“Beauty and the Beast” has been adapted multiple times, all with great visuals and imagery, but the storyline is the same in every movie. This movie is made for youth, but the question arises is that is this really a youth-appropriate movie? Does this movie provide proper moral lesson to take from it?
I’m not saying that this movie is all flawed. But Beauty and the Beast movie does contain some hidden culturally based gender norms which are reflected throughout. Let’s look deeply into those. This movie addresses the theme of inner beauty and how not judging others on the basis of their physical appearance can lead to the path of redemption. The central theme lies around the fact that true beauty comes from within, and it encourages the youth to look beyond just physical appearance of someone to value them. This movie also highlighted the journey of redemption and forgiveness of the beast, where belle’s ability to see beyond the exterior helps the beast to become selfless from selfish. It highlights the importance of personal growth.
While these are some of the significant message’s portrait by the movie, there are some critiques on the movie. Some critics are involved in an argument that while film promotes the message of inner beauty, there still exists an element of physical beauty of great importance. Near the end of the movie, after the path of redemption, the beast is converted into a handsome white prince, which potentially undermine the message of true beauty. The handsome white prince reflects once again the western epistemologies. The question here arises is that why the prince can’t be black prince or someone even less attractive. Hence it shows the Binary portrayal of the beauty concept.
Moving on, Belle’s character is shown as strong and independent women who took the place of her father ton save him. She values kindness and intelligence over any superficial attributes. Many movie viewers say she challenges traditional gender roles in society, however when you look deeply into the character of Belle, you can se that she reinforces some gender stereotypes. According to the Mayes-Elma, “Women and girls are allowed to cross some borders, but only with the permission of men and boys” (Mayes-Elma, 2004, p. 203). The empowerment of belle character still revolves around the redemption journey of the beast. Bell’s love and nature help the beast transform back into the handsome prince. This reinforces the idea that a how a women’s love can change a man totally. Moreover, there were many other characteristics of Belle too, such as she was very intelligent, she could fight for herself, her love and passion for reading books etc. But all these attributes are given a side role, and the story focuses on Belle’s responsibility to care for the beast and help in transforming him in the path of redemption a later falling in love with the handsome prince. This shows how the portrait of Belle in this movie still reinforces the gender stereotypes regarding female characters.
“Beauty and the Beast” remains an influential film as it was also the first ever film for being nominated for the best pictures in the Academy Award category. While this movie does simply take some of its moral lessons and characters to one dimensional, I still say it shows great visual artistry and groundbreaking animation for the youth to enjoy.
As a child, I loved Beauty and Beast films but never thought about it like this as I never critically analyzed it. But thinking about it like this makes things seem different than they were portrayed. Also, I agree with the portrayal of Western beauty standards when the beast was converted into a handsome man. If the makers wanted to show that true love let his inner beautiful side come out, then he could also have been a black man with not a perfect physique. This signifies the importance of critical analysis of the media that we consume. The critical analysis invites the audience to question these underlying portrayals of racism.
I think your analysis is really insightful because I love Beauty and the Beast as a franchise, especially the latest one with Emma Watson playing Belle but I never thought about the moral implications of the storyline. I agree, the transformation of the beast into a handsome, white prince does undo any message about "true beauty" it might have tried to bring across. Also, another problematic thing about the storyline is the use of the handsome prince rescuing Belle. I think the romanticization of Bell's imprisonment, as Rao too has pointed out here is very concerning. It reminds me now of the reality that countless women in Pakistan face as they are trapped in marriages with abusive husbands. Is the…
There are several positive messages that the movie aims to portray, for instance the focus on inner beauty over physical beauty, the emphasis on redemption and transformation shown by the prince and probably the most overlooked one is that of love and sacrifice shown by Belle when she decides to sacrifice her own freedom for her father. However, I do agree the mode of communicating the message is via a flawed plot. One aspect you haven’t covered in you blog is the entire notion of captivity and the glorification of Stockholm Syndrome. The prince keeps Belle as hostage as a punishment for her father trespassing his land. She is essentially forced to stay with the prince against her will, creating…
I love how you have pointed out the moral lessons that it aimed to show but also recognized the underlying reinforcements of gender norms and stereotypes. I think I would have loved a version where the Beast's inner beauty and personal growth were enough and did not require a change in the physical appearance, that too to the beauty standards of a white man of the time. I also agree with the other plotline you have suggested where a different race or ethnicity or non-traditional beauty features may have been shown. But it is ironic how the name of the character is "Beast" and through language, it is supposed to evoke feelings of fear and ugliness in the viewers. Belle's…
Beauty and the Beast is indeed a captivting story with impactful visuals and lessons for self growth, however it may be important to consider that it may not be intentionally reinforcing typical gender roles or giving emphasis to physical beauty. It would help to consider the context of when the tale was published, with its origins dating back to around late 1700s in Europe. The moral lessons of European and other cultural folktales of that time normally revolved around themes discussing the fruits of hard work, love overcoming adversity and that happy marriages do exist, and the punishment of prodigal pride. Owing to the origins of the tale, it would make sense that the depiction of the princess Belle and…