Lessons and Morals of Beauty and the Beast: Good or Bad?

Looking for a blog post to reference for my research paper, I stumbled across Bayan Jaber's blog post (https://bayanjaber.wordpress.com/ml-papers-2/critique-of-disneys-beauty-and-the-beast/) analyzing Beauty and the Beast. Viewing the film with an objective, open mind, I feel Bayan Jaber introduces cool points that most viewers of B & B fail to consider.

For instance, Bayan suggests that kids may be negatively influenced by the submissive portrayal of women in Beauty and the Beast. For instance, Bayan illustrates that Belle is bossed around by the Beast; he confines her to a room and refuses to let her eat unless she eat with him. Despite this, Belle continues to be friendly to the Beast and is tolerant of his poor behavior. I agree with Jaber that Belle is experiencing emotional abuse and is letting the Beast dictate her life (not that she has much of a choice). Though the movie ends with a compassionate, humbled Beast and Belle's getting her happy ending, it is easy to overlook the violence Belle suffered by the Beast in the beginning of the film. Jaber hints that this may cause children to unconsciously accept this relationship between Belle and the Beast. While this is true, even more so I feel that it serves to disempower Belle and convey that patriarch dominates. That the needs of the male comes first and the women is subject to these needs regardless of her own. Having research feminism and empowerment in Belle in B & B, I agree with authors that argue against a feminine portrayal of Belle and propose that suffering domestic violence is okay if it means pleasing your man. You can argue that this is reading too much into the film and that the Beast eventually changes his behavior for the better; however it is the lack of acknowledgment given to this abuse and the manner in which this abuse is excused by the Beast finding his soft side (with the help of Belle), that makes this problematic.

Also, I REALLY liked Jaber's interpretation of inner beauty and appearance in the film. We admire the Beast for becoming compassionate and gaining the love of Belle, thus it is nice to see that he can return to his human form and live a happy life with Belle. Jaber, on the other hand, offers that if the Beast really grew to appreciate inner beauty, why would he need to go back to being a "handsome prince"? The point of the film is supposed to be that looks are not important, however the Beast's good looks are restored at the conclusion of the film. His "inside" being good corresponded to his "outside" looking good, thus Jaber calls Disney out for implying that "people beautiful on the inside aren't attractive on the outside..." After considering Jaber's viewpoint, I feel B & B would have been more meaningful if Belle's declaration of her love for the Beast was too late and both her and the Beast decided that it didn't matter as long as they loved each other. 

I enjoyed reading Jaber's post because it is easy not to pick up on these subtleties and alternate interpretations when you've watched the movie over and over, considering it to be an innocent children's film that wanted to show a cute love story. As innocent as Disney may seem, commentaries like these may suggest otherwise and I look forward to watching more of my favorite Disney films with an objective eye!

Peace Love Disney :)