Bronson Pinchot is Aladdin, not Tom Cruise
This fan theory of mine started late last fall mid-way through binge watching all 8 seasons of Perfect Strangers, a good 39 years after it premiered, how prompt. I pulled out this loud flowery vest that came on a BTS doll and it reminded me that Balki existed, so I felt inclined to watch the show and found it on Pluto. I like to go back and binge older shows that I'd heard of or seen bits and pieces of over the years and finally watch them through. Sometimes I start sketching characters as I binge a show and I noticed Bronson had some, let's just say Aladdin-y physical features, the hairstyle, the naturally slanted upturned mouth, the long nose ("the pride of Mipos"), the wardrobe of multiple vests, and sort of an olive skin at times, and I was like, wait, did he inspire Aladdin's character design?
If you google Aladdin's inspiration they will claim it's Tom Cruise from his Risky Business era. I call BS. Bronson was also in Risky Business I believe, to be fair I've never seen it, so there's that co-actor connection. Tom was a heart throb of the time so of course Disney would claim it's Tom. Personally I think Bronson's face is more interesting and has a lot of character in a good way. I like his longer nose and upturned smiled, but to each their own. Maybe the character designers agreed with me. Sure it's possible Disney pulled a few bits and pieces from Tom in some ways, but between a longer haired younger Bronson and a longer haired younger Tom, only one of them to me looks like Aladdin. Bronson not only physically looks more the part, but he played a sometimes-cartoonish over-the-top foreigner on the show. Even both of Balki's off-white and gold accented wedding fits were giving off some Prince Ali vibes. We also get to see him sword fight, sing, and dance on the show, great inspo for a Disney Prince, I'm just sayin'. My laptop desktop for months has been a screenshot from the end of the episode when he is holding his bird (who we never see again) by the open window. I love his expression here, and the existence of a red parrot automatically makes me think of Iago.
I was gonna make a video short about it as soon as I became un-lazy enough to dig out my Aladdin DVD and portable player so I could screen record some cartoon footage onto my laptop for comparisons and then find a good free ai voice to narrate my script for me because I can't stand the sound of my own voice. No surprise I haven't gotten around to it. Still, I remain convinced that Bronson is the true inspiration for Aladdin. Perfect Strangers came out in the mid/late 80s and the animated film came out in the early 90s. The show would have been airing on TV during the animated film's preproduction period. That gives time for the designers to reference not just the show but Bronson's other works and appearances.
Unfortunately who inspired what is one of those things that can't really be proven or disproven unless you were to talk to the character designers themselves (assuming they're all still alive), they remembered what inspired them to make Aladdin look the way he did, and they were totally honest about it. It's also possible that someone unconsciously designed him that way not realizing they were pulling features from Bronson/Balki. The world may never know, but this is my theory and I'm sticking to it.
