introduction
Disney subverted our perception of elves in a bottle with a blue Will Smith, but the well-known Arabic love story of Aladdin swept the world's screens.
The story of Aladdin is from the Arabic folktale collection One Thousand and One Nights. Ordinary beauties all take beauty to their deaths, but Shan Ruzod continues to live by storytelling, saying a thousand and one nights, and finally impresses the murderous king.
Among them, "Aladdin" is the adventure of a nameless boy. The spirit in the bottle that fulfills the wish, and the love in an exotic scenery, are the reasons for its extraordinary magic.
But who knows, in the original story, Aladdin is actually a native Chinese guy?
● A classic image from Disney's classic animated film Aladdin
This is not nonsense.
In the original 101 Nights setting, Aladdin's home is located in western China, his father is a tailor who died early, and he himself is a good and lazy naughty egg.
"Once upon a time, in distant China, there lived a hard-working tailor Mustafa. He lived in poverty, working in the shop all day long, supporting his family. Because of the precarious situation, he could not save his property for his wife and son to enjoy after death.
Mustafa had only one son, named Aladdin, who was regarded as a jewel in the palm of his hand. ”
This also became the original inspiration for Westerners when adapting Aladdin's story. In their imagination, aladdin's image came alive into a hodgepodge of impressions of the East.
● In 1928, an American painter illustrated Aladdin in one thousand and one nights
In this illustration drawn by the Americans, Ting Xie does have a bit of a Chinese flavor, and the princess is like a Chinese. But Aladdin himself was wearing a costume and his face was exceptionally dark. This made any Chinese look at it and had to laugh dumbly. The reason behind it, I am afraid to say back to the origin of the book "One Thousand and One Nights", and the adaptation of it by Westerners.
"One Thousand and One Nights" was not completed by a single author, but a story that has been circulating in the folk since the eighth and ninth centuries AD, which can be said to be passed down by word of mouth and has been passed down to the present.
This collection of folktales is actually a collection of legends from the Arab region: partly from Persian and Indian folktales, partly from popular stories in the Arab dynasty centered on Baghdad, and others from Egypt.
But in these stories, most of the characters' names are Arab at first glance. It's hard to imagine Chinese could be called "Aladdin" — unless he's a Shanghainese.
● Illustration of Aladdin, 1890
One Thousand and One Nights contains not only traditional Arabic folktales, but also legends from India, Egypt and other places. In these stories, "China" is actually a place name that appears frequently.
Just as we regard Arabia as a foreign land and like to add some exotic colors to the story, the Arabs also use China as a synonym for romantic far away. Using China as the background is actually just adding a little material to the story.
In 1704, through the translation of the Frenchman Garland, the first edition of One Thousand and One Nights was published in Europe. Naturally, in the eyes of Europeans at that time, Aladdin was indeed a Chinese.
Westerners have long heard of these Arab folktales. Many writers have drawn inspiration from this collection of exotic works. Tolstoy, Voltaire, and Goethe were all influenced by this collection of folk tales.
Antoine Garland, the Frenchman who brought the Thousand and One Nights into Europe
Interestingly, the story of Aladdin and the lamp does not appear in any Arabic account, but the translator himself listened to a Syrian scholar, and he added it to the book.
So none of us know how much of this story is Garland himself adding oil and vinegar.
The success of One Thousand and One Nights in Europe after its publication allowed many of its stories to enter the theater and begin a lengthy stage adaptation.
Aladdin is one of them. In fact, Aladdin is often adapted into pantomimes, with the same background as the original story, but set in Beijing.
Pantomimes are usually musical comedies performed at Christmas and New Year's. In the performance, the actors do not speak, relying on body language to express the plot.
Most pantomimes are based on well-known myths and fairy tales, because these stories are more comedic. If you see a clown in a striped top and a whitewashed face, he's probably acting a pantomime.
● The classic outfit of the pantomime clown - white face + striped shirt
In 1788, when Aladdin's story took to the stage of the English Theatre. The playwright, John O'Keeffe, even wrote a song about the play, specifically exhorting the British not to be fascinated by Chinese porcelain and to buy more local products.
It can be seen that edutainment is really a principle that has been consistent with the East and the West for eternity.
● Late 19th and early 20th century, Aladdin's theater posters and costume designs
Because it was the Qing Dynasty at that time, Aladdin himself also had a hairstyle with a braided head, and he was also wearing a horse coat, and he was like a Qing Dynasty boy.
Given that Aladdin's father was named Mustafa, his unlucky nameless mother was named "Ching Mustapha" (Ching Mustapha) in the 1813 British adaptation.
Later, the lady was renamed "Widow Twankey" (Tunxi Widow). Because the British began to drink tea at this time, the tea leaves of Tunxi in Anhui Province crossed the ocean and became a symbol of China.
Widow Twankey – Mother in Aladdin's play
This impression continued until the beginning of the 20th century, and the subsequent transformation began with the world-famous Disney Animation Company.
Disney's classic animated film Aladdin is disconnected from these pantomimes. Its immediate inspiration was the 1940 colour film Baghdad Wonder Thief, which won the 13th Academy Award.
In "The Strange Thief of Baghdad", there is an Arabic style everywhere. The plot of the story is that a courtier who knows witchcraft imprisons King Amai in Baghdad. Amai was helped by the gods and escaped. After a series of fights and tribulations, he finally returned to the throne.
The story is based on Arabic mythology, and the actors are naturally looking in this direction. It can be seen that Aladdin's red shoulders and the princess's clothing have been absorbed by Disney and transformed into a cute snitch on the screen - Aladdin.
● The poster for the 1940 movie Baghdad Mystery Can see some classic elements in future Disney adaptations
The film adaptation is set in Baghdad, and Disney's film was supposed to follow this — but because the first Gulf War broke out, it would have been a bit awkward to do so, so it was changed to a fictional city.
Due to the popularity of Disney movies, Aladdin also quietly transformed from Chinese to Arab. Since then, in our cognition, the classic image of Aladdin has been re-frozen.
Such images even flowed back into the Arab countries. In Syria, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, Aladdin stamps based on Disney movies can be found.
Interestingly, if anyone wears a horse's coat to play Aladdin now, it will be asked by everyone: "When did Aladdin Chinese?" "No one knows that this is the setting of the original story.
It can be seen that a widely disseminated work has the powerful power to reverse the inherent impression in itself. Cultural transmission is like this, when the brilliance in front of us cannot be erased from the mind, everything will accumulate with time and become an indestructible inherent label in our hearts.
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