Aladdin: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful

Aladdin has a lot of stuff in it that a kid can miss watching it: all the references to Allah (that might just me), all the gags Genie pulls referencing celebrities, etc. But it is hard to miss the core message of your inner qualities are more important than wealth/power.

galaxcardinal. Pl-18 Aladdin . Diamond in the Rough. Deviantart.com

Aladdin is called by the film a “Diamond in the Rough”. Diamonds are very beautiful and of great value once they are cut and polished but a diamond in the rough, as best as I can tell, is an uncut diamond looking like just any old crystal, nothing special, and could have some impurities that hide the crystalline beauty inside. The idiom “diamond in the rough” means a person who appears rough or undignified but has great virtue and beauty of soul, they just need some polishing and care to really let their good, true, and beautiful soul shine forth.

Aladdin is very kind to Abu and to the poor orphans whom he gives the bread he stole. The film shows Aladdin as having and kindness, compassion, and generosity but people don’t look beyond seeing the visage of a street rat. (I give Aladdin the benefit of the doubt based on his other actions that if he could provide for himself by making an honest living, he would.) Princess Jasmine herself glimpses the inner quality in Aladdin when they first meet. She is willing to look through his roughness of life and sees that which is good, true, and beautiful in Aladdin in his compassion and charity toward her.

You might be wondering why I choose the words “the good, the true, and the beautiful”. This is because man is made in God’s image and God is the source of all Good, Truth, and Beauty, which means that each of us have innate goodness, truth, and beauty as part of our being. Now, when I speak of beauty, I am speaking of the beauty that draws one out of oneself to the other (God or another person), that takes ones’ breath away, that points toward the wonder of this life. Examples: the beauty of a sunset/rise, acts of true love (check out my Frozen blog post for elaboration on what true love really is). What I am not speaking of is seductive beauty that leads us to focus on ourselves, our desires, and our pleasure, not caring about the other involved (be it God or another person). Example: desiring the pleasures their body can offer but ignoring the person (the soul) that possesses that body (a.k.a. lust), or any passion of ours that feeds our selfish desires so that you are partaking in them solely for your own gratification or to puff up your pride. We’ll get back to this later.

However, Aladdin does not seem to see his innate goodness, truth, and beauty. This is shown by his focus on his outward appearance and lack of wealth, which Princess Jasmine showed no concern for when she was getting to know Aladdin. When Aladdin is given wishes by Genie he wishes for an attractive exterior: the wealth and position of a prince. “Prince Ali” goes stomping into town, parading this charade of a character to everyone. Princess Jasmine is not at all impressed as Aladdin was presenting himself as the kind of person that Princess Jasmine had grown sick of: a pompous prince eager to flaunt his influence/power. The song “Prince Ali” doesn’t help his case either as it essentially amounts to Genie peacocking Aladdin around practically shouting, “Look at him, he’s so great” (and most of it is lies). Even after being dismissed by Jasmine for this facade Aladdin still won’t listen to Genie’s sound advice of “bee yourself”.

Aladdin holds onto the facade of being a prince until he is exposed harshly by Jafar. Aladdin knows he messed up and decides to fight to makes things right, both in terms of thwarting Jafar and his relationship with Princess Jasmine. You could say that the end of the film shows the polishing of harsh trials, difficult fights, and sincerely apologizing for one’s mistakes that brings the diamond in Aladdin from rough to lustrous.

What struck me as I was thinking about Aladdin’s lack of realization about the goodness, truth, and beauty of himself is that I can recognize numerous, nay countless times in my life where I have done just the same. I can be prone to beating myself up and struggled for many years with lies about my self worth and not being “good enough” to be loved. Just like Aladdin, I did not recognize that which was good, true, and beautiful about myself. I have acted horribly toward myself and others at times and done things that I am very ashamed of. But through the love and mercy of God, I have grown and strive to reject selfishness, pride, and lies, and to recognize the good desires of my heart and the love within me that wants the good of others and myself. I have come to accept the truth that I am a beloved and truly loved son of God and to reject lies of believing I am worthless. My eyes have been opened to see the beauty of my heart, mind, soul, and body. God made this body for me and united my soul to it to give me my life and God loves that which He makes, otherwise He would not have made it. The point I want to focus on is this:

You have goodness within you! You are not “all bad” or lost beyond hope of being found as Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He said, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4) If you are lost, Jesus is right there calling you wanting you to let Him lead you home. You are a truly beloved son/daughter of the Most High God! He is your loving Father and made you and continues to will your existence because of His love for you! You are beautiful: heart, mind, body, and soul! We all have our imperfections but God sees past them to the beauty of the child He created. You are Loved!

I love you and truly believe that you are good, true, and beautiful! Know that I am praying for you, especially for the peace that the knowledge of you being good, true, and beautiful brings. If you struggle with believing any of these things, something that helped me is looking in the mirror and saying out loud: “I am good! I am a true son/daughter of God! I am beautiful! I am loved!”