In Aladdin, a street rat who has to steal to survive falls in love with a princess. But his crimes get him captured, and he is inadvertently used by the palace vizier to retrieve a magic lamp from the Cave of Wonders. The vizier, Jafar, can't enter the cave himself, so he sends Aladdin in and betrays him. Aladdin discovers, however, that rubbing the lamp awards him three wishes from a Genie, who sounds a lot like Robin Williams. Using his newfound prosperity, Aladdin tries to win back the princess and eventually faces off against Jafar once again. Why He's A Psychopath: You notice something interesting when you watch Aladdin again as an adult. This guy was a total jerk. Sure, he had some redeeming qualities, like when he gave his only food to others and saved the entire palace from a powerful sorcerer. But when you really look at his incessant deception and manipulation leading up the movie's climax, you'll notice that Aladdin was a sociopathic liar. First, he tricks the Genie into letting him out of the Cave of Wonders without using an actual wish. Next, he pretends to be a prince in order to woo Jasmine. When she obviously figures out that he looks exactly the same as the street rat she met before, he lies again and says that he was just pretending to be a commoner. When the opportunity for him to free the Genie as his third wish comes along, which he promised, Aladdin hesitates for his own selfish reasons. This is after the Genie had literally saved him from drowning at the bottom of the ocean. To the very end, Aladdin only saved everyone by using trickery. He deceived Jafar into thinking he'd become more powerful if he wished himself a genie, hence trapping himself forever. I get that this is the charm of Aladdin, and that's what really makes this a good movie. But you can't deny that Aladdin has a serious problem with compulsive lying. What are some movie heroes that you think are psychopaths? Let us know in the comments section below.
Jon is the author of the Pixar Theory, the narrative that combines all of the Pixar movies in one timeline. You can read more about his random nonsense on jonnegroni.com
