I don’t think Genie could have better demonstrated how dense Aladdin can be when it comes to women.

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“Women like it when you notice they’ve changed their hair.” Pfft what.

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“When you’re helpful.”

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“Sympathetic.”

Even if he’s not exactly right, it’s not like she’s not obviously right there.

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And it’s only when she walks right up to him that he finally realizes he should probably mention he has a girlfriend. Naturally, she’s dejected but agrees to help him find her. When they do Aladdin seems confident that making Jasmine and Sadira interact as much as possible will help her get the message and not create awkwardness at all.

She’s less than thrilled when Jasmine shows off the silk she’s buying. 

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“Kill me now.”

I kind of appreciate that she’s sad that it turns out Aladdin has a girlfriend, but she’s not scheming or being rude to him (though he could have brought that up sooner) or even to Jasmine. When she can slip away she’ll mope and then probably move on.

Until the guards show up again and her “fruit inspector” cover is blown, and she learns that Jasmine is the princess. 

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ALSO THANKS FOR NOT EXPLAINING THAT WAS YOUR IDEA, ALADDIN.

She ducks into an old abandoned building and falls through three floors. Beneath the city is a chamber with odd symbols and a booming disembodied voice.

But before this we have the uncomfortable moment where she mulls over learning Jasmine is the princess. Because “how can I compete with that?” …Okay, so maybe she wasn’t intending to move on. I’m mostly sad that she thinks she has to compete. Read this blog and find a better potential boyfriend, Sadira.

Anyway, disembodied voice.

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This episode would take a dark and interesting turn if she wound up releasing the Evil Dead or something.

I really don’t like how this episode starts with an obvious “if only Jasmine was more like me and didn’t care how I dressed” undertone so that when Sadira appears it’s exactly what Aladdin is quietly hoping for.

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Our first look at Sadira is pretty impressive, considering she perpetrates some gymnastics that even Aladdin couldn’t do in his very first appearance.

And seeing her chased by the guards he of course thinks it’s a good idea to help her escape. It’s not like the guards’ boss isn’t out shopping with him or anything and might be able to help.

So what transpires is a needlessly complicated lie about her being an official fruit inspector, who is undercover. Secret shopping and all. So once they’re gone Aladdin explains he’s had to avoid the guards himself before. Sadira is just starry-eyed that he went out of his way to save her.  And all in all he’s using pretty much the same tone and lines he used when he first rescued Jasmine.

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Even Abu can sense the pattern here.

I’m sure Aladdin doesn’t mean to lead her on because as soon as she starts responding to his kindness a little too fast he hits the brakes and backs away. I honestly think he didn’t know what he was doing and forgot who he was for a bit, because I suspect he picked up at least a few girls before he got with Jasmine. For a second it probably felt like old times.

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Seriously Sadira wat.

And when he leaves, Sadira is instantly obsessed. He’s gone for less than two seconds before this happens:

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Now I know this character will develop as time goes on, beyond this initial stage of obsessive boychasing, but it’s this first moment really makes me wonder why people ship her with Mozenrath (who never even meets her in the series). Right out of the gate, anyway – I could see good writers developing it in an interesting fashion. But in what situation that doesn’t involve him being a completely reformed person do you see her not winding up dead before the first commercial break?

Jasmine’s trying to have nice clothes made for me! Masculinity in danger!

I’m confused; isn’t Omar a fruit vendor? Why’s he peddling fabric now?

Jasmine wants to make Aladdin look DASHING! Omar suggests burlap.

When Omar suggests silks and leads her off to show them to her (…I’m not sure where, since he’s just got the stall), there’s an uncomfortable moment where the rest of the group starts to tease Aladdin about it.

Like silks are girly or something. And that would be baaaaad. That might say something about his masculinity or his sexual orientation.

Limpwristed gestures? Really? Yeah, I’m pretty much already done with Aladdin’s friends in this episode.

That includes you, monkey.

Fight the patriarchy and wear silk, Aladdin.

Disney, doing this in cartoons just tells kids it’s okay to treat their friends this way when they do something that defies “conventional” gender norms. It’s really not okay.

Production Code Episode 14 – Strike Up the Sand

By special request, I’m skipping ahead to Sadira’s introductory episode. She still comes pretty early in the production order compared to others, such as Mirage (who won’t appear until PC episode 43) and Mozenrath (who doesn’t put in his first appearance until PC episode 70).

Remember my ask box is open for special requests. Just know that if it’s for a character with multiple episodes, I won’t do one of their later appearances until after I’ve done their introductory episode.

Conclusion: Aladdin didn’t learn anything. (Aladdin Might Be an Asshole, part 6)

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We end this episode with Aladdin boasting that he took care of it. Even though technically Genie did all the work. The episode decides that if Aladdin is going to stubbornly refuse to learn his lesson it’ll just dole out some karma instead.

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We close on Aladdin being pelted with snowballs, and the last sound we hear is a high-pitched squeal when one probably catches him right in the ear (seriously, fuck snowball fights).

So basically…we have an episode where a significant flaw is introduced, or played upon (again, actually), and nothing is learned from it. In the last episode, Aladdin had to face the very real consequences of losing his friend who he sold like he was his property. All because of his ego.

Aladdin recognizes that he’s a hero. He’s confident in his abilities as a hero by now, so it makes sense that he’d show it. However, he’s come a long way from the “diamond in the rough” – one “whose worth lies far within.”

Because he wears it on his sleeve now. When he gets cocky, he has trouble apologizing. He managed it in the last episode but there’s never one in this one. Hence the snowball pelting. This is not a person who wears his mantle humbly. When he told Frajhid he could get him an audience with the Sultan he was completely taking advantage of his own notoriety. He was being self-important, and he never got it through his head that this was a problem.

I don’t think this necessarily makes him a bad character. I think he’s a very good character. He should have flaws, because people have flaws. What’s important, here, is that while he didn’t learn a lesson, there were still consequences for his actions.

I look forward to seeing this explored in future episodes.

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This is normally about the time in an episode when a character should be learning their lesson. (Aladdin Might Be an Asshole, Part 5)

GET READY TO BE DISAPPOINTED.

Hold the phone, kid. Iago conned you into going into the Ice Palace and then not leaving right away. That was all on him. But if this was really about you being too gullible NOT to do what he said, then you would have listened to him when he said it was a bad idea to bring Frajhid back to Agrabah.

Everything that happened after the Ice Palace is 100% your fault.