Shouldn't Jasmine's title be "Sultana" not "Princess"? - Aladdin (1992) Discussion

[–] Stratego (29274) 6 years ago

The official title "sultan(a)" was usually reserved for female monarchs or the consorts of the sultan. It seems that sometimes the daughters of the sultan have also unofficially been referred to as "sultana", but in translations the Western equivalent of "princess" is mostly used. It probably fits better with Disney's princess merchandise line anyway.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

It's a Disney film, and Disney heroines are always "princesses".

Even when they're working stiffs like Tiana.

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[–] PrincessKneesaa (57) 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Tiana wasn't a princess until the end of the film when she married Prince Naveen, but, like Cinderella, she counts as a princess through marriage.

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[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

And isn't Tiana going to resent marrying someone that lazy and entitled!

And the other reason that Disney used "Princess" instead of "Sultana" is that in some parts of the English-speaking world, a "sultana" is a kind of raisin.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It is where I come from.

I don't know about Tiana and Naveen but I do love that film, and as you can probably guess, I absolutely adored Charlotte.

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[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

I adored the Witch Doctor, and really liked Charlotte, but to me "Princess and the Frog" was like "Gigi", a film that was great fun until you realized that they central romance was going to end in an unhappy marriage.

Naveen would have been SO much better off with Charlotte! Tiana will expect him to WORK!! I can only hope that Tiana thought the better of marrying a lazy bastard, and pushed the two of them together.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The smart, hard-working poor girl ending up with the feckless, spoiled rich boy, and teaching him the value of graft and commitment, is an old trope.

Unfortunately, if you reverse the genders you potentially risk accusations of sexism and mansplaining (as much as I enjoy the 'spoiled rich princess' type character' - then again, what they did here was smart by making that character merely a side/supporting one, and putting the focus on Tiana).

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[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

My issue with the old trope of teaching someone the value of hard work and commitment is that in real life, it doesn't stick. People who are introduced to hard work and its rewards feel a burst of revelatory self-esteem, and then they realize that work is hard and gets boring after a while. Which do you think Naveen will do?

As for a man teaching a woman the value of work, the first film that comes to mind is "Overboard". I'm sure there are others, not that I have time to mull the question over.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I didn't care for Overboard. I loved the music and Kurt Russell, but the whole plotline with a guy fooling some woman with amnesia into thinking she was his wife was a tad rapey for my liking.

I've seen films with similar poor boy/rich girl pairings that are far less problematic.

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[–] melissah1982 (883) 3 years ago

ugh....don't even get me started on the Disney Princess nonsense.....but I'm gonna, lol

Aladdin pre-dates the 'Disney Princess' marketing line. At that time, it just made sense to use a word the kids would be familiar with. besides; Princess Jasmine has a better ring than Sultana Jasmine.

Belle, another popular princess, is NEVER considered a princess in the actual movie; I don't even recall that title ever being used because it wasn't the point of the story.

It wasn't until 2000 or so when Disney decided to merge them all in the Princess label that all the movies started focusing on them all being princesses. This is why I HATE them changing the 'Frog Prince' into 'The Princess and the Frog'. I think that was the first Disney movie to not actually feature the original title of the story and opted for selling the 'Princess' name and it was so blatant and dumb. then, due to boys not wanting to see a movie titled 'princess' they then proceeded to change future movies into one word 'action' terms. It was just one chain of nonsense after the other....ok...I'll stop....lol

Princess Jasmine; beautiful sounding name over Sultana Jasmine.

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[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Well, perhaps Disney didnt want to name its Frog Prince after the prince himself, because he really is a dickhead. (See above.)

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[–] ADBruno1985 (3307) 3 years ago

They dumbed it down for (American) children, not surprising

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[–] PrincessKneesaa (57) 3 years ago

Sultana means female ruler in Arabic or Queen in western terms.

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