Film
During Disney's heyday, Aladdin, one of the best-loved Classics to date, was released. With its epicism, memorable music and sentiment, it brings to the big screen the Persian tale of Aladdin and the magic lamp, as told in The Arabian Nights, taking up the same theme that it also deals with in a certain sense in Dumbo and Beauty and the Beast: do not be fooled by appearances, because what counts is what you have inside. A moral that runs through the whole film, expressed both by the protagonist himself, defined more than once as "a diamond in the rough", and by the magic lamp, at first glance an object of little value surrounded by jewels, gold and precious stones, but which later turns out to contain the cosmic powers of the Genius. The latter, in particular, is the maximum spokesman for the comic and humorous element, perhaps the most characteristic element of the film, thanks to the incredible performances of Robin Williams in the original language and Gigi Proietti in Italian.
Art
To people curious about how the Great Sphinx of Giza lost its nose, Disney gives them a compelling answer. While most people believe that it was the work of Napoleon's soldiers during their time in Egypt, the film shows us how the flying carpet that accompanies Aladdin and Jasmine around the skies of the world actually ends up distracting the sculptor who is working on the Sphinx, thus causing its nose to unintentionally fall off. In this way, Walt Disney playfully solves the enigmatic mystery surrounding the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Another wonder we can learn about by watching the film, albeit with due differences, is Princess Jasmine's royal palace inspired by the marvellous Taj Mahal: it is perhaps the most famous monument in India and is located in the city of Agra (in the film Agrabah). However, the original would not really be a palace, but a gigantic mausoleum: the building was in fact constructed in 1632 by the emperor Mughal Shāh Jahān in memory of his beloved wife Mumtāz Maḥal, who died very young. It is made entirely of white marble, and is considered one of the seven wonders of the world, although unfortunately we do not know the name of the architect who designed it.
The Taj Mahal, however, is not the only famous building to have inspired a Disney princess' castle. That of the prince in Snow White, for example, is based on the architecture of the Alcázar castle in Segovia, Spain, a fortress dating back to the period of Arab rule, which was modified and extended in the 1400s. Later, in 1959, we saw Bavaria's most famous castle in the film Sleeping Beauty. Built from 1869 onwards and designed by a stage designer, Christian Jank, Neuschwanstein is the fairy-tale castle par excellence. It is not a real castle, in the sense that proper castles are only medieval castles, i.e. fortresses that had the purpose of protecting the inhabitants or had military functions. Their towers, battlements, and mighty walls had very specific warlike purposes of defence. This 19th-century building, on the other hand, is purely decorative, born at a time when people looked back on the Middle Ages with nostalgia.
External Links
Watch Aladdin on Disney +
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