American Literature

The tale of Aladdin and the Magic lamp is regarded as one of the best fairy tales in the vast archives of childrens literature. Aladdins adventures which taught him to be brave and decide for himself has never ceased in fascinating readers of any age all these times. Perhaps it helps that Aladdin has overcome his internal weaknesses in order to have a happy ending with the love of his life. Moreover, it might have also helped that the setting of this fantastic tale was a place known for its exotic culture and superb scenic spots  India.

Since Aladdin and the magic lamp is a fairy tale that is, it is supposed to have fantastic elements that can provide an exhilarating twist to the story, authenticity in terms of cultural presentation is already troublesome. First, there was no large-scale presentation of the Indian culture to begin with. We only get the idea that we are led in an Indian context through the help of the physical appearances of the character, the titles of the royalty members and the architectures of the castles.  Definitely, the totality of a culture can not be encompassed merely by these details. It involves a whole lot of things that range from the concrete to the abstract. It is comprised of the traditions and beliefs of the people, their distinct rituals, food, literatures, among others. If we go on in mentioning all the other components of culture, we will only see how the story Aladdin and the magic lamp has fell way short in covering the culture of India.

In trying to share to the readers the culture of India, the author of the story mainly stayed on a perspective that comes from the inside. Except of the settings which resulted from magical transformations, quite a voluminous part of the storys setting was in India. By using this technique and working from that perspective, the author became more able to control the presentation of the culture. The cultural markers the author added have helped the readers identify with the Indian culture. The distinctly Indian look of the characters and the grotesque forms of the royal castles can make the readers effortlessly realize that they are reading a story reflecting the Indian culture.

In terms of promoting certain cultural stereotypes, Aladdin and the magic lamp ahs eventually lacked. It was already said earlier that the story itself lacked in authentic cultural details. That is the reason why there was also not much room to promote cultural stereotypes. For how can you promote something when that something are supposed to promote is lacking The only notable cultural detail that was seemingly promoted in the story is the stereotypical perception of Indians appearances. They have dark skins and rarely have straight hair. These traits can be visualized in Aladdin and his loved one.

Lastly, it was the Indian culture that was attempted to be described n this story. Although the fact that it was a fairytale spoiled its chance to optimize the presentation of that culture. The characters looks, the specialized setting and their costumes  these all point to the Indian elements which are unmistakably inserted in this classic tale.