One Thousand and One Nights - A history of adaptations

After studying Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, we will now see with Sinbad the Sailor that, since Antoine Galland who "resurrected" One Thousand and One Nights, the very essence of the tale is in its multi-cultural origins.

Now let's take a closer look at his second work in connection with China to discuss the usefulness of adaptations from Disney Studios.

Sinbad the Sailor tells us the story of a young man ruined and eager for adventures who will set sail to rebuild his fortune. During seven voyages taking place during the Abbasid period (781-835) and mainly in the Indian Ocean, Sinbad will face many tests, escaping as well from "simple" cannibals as from cyclops or rocs (gigantic birds who feed by snatching camels). Finally rich and satisfied by his travels (mostly unfortunate), he ends up returning for good to his hometown with his second wife where he spends happy days. The stories are narrated by Sinbad himself who tells them to a disillusioned young delivery man to explain to him that one can forge his own wealth despite his modest origins if he has enough courage and will.

-If this time, the Sinbad of the story is indeed from Basra in Iraq, its most probable model is without doubt one of the greatest Chinese explorer: Zheng He.

The original Persian tale dates back to around 837 but it is very likely that Antoine Galland improved it for his adaptation by focusing his different inspirations (fantastic tales of sailors and mythological adventures like Homer's Odyssey) around the Zheng He model.

He was a Muslim eunuch who lived between 1371 and 1433 whose honorary Buddhist title was Sinbao (or Sanbao, "Three Jewels"). There is too much to say about this hero of Chinese history and we will have to be content with a quick summary.

Son of the governor of Yunnan, he was kidnapped and then castrated by the imperial army during the invasion of the province. He gradually climbed the social ladder until he became close to Prince Zhu Di who became later the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty. He wanted to enlarge the limits of Chinese influence and appointed Zheng He admiral of the imperial fleet despite his total inexperience of the sea. He built a fleet so imposing that it would halve the area of the forests of southern China then made seven trips to the Indian Ocean.

At its peak, the fleet included nearly 70 giant ships and 190 smaller ones for 28,000 men. After gathering some remains (including a huge rudder) and the official texts of the time, specialists assume that these vessels were at least 60 meters long. But the main ship was about 125 meters long and 50 meters wide.

These trips did not lead to new conquests by China but they opened new trade routes and put an end to the activities of numerous pirates who made navigation impossible for a long time. In the end, Zheng He reached Malaysia, India and Indonesia as well as the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Mozambique and left an big impression on the countries he visited.

As a Muslim he was very proud to have visited Mecca like his father and grandfather before him but after his death, he himself became the object of worship in the south of China and in Indonesia . Many temples are still dedicated to him today, the most famous of which is the Sam Poo Kong in Semarang, Indonesia.

During its history, China sent only very few expeditions outside its borders, so we can understand that the sudden arrival in Africa of one of the largest fleet of humanity had made a great impression on the local imagination. The more so as these diplomatic explorers were loaded with gifts having culturally nothing in common with the countries which they visited. For his part, Zheng He brought back many gifts, especially from Africa, including ostriches, zebras, camels and a giraffe, which in turn would fuel the Chinese imagination.

-But we will talk about it again later, right?

Of course, it is impossible to prove the link between Sinbad and Zheng He but the similarities between their name, their religion (relatively rare among such influential figures in the region) and the seven expeditions / trips at least make it possible to wonder if Antoine Galland, as a specialist in the Orient, had not heard of Zheng He before writing his reworked version of the Persian tale.

Now that we've seen the origins of two of the most popular One Thousand and One Nights tales, let's go back to the 90's. In 1992, Disney Studios released their 31st Animation Classic, Aladdin. Like other of its adaptations, Disney actually makes a mix between the original work from which the title comes (Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp) and another story that is more discreet in the communication around the film (like The Lion King of 1994 which takes up as much the manga Kimba the White Lion by Osamu Tezuka in 1950 as Hamlet by Shakespeare in 1603). For Aladdin, this second story is a mix of the first two versions of The Thief of Bagdad, first released in the United States in 1924 and then readapted in 1940 in the United Kingdom. Many elements inspired Aladdin like the idea that the main character, Ahmed, hides his thief status by posing as a prince in order to conquer the princess in the first version. But the most obvious recoveries are the Grand Vizier, Jaffar, and the hero's companion, a small thief named Abu.

The animated film of 92 is a great success in its adaptation work. It modernizes the two stories by using more complex ideas and values rooted in the era of its release. Princess Jasmine is a charismatic and voluntary woman who has the courage to oppose her father and outdated traditions, unlike Bradoulboudour and the Princess of the Thief of Baghdad who is not even named. The message of the film, focused on the value of the individual regardless of his social position, emerges clearly from the story despite its absence in the original tale while the context was already appropriate.

The idea of limiting the wishes to three allows them to have crucial importance and weight. They also joins the idea of the three classic wishes of European tales where the third is generally there to defeat the first two. Here, Aladdin's last wish, purely altruistic, allows him to redeem a conscience after his selfish choices.

