How Disney Saved a Nation with a Woman
or, Belle, an example for our sons and our daughters
The immediately published narrative on Disney’s newest live action remake was fascinatingly immature and angry. Maybe not fascinating as I’ve grown to expect it.
Now, I’ve offered my more exhaustive opinions on the idiocy of boycotts in another post, but here I’ll specifically tackle only one.
Does Disney force Belle into a reduction of definition based on looks and actions based on the needs of men?
In a new story castigating the remake, Vivian Winslow (who is actually a good writer, go see), makes this comment…
This subliminal theme, which equates goodness with sacrifice, is detrimental to women. In fact, from a young age, girls are conditioned to be “good girls” while it’s acceptable for boys to be “bad”. The underlying message to young girls is that in order to be “good” they must ultimately sacrifice themselves for another, in this case a beast who manages to prove he isn’t just a sad, insecure, pathetic creature.
And respect for the writer aside, I’m absolutely appalled by this. As I watched Beauty and the Beast, one thought kept creeping up inside me.
My God, do arrogant and greedy men really screw things up!
Here’s the total number of people in the cast as tallied by IMDB.com.
Would you like to know how many of those people’s lives were directly and negatively influenced by the actions of the two main men in that movie? NEARLY ALL.
Reveal the Beast
When the little old enchantress turned the Prince into the Beast, she was revealing to all what his heart truly made him. He was no man. He was no prince. He was no debutante. He was no true leader.
Are you kidding me? Becoming a beast was more than becoming an animal. It was learning that he was an animal, and that, unless he could convert himself he would permanently lose his kingdom, his friends, his identity, his servants, his rule, his influence. He would be completely stricken from the memory of mankind. How majestically do we remember greatness, and how quickly is the memory of a fool forgotten!
In fact, Beauty and the Beast as a tale to be told only exists because Belle exists. Without her, the story is forgotten so that it’s never to be told. As the townspeople have forgotten, so too is the story itself relegated only to the mind of the man now become animal and inhuman.
And the kicker comes when you realize that all this Beast did for 10 years (according to the cartoon version) was sit around doing nothing to reform. He didn’t repent. Belle awakened him. Belle enlightened him. Belle gave him life. He doesn’t even get credit for that.
Kill the Beast
But you mustn’t forget Gaston. This SOB almost ruined everything. Were he to kill the Beast in a ploy to fluff his man feathers, win over Belle, quench his thirst for power and glory and honor and wealth, everyone in the town would’ve become a little more like him and would have condemned themselves to continuing in the curse of the Beast. The Potts would never have been reunited; with Chip remaining an orphan. Maurice would be wrongly imprisoned, Lumiere and his wife separated, Madame Garderobe and Maestro Cadenza dead, and worst of all, Gaston set up to continue the patriarchy in that quiet little village that once was a kingdom.
Note: Let’s not forget the bastard Le Fou, also a man, that gave false witness to the mockery of a trial that was held for Belle’s father.
Gaston and the Beast are the worst of us, but Belle is the best of us.
Enter Belle. She rejects and refuses to allow Gaston to influence her even if he’s right about the social construct of the day. Her father imprisoned, she takes his place. The Beast oppresses her and she speaks truth to power. She judges but doesn’t condemn. She shows compassion, but rejects conformity. Later, her father accused, has earned such favor with her capture that she has weakened his oppressive reign. Free to leave, she flees to her father’s defense. At the trial she speaks even more truth to power at the threat of imprisonment. Returning to the Beast she shows that all can grow and we never give up on our fellow man. And ultimately, it was love and the desire for the good of another that brought the entire kingdom back to life.
What the heck can you complain about there? Here was my response to Vivian…
This isn’t a subliminal theme. It’s outright blatant, obvious and true. Goodness is found in giving of one’s self to another, sometimes sacrificially. That’s the essence of what love is. It moves beyond superficial associations or acquaintances.
Belle isn’t smaller because of her sacrifice. She isn’t oppressed or held down as the one expected to surrender her hopes and dreams for everyone else. How foolish! No, this story proves Belle to be the greatest of all. Let the greatest among you be the servant of all.
Belle is the salvation of her father multiple times. She saves the Beast. She saves the people of the village. She restored families, saved lives, reunited parents and children.
This selfish oppression regurgitation is so worn and weak. This has nothing to do with women except that in a movie marked by foolish and failed men, a woman is the hope of an entire kingdom.
Not only is Belle an example for girls, but also for boys, for you, for me and for us all.
Why? Because one person can do a lot.
