In September of 2007, I started this blog
with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how
little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak
at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the
writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together
they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers,
columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough publications
now that I can share some of the things I did “right”.
While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make
enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the professional
writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write.
When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point
where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above
will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As
always, your comments are welcome!
Today, I thought I’d say something all on my own,
unsupported by my published or unpublishable works
My grandkids, daughter-in-law, wife, my son’s mother-in-law, and I watched
the recent DVD released Disney’s “Aladdin”. The tale itself is old, though not
part of the original Arabic “One Thousand and One Nights” which was recorded in
Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age though “not being part of the original
Arabic text. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by the
Frenchman Antoine Galland, who acquired the tale from storyteller Hanna Diyab. Historians
consider Diyab the original author of ‘Aladdin’, with the tale partly having
been inspired by Diyab's own life.” The story has been done dozens of times in
venues ranging from the original story written some time before 1688 and told
by its author, Syrian Diyab; to a British pantomime in 1788; to a Canadian
video game in 2016.
Aside from the fact that Will Smith is a hero of mine –
for all his body of work, not just his speculative fiction parts (“Independence
Day”, “Men In Black”, “Hancock”, “I Am Legend”, the pre-production “Gemini Man”,
and “I, Robot”, even “The Legend of Bagger Vance” – “Ali” was great and I love “In
Pursuit of Happyness”. At any rate, I remember hearing speculation about
whether or not he could pull off a part automatically associated with the late
Robin Williams – Genie.
I think he did, but that’s not where I’m really headed
today.
After watching the movie, I commented to my wife that
while Disney had managed to retain the magic of the cartoon version, they’d
made a subtle change that I applauded even more: Jasmine went from a strong-will
Daughter Of The Sultan to a savvy – even brilliant – politician who had her eye
on the throne of the mythical Arabian Sultanate (as opposed to a caliphate and
an emirate (as in United Arab Emirates) because she both loved the land and
people – in fact, she meets Aladdin because she’s going about among them in disguise.
The story, which I’m sure originated as one of the :
“A caliphate is an Islamic state under the
leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph, a person considered
a political-religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of
the entire ummah (Muslim community).”
“An emirate is a political territory that is ruled
by a dynastic Arabic or Islamic monarch-styled emir. The term may also refer to
a kingdom…Etymologically emirate is the quality, dignity, office, or
territorial competence of any emir (prince, commander, governor, etc.)…The
United Arab Emirates is a federal state that comprises seven federal emirates,
each administered by a hereditary emir, these seven forming the electoral
college for the federation's President and Prime Minister…Furthermore, in
Arabic the term can be generalized to mean any province of a country that is
administered by a member of the ruling class, especially of a member (usually
styled emir) of the royal family, as in Saudi Arabian governorates.”
“Sultan is a position with several historical
meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning ‘strength’, ‘authority’,
‘rulership’…it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost
full sovereignty in practical terms (i.e., the lack of dependence on any higher
ruler), albeit without claiming the overall caliphate, or to refer to a
powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The adjective form of the
word…[is] the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a
sultanate…The term is distinct from king, despite both referring to a sovereign
ruler. The use of ‘sultan’ is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title
carries religious significance…”
(all above are taken from the entry in Wikipedia)
At any rate, the idea of a prince, princess, king, queen,
etc. going out to hobnob with commoners isn’t new or singular to any culture (https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/87ve5x/did_kingsqueens_ever_dress_up_as_commoners_and/)
and has become a trope (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething)
actually it’s a SUB-trope of this one: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KingIncognito),
though apparently now the live-action Jasmine has her own category (along with
Princess Leia Organa): https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PoliticallyActivePrincess.
(Which actually doesn’t surprise me at all as Disney owns both of them.
The fact that Jasmine changed from a passive character (while
falling in love with Aladdin, of course) to a politically active one is a
definite improvement to the movie. I enjoyed the secondary love interest
between genie and Jasmine’s maid servant as well, mostly because I like that “old
romantic” aspect of him (he’s FIFTY!!!!!)
I have no doubt that while the heart of the story has
remained the same for over three centuries and survived the telling through
countless translations – minimally from Arabic to French to English – it has
also changed through the telling. I found a hint that someone, somewhere is
going to take Aladdin, Jasmine, and the genie to the 35th Century in
“Aladdin 3477 – 1: The Jinn of Wisdom”. Could be interesting, certainly…
But what if I used that story heart to write a completely
different story. The 1995 movie “Clueless” was loosely based on Jane Austen’s masterpiece,
EMMA though the resemblance is only noticeable to people who have read Jane
Austen. Even though it was barely recognizable, it made bank. I think I could
use “Aladdin” to write a science fiction story that might not be recognizable,
either, yet owe its life to the tale. I’ll keep you posted.
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