Aladdin Central Messageboard

[AladdinsGenie]

Tonight, well, last night, I decided that I should make an idiot's guide to Aladdin for all those who have cockamamie trivia or completely false rumors embedded in their heads complete with my own way of debunking it . I've already got at least two and a half pages (not double spaced) worth of a rant and I'm only to the part where Jasmine runs away.
But, I've realized that some of the things I am saying is basically the film commentary and trivia track from the DVD all rolled into one because I honestly don't think everyone realizes that Jasmine is 15 turning 16 or that Aladdin's design doesn't come from just Tom Cruise. I think that's some of the important things to know, and I know most of you guys here know, but not everyone else outside this fandom might not know.

So, I ask, which of the following should I do:
Just stick with the rumors (The "Take off your clothes" shizzle or the narrator isn't voice by Robin Williams [Which, I'll admit, thought for a long time myself because you'd think they'd give him that credit at the end of the movie and I've saw places that say otherwise.] ) and wrong trivia (People think Gazeem's name is Cassim or the Prince's name "Hacmed")
or...
Just do an in-dept "this is this" and "that is that" run-through of the movie, complete with information like where the animators came up with the designs for the characters, what and who each one of Genie's impressions are, symbolism and themes, etc.
But like I said, that last one sounds like the stuff that was already stated, but I think would be helpful for someone who isn't familiar with the fandom, but the first one addresses just the really silly and dumb things which really needs to be addressed although I'm sure it won't stop them from coming up again later on in life .

[Calluna]

Ooh, good idea; it reminds me a bit of the Mulan FAQ. I guess I'd say start with the rumors, and after you finish that decide whether to add the other stuff; maybe that would be a second project?

I'm interested in seeing that.

[Husse]

Just go with absolute "Agrabah for Dummies."
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[AladdinsGenie]

We'd be here forever. I think I am turning it into a FAQ thing for the movie, which includes the stupid rumors because they are usually asked in the form of a question, anyways.

[Hourglass]

Can't wait to read that... should be interesting. Let's just see how many rumors I've actually fallen for...
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MysticMeg's Stories on THE LIBRARY OF AGRABAH!!!

MEESH AND MYSTICMEG'S COMBINED STORY!!!

Just another weird lil' fanfiction obsession of mine...

[Calluna]

[AladdinsGenie]

I didn't even think about the voice actors thing. I basically went through the movie and thought of any questions someone might have, or I've heard. This is what I have for the opening scene:

1. Hey, my soundtrack has a different line than the movie version in the song "Arabian Nights". Was something changed?
-Yes, there was a changed lyric. Some Arabs groups found the line "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" to be offensive, so it was changed to "where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense".
2. Why don't we see the narrator again in the movie?
-The narrator, voiced by Robin Williams, is not in the actual story of Aladdin. He is telling the story, which has already happened. He later shows up in the second sequel to Aladdin, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, to sing the reprise to "Arabian Nights."
3. What happened to that thief Cassim when he wasn't the one who can enter the Cave of Wonders?
-Well, he died. And the name of the thief Jafar sends into the Cave of Wonders is Gazeem, not Cassim. Cassim is the name of Aladdin's father in Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Also, it was the name of one of Aladdin's friends in early versions of the script along with Babkak and Omar. The only difference is it was spelled with a 'K' instead of a 'C'. They even sung a song called "Omar, Babkak, Aladdin, Kassim". Pretty original, huh?

[Calluna]

While we're on the subject of that changed lines, we can debunk some of the individual claims about why it's anti-Arab/Muslim (the villains have darker skin; the villains have Arab accents while the heroes have American ones ).

[Hourglass]

[Vortex Dragon]

I've seen many articles about that. Sometimes i think they take it a little too seriously.
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[Jas]

Also in the vein of changed lines, why during One Jump Ahead in the movie Aladdin says "Abu!" when he sees Abu with all of that jewelry on, but on both of my cds at that part of the song it is some guy saying "Outrage!" instead?
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[Calluna]

You think Jasmine is normally proportioned?

As for voices, let's go down the list...

Aladdin - American
Jasmine - American
Genie - American
Sultan - English
Jafar - English
Iago - American (New York)
Rasoul - American

And people with Arab accents are... the narrator, Farouk, Gazeem, and lots of random merchants. No major villains or heroes.

[Nez]

Yeah, the soundtrack tends to be different from the movie.
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[Jas]

There's more than the one that I mentioned and the "cut off your ear" part?
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[AladdinsGenie]

Totally forgot about the anti-Arab thing even though I wrote a whole essay on it. I tend to put all that crockery out of my mind because as someone who is black, but very light skinned, I find all the crap about "Aladdin and Jasmine were made lighter to appeal to Americans" a bunch of shi..zzle. There can't be light-skinned Arabs? Don't even get me started

And I've got the changed lines where they are in the story like the one Jas mentioned and Jasmine's "But now from way up here"/ "But when I'm way up here" in AWNW...although I don't know why that last one was changed