Pardoned or Punished?
“We don’t like what we don’t understand, in fact it scares us,” is a disturbing, yet unfortunately (occasionally) true line from “The Mob Song” in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. While it is sung by a group of fearful townspeople, this has been known to ring true in everyday life. Thankfully, the people behind Disney’s classic, Beauty and the Beast, tried to teach a generation this lesson through the protagonist, Belle. Through her caring nature, Belle drives the movie’s theme of not judging a book by its cover.
In Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Belle is misunderstood, kind, and perceptive. Belle is shown to be misunderstood when she is walking through the streets, reading her book. The other townspeople remark, “that girl is strange, no question” (Beauty and the Beast). With the simple act of reading a book, the townspeople are quick to cast her out. At no point do any of the townspeople learn more about her to fully understand her. Even though she is misunderstood, Belle is also kind. After being taken prisoner at the castle, she helps the beast relearn several basic life skills, like how to use utensils and how to read. After reading him Romeo and Juliet, Beast makes the request that she read it again. She turns it back on him and asks him to read. When he hesitates, she realizes that he has forgotten how, and she says, “Here, let me help you” (Beauty and the Beast). Through helping him instead of questioning or taunting him, she shows the kind and
Bruno Bettelheim, he analyzed fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology, which is represented in his works of The Uses of Enchantment. Beaumont’s story of Beauty and the Beast is where the first discovery of Beauty’s problem was identified as the Oedipal complex. The Oedipal complex is a child’s desire to have a sexual relation with the parent of the opposite sex, but it is repressed deep in the mind. Beauty in Beauty and the Beast has a special bond of affection with her father; there is the problem that arises within this complex that what if she were to be stuck at the stage of development and never outgrow it. Within the fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Beaumont there is the representation of the period where she begins to transfer the affection to someone else. An analysis of Bettelheim’s theory of the Oedipal complex reveals psychological problems of growing up in the written fairy tale and Disney adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
People allow themselves and their ideas to conform and to be influenced by the people around them, otherwise known as “mob mentality”, because they are afraid to break social expectations, thus inhibiting the growth of the whole community. This can lead to such large problems that it is even depicted as negative in the film industry. In the movie, Beauty and the Beast, Belle comes back home from the Beast’s castle, only to find her father being thrown into an asylum by a band of people behind Gaston. Belle, who is strong willed and independent attempts to speak out against what is happening, going against everybody else, but Gaston leads the townspeople to the conclusion that she is crazy. After Belle opposed and something negative happened
Seger states that in fairy tales "an old woman, a dwarf, a witch, or a wizard helps the hero . . . The hero achieves the goal because of this help, and because the hero is receptive to what this person has to give" (173). Conversely, Beast is helped by the very damsel he imprisons. Belle is a normal woman, not a witch or a wizard; she has no special powers and is not old or dwarfish in any way. Also, Beast is extremely reluctant to accept any help from her. In the Disney version of the story, Belle tries to teach Beast how to control his temper and be more compassionate and loving. Beast is not receptive at all to this help throughout the story, but still manages to defeat the curse left on him by a self revelation. He decides after Belle's departure from his castle to learn to love and be kindhearted. Although her help may have had an impact on his transformation, it was the mere presence of her and his own self conscience that ultimately helped him conquer his relentless curse. This is quite different from what Seger illustrates in her hero myth theory.
Referring back to fairytales like Beauty and the Beast film which involves the beast who magically got turned into a beast as a disciplining act because of his selfishness. Then a beautiful young women by the name of Belle, got imprisoned in the castle. The beast is very fond of Belle since he first laid eyes on her. During the movie Belle being the catalyst for the Beast’s need of wanting to change. But he distances himself from her because he has two mindsets. Which is a man and the other is a raging beast. The beast is going through trying to
Belle’s story of living with a beast is re-evaluated, claiming that she is not as sane as she was once perceived. When Belle enters the stage in a straight jacket and tied to a chair, there is a realization that she was dealing with a mental illness the whole time, something that is prevalent in our current society. In addition, her familiar radiant yellow ball gown was concealed by the straight jacket, blocking out her previous notion of nativity with the comprehension that it is not sensible to live and interact with a talking creature. The addition to Belle’s costume demonstrates
When hunger games start the tributes (participates) pick up their packages and run. Katniss however, does not pick up her package and run just as Haymitch had advised her. She goes deep into the forest and tries to stay hidden from other tributes for fear that that might kill her. She’s afraid but she was also a skilled survivor so she tries to work on a plan of winning the games. She contemplates the odds of her survival, as an ally she had befriended earlier dries. During this journey she discovers her true self and the battle she was once having within herself changes to resentment towards the Capitol. She realizes that true enemy in the Capital. “Rue was death has to forced me that confront by the own fury against the cruelty. No way is
of Darkness: the chain gangs, the grove of death, the payment in brass rods, the
Belle is the first character we really notice a defiance of gender stereotypes. She is a nerdy, withdrawn girl who loves to read. Her dream that she sings about is to leave her provincial town and seek a more adventurous life. She is very beautiful, and Gaston, the antagonist, sees this clearly.
