The later Disney films, starting in the 1990s, offer the viewers a more varied choice of male characters, as well as heroes with more personality, wit, and individuality. In fact, these animated movies introduce the concept of male villains, a status that was primarily reserved for evil queens and witches in the previous fairytales. This new portrayal is shown in Beauty & The Beast with Gaston being a simple villager with grand ideas of marriage and schemes of beast-killing. Unlike the prior Princes, Gaston is a man with power, talents, and recognition in the town. Every man wants to be as strong and capable, and every woman is attracted to his ruggedly handsome good looks and charisma. Gaston is a powerful sex symbol, who happens to be arrogant, misogynistic, chauvinist man who needs to control everything, as displayed by his need to marry the reluctant Belle, imprison her father, and kill the one she loves.
Gaston is Beauty & the Beast’s evil power, but also represents the new dichotomy between male and female characters in the 1990s. They are separate from each other and both men and women grow to be less passive and unidentifiable, gaining new individual power. These new traits and “male transformation of the 90s” could be a response to the criticism of masculinity of the 1980s, as suggested by Susan Jeffords in her article (Jeffords 1963). In fact, as women were gaining more and more independence, some critics argued that men should go back to their previous
Gillam, the author switches up from the common female perspective and shows Disney’s portrayal of the traditional representation of the male gender. A lot of the Disney’s representation of the male gender includes arrogance and competiveness as the main start off with films such as Cars and The Incredibles (Gillam, 2008). However, as the movie progresses Disney begins to open up the male protagonist and display a new model of masculinity—one in which show vulnerability and emotion. Often times in society men are expected to be dominant, emotionless, and tough despite the inaccuracy of the male persona. Gillam uses the example of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast to depict the standards of the male persona (Gillam, 2008). By using the lyrics to the song about Gaston, “No one fights like Gaston. Douses lights like Gaston. In a wrestling match nobody bites like Gaston. For there's no one as burly and brawny. As you see I've got biceps to spare. Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny. (That's right!). And ev'ry last inch of me's covered with hair,” we can tell from the lyrics that you have to be like Gaston and have huge muscles and have chest hair—which depicts masculinity. By contrasting with Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles he is shown showing his vulnerability by weeping about his “dead” family when constricted by his enemy. By showing Mr. Incredible as vulnerable this sends the message
Changing the characterization of Beauty: An Analysis of Madame de Beaumont's La Belle et La Bête and Daniel Barnz’s Beastly
In the past years, Disney/Pixar has revolutionized the premise of their movies by shifting away from princesses and portraying resilient male characters as the protagonists of their highly successful animated feature films. From 1995 to 2008, Disney/Pixar released eight films, all of which included a male lead, yet these characters are arguably unlike any other protagonist in early Disney animated films. In their essay, “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden call attention to the new manner Disney/Pixar use to depict their heroic male characters in their movies. Gillam and Wooden claim that Pixar is using their movies to promote the acceptance of a new standard of masculinity capable of embracing feminine traits, as conveyed by the male characters within the films. As a viewer, it is easy to recognize the emasculation of the male protagonists within Pixar movies, however, the authors’ claim is faulty; they fail to acknowledge that society now has room for a new sympathetic man because it is straying way from a patriarchal beliefs of the past.
Walt Disney over the years has impacted the lives of millions of children with his animated films. His Disney movies have evolved in the last years and have moved from the traditional damsel in distress theme. Specifically, the classic movie Cinderella gives the wrong idea about what it is to be a woman for young girls. The movie portrays a young woman facing emotional, mental, and physical abuse by her evil stepmother and later falls in love with a charming prince. However, if viewers take a closer look, Disney’s anti feminist message is firmly emphasized. The story of Cinderella is sexist due to it’s lesson to girls that beauty and submission will award them a rich bachelor. This is seen through Cinderella’s submissive behavior, Prince
This article is divided into three different sections- Finucane’s Theory, the Hottie Mystique and the media onslaught. The Finucane Theory comes about because of a mother that was worried about her daughter and the influence they were having on her. Her theory states “Many Parents and commentators defend Happily Ever After against what some critics call a rising “feminist attack,” and credit the comely ladies with teaching values such as kindness, reading, love of animals, and perseverance. When questioned, Disney never really responded to the allegations but stated the same standard statement, “For 75 years, millions of little girls and their
He ripped her from her family, would yell at her if she chooses not to entertain her and would manipulate her into thinking that he can’t live without her. “We have examples like Beauty and The Beast, where the argument was that this a strong and powerful woman, and why is she so strong and powerful? Because she’s reading a book… Well then reality is just pseudo feminism because ultimately in Beauty and The Beast she marries a batterer.”4 This movie is teaching our young girls that if a man treats you this way its ok, you can love someone even though they do not treat you the right way. Disney makes the woman seem sexy and seductive, like the princesses Ariel. Ariel is gorgeous with a curvy body, long hair and a voice to match.4 this makes our girls think about is this will look when they are older and if you look like Ursula who’s big and isn’t the ideal “beautiful” woman.5 Makes it seem as if that you happen to look like this you do not have the possibility of becoming a
There are various types of men in this film that are considered well known and conceited, divergent but captivating or are just avoided based on their appearance. Firstly, there is the stereotypical antagonist Gaston, seen as a symbol of perfection by everyone in town. Belle, who he pursues, for her to become “his little wife”, however, is not interested because of his conceited and assertive behavior. Gaston’s mindset is similar to most of the men in society who still value the thought of forcing themselves upon a woman even after rejection to change the mind of the women so they will not feel ineffectual. Then there is the beast who is considered similar to the typical male gender. He was once a young prince who had everything he desired yet he was unkind and selfish which any gender would be based on their
In Angela Carter’s The Courtship of Mr.Lyon, feminist themes are portrayed through the use of symbolism. The symbols are portrayed through the plot reversal of the classic tale, The Beauty and the Beast. By portraying the beauty and the beast opposites, Carter breaks traditional gender roles typically associated with fairy tales. The Beast is fragile, vulnerable, and ultimately ends up being helpless. While Beauty proves herself to be strong willed, confident, and eventually, aware of the oppressive and objectifying society she lives in.
