The pursuit of "truth" always needs to pass the test of time and tribulation, and give up the arrogance of clinging everywhere, in order to have a new understanding of the things in front of you (including yourself)
This is the sixth article in the Disney Princess movie series review
The princess in this movie to be reviewed today is Disney’s first princess of color . Since then, Disney has embarked on the road of princesses of color in the 2D princess movie (Princess Jasmine-Poka Conti-Mulan) -Tiana). As the name of the movie implies, this film is also the only princess movie in which "the princess is not the first protagonist or even one of the dual protagonists" (although Princess Jasmine is the nominal heroine, but No matter how Deng Shen sees it, it’s the second protagonist of the film.)
Due to the adaptation of the corresponding legendary story, this stage also naturally jumped out of the geographic territory of Europe for the first time in the history of the princess movie and came to the mysterious Asia (shocking fact: later returned to the European continent-Scotland is not counted) Among them-Shang is actually Tangled for the first time in nearly twenty years?!). I have to sigh again here for Alan Menken’s powerful composing ability. Under the double shackles of the princess movie and the Arabian style, the film contains "Arabian Nights" and "Prince Ali" that quickly portray a Middle Eastern style. , And completed the political mission of the reserved column of the Alan Menken series of princess films-princess character song or love song duet song-with a full score of "A Whole New World", and also produced a Broadway full of wind and natural stage performance. It’s no surprise that the film's subsequent adaptation of the musical, "Friend Like Me", the character song "Friend Like Me", is still popular.
Go back to the movie itself. The previous five princess movies focused on True Love. The core conflicts of these movies are mostly whether true love is reached. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty relied on the kiss of true love to wake up, and the little mermaid needed the kiss of true love to reach a contract, the beast Real love is needed to regain the human body. But when it comes to Aladdin, true love seems to be less important-or rather, the "Love" in "True Love" becomes less important. Yes, even though Aladdin and Princess Jasmine finally achieved positive results, the combination of the two seems to be just a by-product of another topic that this film focuses on. This other issue is hidden in "Truth" in "True Love".
The true love
In the love line of this film, our protagonist Aladdin meets Princess Jasmine, who is forced to marry by her father at the market due to a chance and coincidence. Princess Jasmine's innocence and kindness made Aladdin, an orphan who has been at the bottom of society for many years, feel the deep resonance and attraction in his heart, but because of his humble status as a tramp, he dared not confess to her. Therefore, in the follow-up, the use of the magic power of the lamp god to transform into Prince Ali approached Princess Jasmine.
Obviously, Aladdin disguised as such a prince Ali is not the soul mate that Princess Jasmine really wants. For Princess Jasmine, the ideal love should be the confrontation between the true self and the true self . This true self does not include the whitewashing and painting of external social identities. The reason why she hates the many royal blind dates arranged by her father is that these princes who tend to be inferior in power all value her identity as a prince and daughter of a wealthy and enemy country, and her true self is only to marry the identity brought about by her. It's just an accessory that climbs in value .
Aladdin mistakenly believed that the identity shackles that Princess Jasmine hated was the only condition for her partner. In order to win Princess Jasmine's favor, he made various behaviors such as pretending to be a prince. Even after being discovered by Princess Jasmine that Prince Ali is Aladdin, Aladdin still pretends that he is just the prince who has been out of the palace because he is tired of palace life. It wasn't until Jia Fang revealed his true identity at the critical moment of life and death that it turned out that Princess Jasmine loves not Aladdin's identity as a prince, but his inner kindness and innocence.
One of the prohibitions is not to let people fall in love among the three aspirations of Djinn. It can be seen that, as a symbol of desire, the powerful lamp god cannot touch the core of "true love", which is truly important. On the contrary, false love is everywhere, but these false love are often the bait for people to use each other. At the critical moment when Aladdin went to rescue Princess Jasmine at the end of the film, it was when Jasmine was in a hurry that she pretended to be affected by the magic of the Djinn and pretended to be in a state of infatuation with Jasmine, which won a precious opportunity for Aladdin.
Professor Sun Zhongxing of National Taiwan University once had an open class called "Sociology of Love" (I even recommend it to everyone to watch), in which he proposed the eight-character policy of love- equal treatment and joint struggle . Among them, the four words "equal treatment" have made a good interpretation of Princess Jasmine's view of love: Although the influence of social identity on personal conduct may affect the choice and choice of love partners, once the other person is fancy, Then there is no need to bring social identities into the romantic relationship to make a distinction between the two people’s love relationship status; only when two people are equal and equally important members in the relationship, the two people have a relationship with each other. Only when the follow-up business of the company has a healthy and stable foundation, otherwise, the abnormal relationship will be cultivated.
In the previous review article on "The Little Mermaid", I once dissed that Prince Eric, even though he couldn't let go of the Ariel who had saved his life in his heart, still sent him to the door of Ariel who had transformed human legs. (At this time, I don't know that this Ariel is Pierier.) This act of devotion to express his joy. In this film, Princess Jasmine also encounters a similar stage. After Aladdin turned into Prince Ali, he took a magic carpet to visit Princess Jasmine at night. Although Princess Jasmine had not seen Aladdin's true face on the surface at this time, she had vaguely discovered that the person in front of her was the bastard Aladdin. , And only then agreed with him to go on the famous high-altitude night tour ("A Whole New World"). As a result, he was spared the dictum of "double-minded and double-minded, and a magic carpet seduce changed the heart." It can be said that the screenwriter has the greatest kindness to Princess Jasmine.
The true self: the true self, the false wish of the magic lamp
In the discussion of "truth", the film is not limited to love, but extends its meaning to the person's inner true self .
