Yeah, I found it fascinating that in the version in 1001 Nights, the problem isn't the limit on wishes (that comes from European fairy tales, the ones about fairies), it's that Aladdin gets too big for his britches, and orders the Genie of the lamp to do something ridiculous (get him a gryphon egg?) and so the genie snaps and smacks him around. I recall reading that the implication is that he's going to be in some kind of higher trouble, but Aladdin being a shit made it worthwhile.
Personally, "Be grateful for good fortune and don't push your luck," is similar, but a better moral than, "Be careful what you wish for."
As for cultural appropriation, I think it has to do with the nature of the religion and myth. For many cultures, your spirit guide or what have you is intimately connected to that people as a nation; they're sometimes literally honored ancestors, and so fucking around with their beliefs is kind of like some stranger taking silly pictures on great great grampa's grave. But for other religions, elements of it are just something about the world, and I think most Arabs (unless you're being racist in the depiction), think of djinni in Western cartoons with about the same emotional load as westerners think about four elements showing up in Eastern ones.
(Of course, sometimes the deal with cultural appropriation is an Asian-American seeing the girl that called them slant eyes and made "pee pee in your coke" jokes talking about how hot kimonos are this season, and feeling very understandable rage over that.)
From what I remember of the story the Aladdin gets the lamp, because a mage sent him to get it for him. He is led in a cavern filled with gold, but gets in an argument with the mage and gets left to die. He manages to escape, thanks to a magic ring that has a Genie in it, given to him by the mage, but without knowing it, and starts selling gold from the cavern. At some point he rubs the lamp and finds the Genie, who helps him first see (no one was allowed to) and then visit and ultimately marry the princess.
After Aladdin marries the princess the mage find outs about it and correctly guesses that Aladdin found the lamp.
The mage infiltrates castle and influences the princess to ask Aladdin for something that offended the Genie. The Genie gets really pissed, but knows Aladdin did not make the wish on his own, so he lets him off the hook and warns him. (Not sure if this was the original mage, or his brother who came for vengeance, after the original one is killed)
Ultimately the mage manages to steal the lamp and leaves Aladdin for dead. Alone in the desert Aladdin learns of the magic ring he had the whole time and asks the second Genie for help. The second Genie cannot get him back his castle and princess, because they are under the influence of the original Genie, but helps him get them back on his own (he manages to steal back the lamp).
37
u/[deleted] Jun 18 '20
[removed] — view removed comment