TV/Movies Megathread

[Josquius]

Aladdin - too many songs, some stupid, and painfully American. But overall quite good. Better than the other live action remakes Disney has a weird hard on for lately. I imagine kids will like it.
Though it has just hit me how Aladdin is thoroughly Arabian now. The Chinese original that I remember has been obliterated.

[HVC]

Did you never watch the original movie?

[grumbler]

(snip)
Though it has just hit me how Aladdin is thoroughly Arabian now. The Chinese original that I remember has been obliterated.

Aladdin has always been thoroughly Arabian.  Did the Chinese version you first saw/heard actually pace the story in China?  The original Arab version said it was in "one of the distant cities of China" but the story is clearly set in the Middle east, with Arab names, Sultans, genies, Muslims, the Maghreb, etc.  Did the Chinese version you saw or heard use the Arab names from the Thousand and One Nights "original" version, or Chinese names?

[Liep]

Eurovision movie. Very true to the magical source material, best part was Nadja from What we do in the shadows' cameo.

[The Larch]

Eurovision movie. Very true to the magical source material, best part was Nadja from What we do in the shadows' cameo.

I'm planning on watching it tonight or tomorrow. Was it big fun?

[Josquius]

I saw the Eurovision film today. It was pretty good. Though negative points for not featuring the volcano man song more prominently.

(snip)
Though it has just hit me how Aladdin is thoroughly Arabian now. The Chinese original that I remember has been obliterated.

Aladdin has always been thoroughly Arabian.  Did the Chinese version you first saw/heard actually pace the story in China?  The original Arab version said it was in "one of the distant cities of China" but the story is clearly set in the Middle east, with Arab names, Sultans, genies, Muslims, the Maghreb, etc.  Did the Chinese version you saw or heard use the Arab names from the Thousand and One Nights "original" version, or Chinese names?

I'm really not sure what you're trying to argue here. The story is from China?
Versions I saw as a kid always had it set in China. I haven't exactly seen many pantomimes this side of 10 years old but this seems to be another example of Disney completely rewriting people's image of the story.

[Sheilbh]

I'm really not sure what you're trying to argue here. The story is from China?
Versions I saw as a kid always had it set in China. I haven't exactly seen many pantomimes this side of 10 years old but this seems to be another example of Disney completely rewriting people's image of the story.

I think UK pantos are the only ones where Aladdin is sort of set possibly in China (Widow Twankey).

Isn't the Disney just a remake of the cartoon? Which is in the Middle-East, no.

[grumbler]

I'm really not sure what you're trying to argue here. The story is from China?
Versions I saw as a kid always had it set in China. I haven't exactly seen many pantomimes this side of 10 years old but this seems to be another example of Disney completely rewriting people's image of the story.

I am arguing that the story is included in "the Thousand and One Arabian Nights" (though not the earliest versions of it) and is set in the stories in Arabia.  I cant speak to the pantomimes you saw as a child, but if they had the story set in China among Chinese, they were not true to the original story.  Disney isn't at fault here, your juvenile pantomime hosts were.  Nowhere outside your bucolic paradise had this story actually set in China.

Alladin is an Arab (not Chinese) name.  (Princess) Buddir al-Buddoor has an Arab (not Chinese) name.  Genies (djinn) are Arab (not Chinese) creatures.  The whole set in "a Chinese city" bit is pure rhetoric, much like " a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" was not really supposed to make you think that all the Star Wars characters were non-human, no matter how they looked or had names like "Luke."

[grumbler]

I think UK pantos are the only ones where Aladdin is sort of set possibly in China (Widow Twankey).

Looking up that name exposed a shitload of racism! 

The character has had a number of different names including Ching Ching, Wee Ping, Chow Chow, and Tan King.

Aladdin's brother was named "Washee-Washee" in a late-19th-Century pantomime.  "Twankey" becomes "Tuang Kee Chung" in a 1979 (!) musical.

Again, it isn't just Disney that is misusing this story. 

[Sheilbh]

Widow Twankey is still the panto dame in Aladdin - Ian McKellen doing it a couple of years ago:

[viper37]

Aladdin - too many songs, some stupid, and painfully American. But overall quite good. Better than the other live action remakes Disney has a weird hard on for lately. I imagine kids will like it.
Though it has just hit me how Aladdin is thoroughly Arabian now. The Chinese original that I remember has been obliterated.

I didn't like it much.  It has cultural appropriation against the Smurfs and I'm totally against that.  And the singing... 

[Liep]

Eurovision movie. Very true to the magical source material, best part was Nadja from What we do in the shadows' cameo.

I'm planning on watching it tonight or tomorrow. Was it big fun?

It's good fun, obviously knows that its target audience is not Americans.

[Habbaku]

Eurovision movie. Very true to the magical source material, best part was Nadja from What we do in the shadows' cameo.

Yes, and yes.

Also a classic song that will live forever in our hearts:

https://youtu.be/qSV6ZpTbNR4

[celedhring]

I saw the Eurovision film today. It was pretty good. Though negative points for not featuring the volcano man song more prominently.

(snip)
Though it has just hit me how Aladdin is thoroughly Arabian now. The Chinese original that I remember has been obliterated.

Aladdin has always been thoroughly Arabian.  Did the Chinese version you first saw/heard actually pace the story in China?  The original Arab version said it was in "one of the distant cities of China" but the story is clearly set in the Middle east, with Arab names, Sultans, genies, Muslims, the Maghreb, etc.  Did the Chinese version you saw or heard use the Arab names from the Thousand and One Nights "original" version, or Chinese names?

I'm really not sure what you're trying to argue here. The story is from China?
Versions I saw as a kid always had it set in China. I haven't exactly seen many pantomimes this side of 10 years old but this seems to be another example of Disney completely rewriting people's image of the story.

Versions I saw as a kid were always set in the Middle East. So must be a British panto thing.

[The Larch]

Wiki seems to agree that it's a British pantomime thing exclusively:

In the United Kingdom, the story of Aladdin was dramatised in 1788 by John O'Keefe for the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. It has been a popular subject for pantomime for over 200 years.

The traditional Aladdin pantomime is the source of the well-known pantomime character Widow Twankey (Aladdin's mother). In pantomime versions, changes in the setting and story are often made to fit it better into "China", and elements of other Arabian Nights tales (in particular Ali Baba) are often introduced into the plot. One version of the "pantomime Aladdin" is Sandy Wilson's musical Aladdin, from 1979.

Since the early 1990s Aladdin pantomimes have tended to be influenced by the Disney animation. For instance, the 2007/8 production at the Birmingham Hippodrome starring John Barrowman featured songs from the Disney movies Aladdin and Mulan.