I've been thinking again about how hung up the online Disney fandom gets about Aladdin being a "compulsive liar" (which he's not).
Lying about his identity isn't even the worst thing Aladdin ever does. The worst thing he does in the movie is going back on his promise to the Genie and refusing to set him free. Yet I've never seen online fans cite that incident when they call Aladdin "toxic" and say he "doesn't deserve a happy ending." Oh no, it's just that "He lies to Jasmine."
If the truth about Aladdin's identity hadn't been revealed, Jasmine would have just had a husband who wasn't really a prince. If Aladdin hadn't decided in the end to set the Genie free after all, he would have been a slave for possibly all eternity. But of course it's no big deal for a male character to wrong another male, even if the harm is substantially bigger than anything he does to a woman. It's only when a man wrongs a woman that they come after him!















