How does that work out, actually? I have no idea. I mean, are genies immortal? If the cruise missile goes off will the genie be killed or what? And if the genie detects the incoming cruise missile could it wish it out of existence, or can genies only grant wishes to others?
At least in “Aladdin” it’s not made clear. The genie frequently violates or changes the laws of space and time purely for his own amusement, creating and destroying matter to simply emphasize a point he’s making. He also inadvertently gives Aladdin something (getting him out of the cave) when it’s not a wish, solely because Aladdin pushes his pride button and gets him to fail to notice that Aladdin did not actually make a wish; so, clearly, his execution of wishes is based on his perception of whether or not a wish is made, not the objective fact of whether or not it was made, and he can be convinced into admitting being wrong in this regard.
It’s also unclear how generic a wish can be. The genie states his master gets only three wishes and cannot wish for more. He’s very emphatic that the master gets just three wishes, but what constitutes ONE wish? For instance, if his master said “Make the cruise missile vanish,” obviously he could do that. But suppose the wisher said “Make it so that all weapons launched at Agrabah, from now until the end of time, fail” is that okay?
There’s also significant misunderstanding issues; Aladdin, for instance, wishes to be a prince. The genie fails to do that, instead simply creating the APPEARANCE that Aladdin is a prince. He is said to be from the sultanate of Ababwa (sp?) but the implication is that there is no such place and it’s all a show. It’s understood that while he’s dressed to the nines and has a coterie of servants and elephants marching through the streets of Agrabah, he isn’t really a prince at all, has to go by an assumed name, and admits later on he’s just a street kid lying. Had the genie actually granted his wish, he really would be a prince; some land, somewhere, would have recognized Aladdin as a prince in their royal family, and his family tree would have been retroactively changed to reflect that. He would have been just as much a royal as Princess Jasmine, no need to lie or use a fake name. So in this regard the movie is weirdly inconsistent. Later, when the genie turns Jafar into a genie, it’s the full effect; he really does make Jafar a genie. There’s no fakery about it. So why did he not make Aladdin a real prince?
In other words, Agrabah is one goddamn confusing place and we should at least try nuking it from orbit just to be sure.
Totally agree. In terms of what it actually means, probably that around 35% of Republicans and 45% of Trump supporters approve of bombing cities controlled by ISIS, and that 85% of people don’t recognize the name Agrabah, but assume that the question that they are being asked is actually relevant.
Exactly how many showings of Aladin have you been forced to sit through. That analysis looks like the outcome of a parent forced to watch a children’s movie on repeat far to many times.
It’s more of a hazard, in that you do athletic stuff in trunks, I suppose. Also, unless that gun is good with water, you’re gonna leave a pistol in your beach bag unguarded.