His conceited personality is illustrated throughout the movie, especially with regards to his obsessive interest in Belle. Gaston is so self-centered and confident that Belle will agree to marry him, that he never truly cares for her opinion: “I'd like to thank you all for coming to my wedding. But first I'd better go in there and uh, propose to the girl!” (Beauty and the Beast). Arranging for a wedding without Belle’s permission, is truly a consequence of Gaston’s self-absorbed nature. Without his overly high self esteem and confidence, Gaston would not be the well-known and loved villain that he is today. Many cannot truly be the greatest villain since they are not capable of believing in themselves. Gaston’s overconfidence plays a very important role in making him the most evil Disney antagonist. His personality is much more loud and entertaining than the other antagonists, due to his egotistical nature, making him a key member of the dinner party. He would also contribute to interesting conversations with some of the other evil members of the party. For the mentioned reasons, Gaston would be ideal as Disney’s best villain and guest of honour due to his incredibly large
Beauty and the Beast is another film with questionable morals. Despite a sixty year time span between the two films, gender relations changed very little. Though the main characters come off as slightly more rounded, there are still some eerie instances that should be addressed. Belle is (yet again) a stunning young woman who is revered throughout for her
The portrayal of women, gender roles and stereotypes in Disney films has long been a controversial topic. Disney’s 1959 animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and Robert Stromberg’s 2014 live action remake, ‘Maleficent’, each provide a different take of Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale, ‘La Belle au bois Dormant’ (‘The Sleeping Beauty’). The comparison of Aurora, one of the main characters from both films, brings into light the stark contrast in portrayals of gender roles as well as physical ideals and stereotypes in women. Emphasis or lack thereof on physical characteristics and gender representation from both texts challenge and reflect ideals and stereotypes that are impactful to the audience.
Beauty’s role in beauty and the beast glorifies her as a sweet girl who can find light in any darkness. She prefers to move forward in life rather than sulk in misery. Being such a positive female character allows her to fall in love with a man who is not of the society standards of handsome, name Beast. She was more intent on focusing on what he had to offer as a person. Karen Rowe states in “Feminism and Fairy Tales” “such alluring fantasies gloss the heroine's inability to act self-assertively, total reliance on external rescues, willing bondage to father and prince, and her restriction to hearth and nursery” (Rowe). The heroine being beauty in this case, doesn't have opinions or rights because her character wasn't created to. Rowe believes that fairytales have paved the way for our expectations towards what women and men should be doing and what romance is. Rowe argues that “These "domestic fictions" reduce fairy tales to sentimental clichés, while they continue to glamorize a heroine's traditional yearning for romantic love which culminates in marriage” (Rowe). Beauty’s character found herself in these “sentimental cliches” with her
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.
Lyon”. Carter retells the well-known fairytale “Beauty and the Beast,” but her version is far from “classic.” It is a tale of self-discovery and rejection of female objectification. In the beginning of Carter’s retelling of the classic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast,” Beauty is seen as a penniless, helpless girl, whom the rich, powerful and world-weary Beast forces to live in his house. When her father uses her as payment for his debt to the Beast she becomes an object. However, she rapidly becomes the more active, experienced, and adventurous character. Throughout the story, Beauty proves herself to be more than just a traditional fairy tale heroine, but in the beginning, she conforms to the paradigm. Just like many of Carter’s heroines, she must start within to be able to then break free from the restrictions and assumptions of patriarchal society. In the words of da Silva, “The daughter is conscious of her annihilation in the patriarchal society but she doesn’t have autonomy to overcome it.” Even though Beauty finds enjoyment in reading fairy tales while living with the Beast, it is as though despite living in a modern world with telephones and cars, Beauty wants to believe in the conventional “happily ever after.” By comparing Beauty to the immaculate snow upon which she gazes Carter emphasizes Beauty’s femininity, innocence, and virginity. By associating Beauty
In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince is portrayed a strong and courageous person, he can be seen as a great character because he overcomes many obstacles to be able to help the Princess survive. Although Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale and is stereotypically more admired by girls, the masculine tale might be liked by the male population because they aspire to be the male hero. Maleficent shows the feminine tale and warns the girls that not men cannot be trusted in some cases, and that there is no need to have a man by your side. A woman can survive on their own using her own intelligence and courage to overcome any obstacle that she might face. For the female population, this change is very important because this “hero” story helps us relate to the character and our desire to do great and special acts (Seger 387). This film proved that a woman is capable of defeating evil, and brings a new perspective into Disney