Of course, it is impossible not to mention the capital importance of the humor of the immense Robin Williams who embodied the Genie. It was actually the first character created for the film and it was the first time the studio asked a personality to participate in the dubbing and communicated on this fact during the promotion of the film (even if it was the only prohibition from Robin Williams to agree to participate on the project). The actor then improvised more than sixteen hours of dialogues for an hour and a half of film which only had to come alive around this dubbing.

From a cultural point of view, the idea of relocating the action of the film in an imaginary country inspired by Arab culture and not Chinese, allows a simpler context as well as the addition of other fantastic elements from this culture like the flying carpet. Above all, it made it possible to popularize Middle East again, its  image being still flayed by the Gulf War of 90-91. With the whole world emerging from daily images of bloody battles in ruined cities in an arid desert, the idea of a rich and evocative culture was far away.

The film will be a huge box office success. Being the biggest success of 1992, it will make 504 million admissions for $217 million gain then would be rewarded by an Oscar, a Golden Globes and a Grammy Award for its soundtrack and its songs. In addition, there is a misconception that Disney films with a female main character are less popular than their male counterparts. Yet this is only the first Disney movie with a male protagonist who had great success since Pinocchio and Peter Pan.

This success had an important consequence: it popularized One Thousand and One Nights again during a large part of the 90's. Many new more or less successful and confidential adaptations of other tales will therefore flourish during this period and many children will discover through this a whole section of oriental culture.

Now back to our decade when Disney Studios decided to make a new adaptation of their 1992 animated film.

Let's look at the last two films released in recent years from Disney animation classics: The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast. These films are not bad, they are even quite nice, but the point that bothers us here is that they bring practically nothing to their "original work".

Recall that the idea of Walt Disney behind his collection of "Disney Classics" was mainly to rediscover classic works by adapting the narrative to its time. He never claimed that he wanted to faithfully repeat each work, he simply created a vibrant tribute rewritten in his own way to adapt the stakes of the story to its time.

Because ultimately, if not, what would be the point? As the French François Theurel says in his two excellent reviews on remakes, if it's to copy / paste a work without adding anything, you might as well re watch the original film. And this is particularly true in the case of animation films which age much better thanks to their aesthetics which depend little or not at all on the technology of the time of their realization.

On the other hand, one could easily point at many movies still popular despite their outdated vision of women or racism. Why not take the opportunity to make new versions that would correct the ideas while adapting the story  to our society? A new work would then appear, different from its first adaptation, having its own identity and bringing a new look to the same original story.

I chose to do this small chronicle on Aladdin because lately, a wave of remakes without additions is becoming more and more important in the film industry. Worse, Hollywood and French studios are starting to adapt works from other continents without any other changes than taking a main Caucasian actors. Adapting a work from a totally different cultural context is a very good idea (and has often been very well done as recently with Edge of Tomorrow from the Japanese novel All You Need is Kill) but only with relevant changes. Not just with the argument of "it takes a Caucasian actor for the audience to identify with him" or "it was not so pretty so we will do exactly the same but just more beautiful".

If many purists do not tolerate the slightest deviation from the version they know, many more understand that, to appreciate a work again (or at least to give it a new flavor), it is necessary to have a new different approach.

In the end, these too faithful adaptations tend to disappoint everyone since the product is too close to the version that we already know. Those who want something new are disappointed and the rare changes disturb the aficionados, like the controversy of Aladdin on the ethnic origin of an actress (which is however closer to the location of the original tale) .

And in the context of Disney films, even if it means doing a remake, it is really a shame not to take advantage of the evolution of societies to make really different versions because there is great potential in this global context where sharing 'other views becomes vital.

Of course, in the end, all these questions doesn't matter. If the film is nicely told, it will be appreciable to watch. But the question arises for his posterity and the lost opportunity to convey a new message and a vision specific to each director.

As we have seen, One Thousand and One Nights is the product of numerous adaptations, modernizations and acculturations for over one thousand two hundred years. Mixing Persian, Arab, Indian, Chinese tales, sometimes partly adapted by French and American, it was saved several times from oblivion by these popular reappropriations all around the globe.

This continuous modernization has given it a new breath each time and allows it to remain still important in our world culture, it was therefore the perfect example to illustrate the importance of renewal and cultural mixing in the history of the imaginary. And I hope that its new versions to come will therefore honor its history.

-The classics are treasures from the history of mankind which must be preserved. But without a new vision to transmit them more easily to the future generation who will then be curious to discover the original, they will quickly be considered as obsolete. And one day, when they are too out of touch with society, popular transmission will stop and they will join the very long list of stories known only to a handful of scholars.

Thank you for following this slightly different small series because of its less factual and more personal conclusion but which was close to my heart. I hope it has helped you to take a new look at One Thousand Nights and its adaptations.

We will quickly meet for a new article.