“Beauty and The Beast” is a classic well known romantic Disney movie that depicts the gender role of men and women in society. The film is based upon a smart young female protagonist named Belle who is imprisoned by a self-centered young prince after he has been turned into a beast. They both learn to love each other in the end and throughout the film there are several examples shown portraying the roles of gender. In the film the main characters Gaston and the Beast portray themselves as rude, conceited and more important than the woman even though the main character Belle is a woman whom is considered odd, yet smart, and unrelated to most women in society.
Throughout my childhood, I have been exposed to Disney’s many tales, but Beauty and the Beast had always been my favorite. My young brain thought that beauty was different from the other princesses; she was beautiful, but much more than that she was kind, talented and intelligent. Her intelligence and her love of books is what appealed to me much more than her renowned beauty. But as I got older I began to realize in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991), Belle’s intelligence was replaced with a romance between herself and the Beast. Now it was all about love and sacrifice. Instead of being at the core of her personality, Belle’s supposed intelligence is a pretense that conceals her true value to the story as a supporting figure that is present only as a supporting role to first her father and then the beast.
Belle was kind to the Beast, and then she found her prince. It took courage to look into the eyes of someone that took away everything and see the good.
In the new popular culture version of Beauty and the Beast, we see how Belle, played by Emma Watson, is a young feminist woman. Belle has always been a bright, beautiful and independent young woman. Despite all her fears, she makes friends with the castle's enchanted staff and recognizes the kind heart and soul of the true prince that hides on the inside of the beast. The empowered Disney princess, Belle, is interested in learning and reading and lacks interest in marriage. Her passion for books has made her want to teach other girls to have the same passion and skills. In the film, she attempts to teach a young girl in town to read and lecture by the older male schoolmaster not to do that. The filmmaker makes it clear that Belle’s mind is
All over the world Feminism is a current topic of concern and there are very few advocates who are currently fighting for gender equality. In the media men and women are attempting to use their voices to fight for equal rights and get the message across to all generations. In this paper, I will be analyzing the movie Beauty and the Beast (2017) by drawing upon the feminist theory, which will demonstrate how the main female character, Belle challenges the modern-day system of inequality and the socially constructed gender roles. I will do so by examining why Emma Watson was chosen as the leading actress, how Belle is different than the other women in her town, the modifications from the original movie, and how Belle ultimately gets to decide her destiny. I will also consider why some people may view the film as anti-feminist, which will allow for me to understand a different perspective. It is my thesis that socially constructed gender identities are negatively presented in popular culture, however actors and actresses are attempting to use their influence to make an impact and move towards equality.
“All cruelty springs from weakness,” said Lucius Annaeus Seneca. To me, this quote means that cruelty comes out from a person who is feeling weak. A big question people ask each other is “Why are people cruel to each other?” In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, there are many incidents of cruelty. Cruelty appeared in the book when George yells at the mentally handicapped Lennie in the beginning of the book. This trend of cruelty continues throughout the book. Characters that were notably cruel in the book are Curley, Curley’s wife, and George. The three things that motivate people to be cruel in the book are: when people feel they are powerless, when a person wants a feeling of short term enjoyment from
Belle is extremely important to original story, and the movie. Maybe you are asking yourself why? Well, she is for surely one of the two main characters, the other being the beast whom she is supposed to fall in love with to make him become a man again. Especially in the original book version, it is more focused on Belle because they leave out the “evil sisters”. She still has bitter