Analyzing Evidence- Thief of Baghdad

1. Genie
   1. Very concerned with his freedom 
   2. Kinda mean 
   3. Big (size) 
   4. Small (size) 
   5. Hair in pony tail? 
   6. Inspired Genie in Aladdin 
2. Jaffar
   1. Very concerned with being loved 
   2. Wants to be king 
   3. Wears a lot of clothing 
   4. Inspired Jafar in Aladdin 
3. Architecture
   1. Set pieces are intricate 
   2. Buildings are pastel colors 
4. Special effects
   1. Not very good 
   2. So many
      1. Helps to enforce the “magical” aspects of the movie? 
   3.  
5. Costumes
   1. Men either wear a lot of clothing or very little 
   2. A lot of costume changes 
   3. Bright colors 
   4. Jewelry
6. Plot of the movie
   1. Very in depth 
   2. Long
   3. Confusing
   4. Use music from the wizard of OZ? 
   5. Jafar wants to be king? 
   6. Starts with the story of Ahmed?
      1. How is became blind and how his sight was returned
7. Abu
   1. Thief
   2. Becomes king 
   3. Steals carpet but asks permission 
   4. Loyal to Ahmad 
   5. Inspired the monkey in Aladdin 
8. Plant life
   1. Exotic
   2. Lush
   3. Very green 
   4. A lot 
9. Ahmad
   1. Wears a lot of clothing when rich 
   2. Wears very little clothing when poor 
   3. Was blind 
   4. Sheltered – doesn’t see that Jaffar is using him/ his people are suffering 
   5. Loves the princess 
   6. Friends with abu 
   7. Inspired Aladdin in Aladdin 

One of the questions that I have is why the character Abu plays such a small role in the movie Aladdin than in the Thief of Baghdad. There are initial similarities between the two characters: both animals, loyal friend/helper to the main character, thief. But as the Thief of Baghdad progresses, it becomes clear that Abu is a main character and not just a loyal sidekick. We learn that we was originally a human and gets turned back into one. Later on in the movie, he becomes the king of thieves. Basically, there is a full story line devoted to Abu in the Thief of Baghdad, and in Aladdin he is just a loyal monkey sidekick. Why is that? Why is Ahmad’s character turned into a Disney hero while Abu is regulated to animal sidekick? 

Some things to consider are the length of both movies. The Thief of Baghdad is almost 2 hours long while Aladdin is just barely over an hour. Incorporating the storyline of Abu would exponentially lengthen the runtime of the movie, which could be problematic for the younger audience that Disney was appealing to. Considering the younger audience, Disney movies almost always include an animal helper/sidekick of some kind and Abu could’ve fit the character-type, especially when you consider that at the beginning of the movie he was an animal.