SL DisneyBound – Week Eight: Aladdin & Jasmine (Couple’s Week!)

Aladdin is a story of misrepresentation on multiple levels - between ruler and subject, employer and employee, and between lovers; the Disney version actually added to the traditional betrayals, adding in Aladdin betraying the Jinni by not freeing him. It's also a story within a story of trickery, being one of Scheherazade's One Hundred and One Thousand Nights of storytelling, used to keep her alive and to educate a murderous ruler. My Aladdin is not only a poor person passing himself off as a wealthy man, but is not even a man. Poor Deoridhe Quandry is going to be very surprised when she gets that romper off of tricky Deoridhe Starr. I've been thinking a lot about representation and mis-representation after the recent events in Cincinnati, when three kidnapping victims finally freed themselves with the help of several neighbors.

The story breaks common narratives in any number of ways, the first rescuer being not only Latino but also monolingual in Spanish (Angel Cordero), the rescuer (Charles Ramsey) getting the attention being black and explicitly citing race relations between black and white people as a reason for believing the white woman (Amanda Berry) was in severe distress and needed help, Ramsey's current reactions showing how deeply shaken he is by the fact he never suspected anything was wrong at the house next door and his history of domestic violence now being found in the rush to brand him a hero before finding his clay feet and pillorying him for them - from beginning to end it is ripe for misrepresentation and for missing the realities of the situation. I think a lot of the comfortable stories I grew up with make me less comfortable with the idea of people being mixes of good and bad actions which all make up their totality because it would be so terribly easy to enjoy all of my good actions, ignore all of my bad ones, and pretend I only see half of my own story.

I was going to add little blurbs about clothing here, but fuck it - I am too full of FEELZ. Instead, I'm thieving an idea from The Bloggess to make a list of my twenty rules for life. In honor of her, there is no 13, only 12b, and there is thieving of ideas aplenty.

1. Feel your FEELZ. No matter how strong it is or loud it is or confused it is, feel it. Even if it's mingled hysterical laughing and crying, sometimes that is the FEEL and it needs to be felt.

2. Be kind. Practice on yourself first - you want to make sure you get it right.

3. We are the trees of the world; rooted in the dirt, in darkness, in death we reach up for the heights and are fed by light. Never forget to reach for more, but also make peace with the ground you are in.

4. Don't harsh the squee.

5. You can make everything about you even if you don't like yourself very much; remember there are other people out there, and actually you can be pretty cool.

6. There are four kinds of things in the world: known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. The last is the hardest to remember. Try hard to remember.

7. Being wrong feels exactly like being right.

8. Don't believe everything you think.

9. The histories of things is actually pretty important. If you give someone a blank slate, you may be missing a lot of important stuff.

10. We can never see our own shadows, but we can ask people who love us to let us know what they look like.

11. Sometimes we're contradictory; it's ok, everyone is.

12. It's ok to say no. It's ok to say yes.

12b. Everyone is "that asshole" to someone.

14. One of the funnest games in the world is "make a service person smile". Play it today.

15. You're only truly an adult when you feel free to embrace childlike joy.

16. People make very bad gods and make very bad heros. Everyone needs room to be a person - good and bad together. When you see the person behind the curtain, when you've identified the feet of clay, you see the truth.

17. Love imperfect people and things.

18. Love is not a thing, it is a continual practice. "I love you" can be contained in every atom of a bowl of soup.

19. In the endless battle between Pirates and Ninjas, Pirjas always win. Ninrats are kinda assholes, though.

20. By the time it shows up on the news, it's already uncool. STOP RUINING COOL THINGS, NEWS REPORTERS.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Jasmine (Quandry)
Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Magika, Forget
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Lassitude & Ennui, Patience Dress
Jewelry: Eclectica, 'Flora' Jewelry
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Shoes: SLink, Ilena Sandals

Aladdin (Starr)
Skin: Cupcake, Charm Snow
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes
Hair: Exile, Eva
Fez: Arcadia Asylum, Ramen Cup Noodles Fez
Outfit: katat0nik, Sailor Romper
Stockings: Vextra Fashion, Opaque Stockings White
Shoes: G Field, Strap Shoes "Alex"

Poses: Various

Location: TahiT Oasis Shop
Light Settings: Places Paris
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only