"True" must be set off by "false". The difference between true and false lies in whether one's own behavior is guided by illusory desires or whether one insists on the true self . Therefore, there is a series of farce concocted by Jia Fang's desire for power and wealth, and the irony of the almost omnipotent lamp god being imprisoned in a small magic lamp.
For Aladdin, his "truth" is embodied in his inherent kindness and ultimate pursuit of beauty . Whether it was Aladdin who tried his best to steal a piece of bread to make a living but generously gave it to the hungry poor children at the beginning of the film, or met Princess Jasmine who was blamed by the store in the market to rescue, or The lyrics in "One Jump Ahead (Reprise)" show the self-realization of the external identity of the tramp trapped in poverty (this is revealed in the song "Proud of Your Boy" in the musical version of Aladdin To be more straightforward, I personally think that this song is more suitable as the theme song of Aladdin's work than "A Whole New World"). The symbol of the TDP as vain desires , he appeared in a timely way of the good things (Princess Jasmine) pursuit of Aladdin will therefore embarked on a real abandoned by the pseudo detours, this has been the use of Aladdin Lamp The story of Wang’s desire to transform into Prince Ali and deflate in Princess Jasmine’s place unfolds.
I have to mention the setting of the wish of the magic lamp in this film . Contrary to the good things that the public thinks, as mentioned above, the magic lamp, as the sustenance of people’s vain desires, is the source of all evil in the film . Therefore, it was sealed in the magic cave early, and it has only in the thousands. The pure people who are still unmoved under the temptation of the treasure can enter the cave to obtain the setting of the magic lamp .
Even the Djinn himself, in the final analysis, is just a poor worm bound by his own great ability, and Jia Fang eventually becomes the Djinn , which is the ultimate irony of the end of the film for those who viciously chase power and strength. Therefore, in this film, besides the bright line for Aladdin and Princess Jasmine to realize the "true self " and the "true love" between the two, there is actually a dark line for the Djinn to realize self-realization . If we count the several wishes reached by the Djinn in this film, it is not difficult to find that the real wishes of Djinn are often completed by the Djinn on his own-to help Aladdin and Abu escape the magic cave and rescue Aladdin in the sea.
Among the wishes fulfilled by the master’s instructions, except for Aladdin’s last wish to let the Djinn free, almost all can only bring about terrible results for the master -transforming Aladdin into Prince Ali and letting Jia Fang Transform into a sultan, let Jia Fang become the most powerful magician, let Jia Fang become a lamp god. Therefore, Aladdin’s release of Deng God at the end of the film is actually a hint that Aladdin and Deng God have completed the persistence of the "true self" and the road of self-realization at the end of this journey - giving up their attachment to vain desires. , In order to achieve true freedom . From the point of view of the central idea of the film, the dark line of Deng Shen’s self-realization is more important than Princess Jasmine’s search for true love, so I said at the beginning of this article that Deng Shen is the second protagonist of the film.
On the other hand, Jia Fang's companion, his obsession with the magic lamp completely fascinated him. From abducting Aladdin into the magic cave, to hypnotizing the sultan's intention to marry Princess Jasmine, it can be described as everything. Under the infinite expansion of desire, Aladdin finally discovered his weakness. Under the stimulus of words, he made a wish and turned himself into a lamp god, but finally fell into the barrier of his desire to reap the rewards.
Therefore, if you can clearly see the setting of the magic lamp in this film, it is not just a prop to help Aladdin and Princess Jasmine realize true love, but a manifestation of how to stick to the true self and gain true freedom . This film The exploration of "truth" and the reflection on vain desires are ready to come out.
The truth of the picture: a leap in picture quality brought about by new technology
The core idea of the film has been discussed, and at the end I have to mention the picture factors that are rarely mentioned in the previous reviews. The reason why the picture is mentioned is because the picture quality of the film is still outdated to this day . When revisiting the first five princess movies and even "Pocahontas", the picture is beautiful, but you can more or less feel the age of the movie from the picture (for example, when watching "Beauty and the Beast", I I sometimes feel surprised: Huh? When I watched it back then, the picture didn't seem to be so broken). The enduring quality of "Aladdin" has to be attributed to its extensive use of 3D technology and background blur technology.
Unlike the 3D CG technology that was still new at the time, the glimpse of the last princess movie "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" spared no effort to use this technology in the depiction of Arabian customs. Whether it’s the scene of Aladdin’s thrilling escape in the magic cave, or the most famous bridge where Aladdin and Princess Jasmine travel in the night sky, 3D technology has played a vital role. These shots are still lifelike today. It is full of sense, not to mention that in 1992, the game industry has not officially entered the 3D era.
In addition, the film also applies the background bokeh technology that has never been used in the previous princess movies. When close-up of characters, with the slight push and pull of the lens, it can present a very realistic sense of depth, so that the audience can be further inserted into the magical Arab world. Therefore, from the perspective of the presentation effect of Arabia, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the Disney princess movie with the best picture quality in the 20th century.
In fact, many of the opinions in this review are things I haven't found at all in my previous viewings. At that time, I felt that this movie was just an adaptation of the princess movie core wrapped in a legendary story. I didn't expect that this revisited the impression of it in my heart completely.
Perhaps this phenomenon is also in line with the enlightenment given to us by this film: the pursuit of "truth" always needs to pass the test of time and tribulation, and give up the delusion of clinging to each other in order to have a brand new view of the things in front of us (including ourselves). Understand .
I would like to encourage everyone on the road to get rid of the fake and the real, and by the way, look forward to the live-action remake of Aladdin that will be released in 19 years.
The next part of the evaluation will be "Pocahontas (Pocahontas)", which can be called the prototype of the "Avatar" script, so stay tuned~
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