Beauty and the Beast is most certainly my most cherished childhood movie. I was a little girl when it came out and I have this feeling associated to it that I can only describe as nostalgia. It’s movies, books and memories like this that we don’t really know the significance of until we grow older.
The new release of Beauty and the Beast is finally here and I will admit I was so excited to hear of the re-make and the casting of Emma Watson as Belle, what a choice! There has been so much publicity and hype surrounding it, I know it would be a magical masterpiece to see, especially on the big screen.
So why am I not going to see Beauty and the Beast at the cinema?
Before I carry on, this is not some post to boycott the movie because I am all grown up and realise that the whole storyline of this movie is some Stockholm Syndrome-esque story involving a beast like predator who kidnaps an innocent man and his daughter and completely defies all of my feminist beliefs.
Nope, nooo, we aren’t going there, don’t worry, keep reading. What I am going to tell you, is why I believe Belle is a feminist, and why she is courageous and compassionate and how this is a rare tale of a man changing HIS ways for the woman he loves (let’s not get me started on my opinion of Grease, Sandy turning into a complete whore, pierces her ears and starts smoking – all to snag the badass boy in leather pants? Puh-leeeeease).
But first let me take you back about twenty-fiiiiiv…. twenty years, that’ll do. I don’t remember the last time I watched BATB, but I remember being little, in my lounge room and searching through all of the video tapes that were stacked in a little cabinet above the television with the VCR.
N.B For those reading who didn’t grow up in the nineties, the videocassette recorder or more commonly known as VCR, is what came before the DVD era and you would watch movies on giant cassette tapes. You had to rewind the tape at the end to get back to the start and if somebody didn’t do this before the next person sat down to watch it, then that person was pretty much the worst.
There is even something about the animation of the character’s that is embedded in my mind. The way Belle flips through pages of a book or Maruice, always with some strange contraption on his head. The way Mrs. Potts moves to comfort Chip, even though she’s probably made of china and endearing way of playing mother to more than just her son. Lumière, who is a smooth talking french candelabrum who can light his own candles and wave his arms around without starting any fires or how the hands on Cogsworth’s face are his moustache.
Can you see how the memories I have from this movie, have nothing to really do with plots and underlying messages? These are things to be figured out when you grow up. While you are little, is the time to be completely absorbed in the pure fantasy of fiction, because remember people, it is just that, a made up story, a fairy tale.
This is my tie to the 1991 film, of COURSE I will watch the re-make, but it won’t be until after I have watched the original and fallen in love with it all over again. I know the new movie will be different and I am excited to see where they decided to go with the story.
So what does any of this have to do with Feminism? Apart from Emma Watson labelling herself as a Feminist and being slammed by everyone with an opinion about what Feminism is and what it should be, because everything is black and white guys.
WELL, here is my list:
- Beauty and the Beast was set roughly around 18th Century France. There was no Women’s Rights Movement happening and women in this time were responsible for the household and it was best that they were seen and not heard.
- Belle is a young lady who lives with her inventor father and has no mother in the picture (presumably died of illness or disease, perhaps even from childbirth, this information is never disclosed).
- Belle’s father, Maurice, is an inventor who doesn’t appear to make much money. So his best hopes for his daughter would be to marry her off to some wealthy family to ensure Belle has some sort of future and doesn’t wind up in a brothel and stealing bread for her children.
- Maurice, a dreamer and creator himself, knows his daughter far better than that, and encourages her interest in reading. So Belle is far more invested in her education than being married off to a man she doesn’t love. Maurice is considered as crazy by the villagers and is somewhat of an outcast, but he tends to ignore the opinions of others.
- Gaston, he could have any woman in the village, but he wants Belle, Mysterious Belle who is not the slightest bit interested in this chauvinistic, pompous douche-bag (he even rips a book out of her hand and throws in into the mud on the ground. Back-the-fuck-up-buddy!).
- Gaston makes comments about women shouldn’t be reading because then they will start to think for themselves. Belle will never be interested and even takes a couple of digs at him throughout the movie, to which he would not realise, as he probably never listens to a word she says anyway.
- Belle is independent and courageous. When she goes in search for her father, who went missing on his way to the fair to showcase a new invention, she finds he has been kidnapped and locked away in the dungeon of the Beast’s castle. When confronted by the Beast, Belle negotiates to trade places with her father for his freedom. SELFLESS!
- Belle is now a prisoner in the Beast’s disturbingly eerie castle, but not once does she play the victim. She is strong and never let’s the Beast have it over her. In the end it’s actually the Beast who changes HIS ways to win her affection (can I get an A-MEN sister!).
Like any story, it is all completely subject to interpretation. But I just wanted to share with you all my perspective of a classic Disney tale. It hasn’t been until recently that I’ve really started to think about all of the lead females in Disney films and what they represent to young girls. There is always going to be someone who hones in on the negative aspects, but I always like to see the positives, as I know this is what I would want my children to see. I hope one day I can watch Beauty and the Beast with my son or daughter, both the original 1991 film and the new re-make, and tell them how heroic and courageous Belle is, and how underneath someone’s harsh exterior, might just be a person who needs to be shown love and acceptance.
What are you thoughts on this classic fairy-tale? Have you seen the new movie? Comment below, let’s chat!
Em x
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