and the citizens seem happy and
content with their lives.
By seeking the lamp, Jafar only wants to ensure his ruling will continue to bring the city
to new levels of prosperity and happiness.
He basically tries to defeat the Sultan (who, as we mentioned previously, is really incompetent
and passes laws on a whim), Aladdin (who, like it or not, is a conman), and princess
Jasmine (who is nothing but a spoiled princess out of touch with reality).
When you see things from this perspective, Jafar isn't so bad anymore, right?
Well, it's a nice thought I suppose.
The Entire Movie is About Aladdin's First Wish
As mentioned previously in our video, Aladdin's first wish is to become a prince and, according
to Redditor Undependable, everything that happens in the movie afterwards is nothing
but a path to making that wish come true.
The Genie is omnipotent, as he himself mentions it in the movie, and he can see up to a million
years into the future.
I guess that may explain the pop-culture references Everything the Genie does from the moment
he dresses Aladdin up as a prince is to set him up for success and make him win the heart
of Jasmine (which is actually Aladdin's true wish, as being a prince would just be a means
to be able to reach her).
Even Jafar is but a mere pawn in this grand scheme of things and the fact that the Genie
gets in his possession is nothing but a means to an end - because it allows Aladdin to come
out as the hero of the story and make the Sultan bypass his own laws to allow him to
marry Jasmine.
Of course, if you see this entire theory through the fact that Aladdin never gets to be an
actual prince (he only marries the princess), the entire theory crumbles into pieces.
But if you think of the fact that Aladdin doesn't want royalty, but Jasmine, the entire
theory makes perfect sense.
Just think of it, Aladdin's precise words aren't to be a prince but to be MADE a prince
which the Genie grants in the end through a series of Machiavellian schemes that push
Aladdin to the top of the social chain.
This entire theory doesn't sound that dark but if you consider the things the Genie does
when he is controlled (not actually controlled) by Jafar, you suddenly understand just how
much it takes to make Aladdin's wish come true.
What if instead of Aladdin, Jafar would have stumbled upon the lamp first?
What extent would the Genie have gone to for him?
Makes you think, right?
But those are our favorite dark theories about Disney's Aladdin.
Do you think any of them are true?
Or do you have your own dark theories about the film?
Let us know in the comment section below.
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notifications whenever we upload.
But most importantly, stay wicked.