The Ruling Class In Disney's Aladdin

In Disney's Aladdin a peasant tells Aladdin “things aren't always what they seem, the one with the gold makes the rules.” (1992) Prompting him to strive for gold in order to escape his struggles. Essentially Disney expressed Karl Marx and Frederick Engles' key issue of the ruling class discussed in the German Ideology. More specifically the theory being that the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. (Marx 31). In other words, the predominant ideas of a society at a given historical time are created by the ruling class and serve the ruling class. Because how we live shapes the way we think, whoever owns the material productions of society controls society, in this case the ruling
Meaning, those who lack the means of mental production are subjected to it and these ruling ideas are nothing more than the idealistic expression of the dominant material relations. In essence, because the ruling class owns the means of production they not only have money but they also have power to which allows for common ideals, values, and beliefs to be created in society. Therefore, the major ideas of society are not societies values but they are the values of the ruling class. For instance, in Capitalism the bourgeoisie focused on ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality which continue to be existing ideas in today's society among capitalists and
Meaning, while the heads of the business get to be home with their families on holidays there are thousands of workers working hard long night shifts to make ends meet. The show doesn't even make an effort to hide the inequality going as far as to say this man is “the sultan of the Slurpee and the King of convenience” expressing a position of higher power and authority over the average worker and customer. DePinto himself states that his role is to ensure that the business is moving forward and profitable (UB 2013). Making him and his business partners richer while the employed workers continue to work hard for low wages. DePinto mentions in his interview that he does believe in hard work as a means of rising up to the top, the epitome of the American Dream which will be discussed more