Timeline for Why the Dearth of Wishes at the end of Aladdin?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 9:31 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Dec 29, 2019 at 2:26 | comment | added | Gothamite24 | I think, at the very least, it could be considered a bit of a plot hole. | |
| Oct 12, 2014 at 15:09 | comment | added | Nicholas | @Shisha You have a point, except that after so much slavery, having a friend willing to sacrifice to much to set me free (something no one in recorded history had ever done) would have made me desperate to do everything I could to repay him. I think any decent person in the Genie's place would have been the first to think of the idea and then offer it, taking the lack of choice argument off the table. | |
| Oct 11, 2014 at 2:58 | comment | added | Shisa | @Nicholas To me, at least, there's a HUGE difference in after a hard day's 'work' vs 'slavery'. I wouldn't mind 3 more pinches after a hard day's work of getting pinched a million times either, but I would mind 3 more pinches after a hard day's slavery of just 10,000 pinches. It's the lack of choice or the ability to say no, and being on the mercy of this other person, that makes the difference. (in the movie, neither Aladdin nor Genie seem to be anticipating staying together once Genie's free, so I don't think 'continue wishing once Genie is free' was on anyone's mind) | |
| Oct 11, 2014 at 2:45 | comment | added | user20155 | Seems like everyone is forgetting that the Genie doesn't lose his powers when he becomes free. He's just free Genie... a Free-nie if you will. By Aladin sacrificing his happiness for his friend Genie, he proves that Genie isn't just his property his is his friend. Which is why the Genie stuck (around in the series) and used his magic for his friends all the time, because he was free to do anything. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 21:09 | comment | added | Nicholas | @Shisa I understand your point, but that's why I said in my comment "after a hard day at work". Again, yes, after all that time if I could bring immeasurable joy to the entire lives of my friends (not to mention the millions they could help) by enduring another 3 pinches after already going through 3 million, my answer stands. What's the difference between 3,000,000 and 3,000,003 by that point? Especially when the end of it all is so near. Genie made an incredible offer, but they all seem to have missed the perfect middle ground on that one... | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 21:06 | comment | added | neminem | I don't think it would be a dick move at all. If I were given the genie's powers and corresponding drawbacks, I absolutely would want my wife, parents, cousins, etc. to all make 3 wishes, except for one person who only gets two and uses the last one to release me from the drawbacks, if I knew that upon being released, I'd lose the corresponding powers. Presumably the real answer is: because neither of them had any way of knowing in advance that upon being released, he'd lose most of his power. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 17:39 | comment | added | Shisa | @Nicholas Also, Genie offered his freedom for Aladdin getting to wish his third wish. But Aladdin, thankfully, put more stock in being a friend than being a dick. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 17:34 | comment | added | Shisa | @Nicholas It's really not equivalent to a single arm-pinch though. It's more like if you'd been stuck getting pinched against your will so that other ppl could get 8mill for years and nobody would help you because 8mill and then your friend comes along and promises he'll stop you from getting pinched - then pinches you for the 8mill, and gets all his other friends to come and pinch you for 8mill each too. After that, even if he did follow through and get it stopped, you and that guy wouldn't really be friends anymore. You might thank him for the help, but friends? I don't see how. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 16:29 | comment | added | Matt Gutting | @Nicholas I would. I'd consider that friendship is not calculable in terms of money; it's a category mistake to try and make such a calculation, and if a person pinched my arm for $8 million (without discussing with me first), I'd be very reluctant to have them continue to be my friend. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 15:40 | comment | added | Nicholas | I don't buy the 'good person' argument at all. If someone offers my friend $8,000,000 to pinch my arm I won't consider him a bad person if he takes it...I'll consider him an idiot if he doesn't (even if I just put in a full work day at a manual labor job). It's a simple matter of cost/benefit ratio; the genie has spent millennia in the lamp and here we're talking about 5 extra minutes in exchange for immeasurable good for his friends. If anything I'd call him the bad person for not offering it! I think the fear of power corrupting is the only real rational reason. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 14:44 | comment | added | Doc | "Oh, I know you've been a slave your whole life, and I told you I'd free you. But you know, while you are my slave, go pick some more cotton. Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to setting you free?" | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 14:12 | comment | added | ebyrob | Genies, like the rest of us, have trouble serving two masters at once. What makes you think Aladdin will get that lamp back to make his third wish once someone else takes over, even "temporarily". (PS - How long is it acceptable for someone to live as a slave?) | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 13:37 | comment | added | Zibbobz | @GraphicsResearch That just delays the inevitable. It implies that Alladin is the sort of person who would try to game the system or get the most out of his 'deal' with the Genie, but he's not trying to do either of those things. Genie has been a slave long enough, and as far as Al is concerned, he has more than earned his freedom already. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 9:08 | comment | added | geometrian | To clarify: I was suggesting that the other characters get all three of their wishes, but then that Aladdin still uses his last wish to set the genie free like he promised. +1 since I think you're getting close with the not-being-heroic and just-one-more-friend problems. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 7:28 | history | edited | Shisa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 126 characters in body
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| Oct 10, 2014 at 7:23 | history | answered | Shisa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |