Beauty and the Beast

The film that I chose to critique is Beauty and the Beast and it was released in the year 1991. As I began to watch this movie I noticed immediately that the story line began with a young white male being punished because he was rich, spoiled and selfish. Because of his unpleasant behaviors he was turned into a beast.  I immediately thought about the boys who watch this movie and the message they receive from this movie, especially the ones who are more affluent.  As I continue to watch the movie I also noticed that Belle enjoyed reading and lived vicariously through her reading, however in her small hometown everyone thought she was odd and silly and peculiar because she prefer to read a book.  I was shocked because we do want to encourage young girls to read and learn and it was giving the message that if you read a book you will be made fun of.  Then a handsome, tall, strong man appears, his name is Gastan, and he tells Belle “not right for a woman to read, get ideas, it’s time for you to think about other things like me.” This is a typical stereotype that a woman should be at home caring for everyday household chores and putting the books to the side.  I also noticed that everyone was brown eye and brown hair except for the prince who had blue eyes and blonde hair. My thoughts were about this was that if you have blue eyes you should live in a castle and have money, but you are at risk for being turned into a beast and if you have brown eyes your just ordinary. The last thing I noticed was that Gastan had made up his mind that he was going to marry Belle.  He arrives at her home and he tells her that he wants to marry her because her job is to massage his feet, take care of the boys that they will have.  This is another reminder of the stereotype that women should stay home and care for the children and the household chores.

I didn’t get the opportunity to see the movie as a child, but when I did see the film as a young adult the message that I received was that if you are rich, Caucasian and spoiled if you treat others in a rude manner you can become ugly in the inside and outside, like a beast.

I have two toddlers and I had them watch this movie with me. There was a scene in the movie when Belle leaves the castle to be with her father but on the way to see her father she encounters wolfs; my children were telling me that “the doggies were scary”.  There was a scene in the movie where Gastan and the beast were fighting, my boy were scared of the scene and told me that “boys not nice, love, love mommy.”  I’m not capable of determining whether my children have learned anything from the movie as they were perhaps too young for it, but I know that they knew the difference between right and wrong.

As I began to surf the web I typed the word “racism” and I found the following statements “Most Disney animated films have portrayed stereotypical gender roles and racial bias. For example, men are generally depicted as masculine and strong whereas women are shown as sensible, weak, and dependent of a male figure. Regarding racial bias, Disney has shown a moderate progress in ethnic heroes and heroines”.

http://disneyandmovies.pbworks.com/w/page/17905683/FrontPagencluding

Then I typed the word “stereotypes” and I came across this writer who stated the following in regards to the movie that I’m critiquing in an article written by Kathy Maio, a feminist journalist from Boston stated the following:  “ The company decided to create a Beast with a ‘very serious problem’. Disney’s Beast terrifies his household and frightens Belle, his prisoner. The Beast does not attach Belle, but the threat of physical violence is present.  The movie says, if a young woman is pretty and sweet-natured, she can change an abusive man into a kind and gentle man. In other words, it is a woman’s fault if her man abuses her.  This is another dangerous message for young girls because it is not true: if Belle lived in the real world, she would almost certainly become a battered wife.”

www.newint.org/easier-english/Disney/diswomen.html#beautybeast

I was reading the notes that some have that the racism is subtle and I agree.  I find that most of the racism I‘m seeing in the movie is because I’m looking for it for this project.  If I wasn’t thinking of the fact there may or may not be racism in this movie, I would not have noticed much.