"Beauty and the Beast" is a well-known animated cartoon of the Disney company, which premiered on November 13, 1991. The cartoon is considered a recognized classic of animation, has been awarded many nominations and awards, and is very popular.
The core of the plot is well known: the beauty is captured by a terrible monster and, having fallen in love with him, helps him return to the guise of a handsome prince, as he once was.
Let's first analyze the positive sides of the cartoon, and then move on to the negative.
Positive sides
Internal beauty is more important than external (+)
plus Cartoon Beauty and the Beast (1991): Contagion with a harmful love myth One positive theme is the importance of inner beauty.
As we see in the outset of the story, the selfish prince refuses to help an elderly woman, who in reality turns out to be a sorceress, and as a result turns into a monster as a punishment - which, as it were, reflects his inner, spiritual “ugliness”. The hero remains a terrible monster until he acquires the "beautiful" inner qualities necessary for any person: the ability to love, caring and kindness - followed by naturally restoring his external beauty - he turns into a prince again.
Promotional video:
With this motive, another one develops in the cartoon, thematically similar - this is the storyline of the cartoon villain, the hunter Gaston. Possessing a beautiful, prominent appearance, this hero does not have any spiritual beauty - he is rude, cruel, selfish - which makes his external beauty repulsive and has no positive meaning.
The cartoon shows that inner beauty is defining and prioritized in its meaning, and outer beauty is secondary. The lack of inner beauty even in a visually beautiful person inevitably leads to grief (the villain Gaston dies), and with inner beauty in his soul, even the most ugly person can find happiness (the happy fate of the monster).
The ability to love and act out of love (+)
Another positive aspect of the story is the theme of the ability to love (while the love story itself, paradoxically, leaves much to be desired, but we will return to this later).
When Belle asks the monster to release her father from captivity and take her as a replacement, the monster takes it with accentuated surprise. The heroine demonstrates an unfamiliar example of selflessness for the sake of the happiness of a loved one, and over time, the enchanted prince adopts this example - he learns to love, be sympathetic and caring: despite the fact that the absence of Belle is unprofitable for the monster, the hero at a key moment releases Belle from captivity, when she finds out about her father's illness.
Thus, the cartoon demonstrates that love is not just some kind of pleasant feeling in relation to another, love is expressed in direct decisions and actions.
The ability to love in a cartoon is instructively a prerequisite for the transformation from a monster into a person.
Passion for reading and lofty ideals (+)
Another good motive of the cartoon is the love of the main character for reading and the presence of lofty ideals in her life.
Belle's passion for reading is one of the defining characteristics of her character. She is ready to re-read her favorite books many times, treats them with care and dreams of seeing adventures in her life commensurate with the brilliance of artistic fiction - in other words, she has certain lofty ideals that she would like to fulfill.
Negative sides
Harmful love story (-)
Infection with a Harmful Love Myth Paradoxically, the just and important motive for the ability to love, which we discussed above, ends up being almost completely supplanted by the general negativity of the love line. This cartoon very well illustrates the following truth: if a story tells about love, this does not mean that it (the story) can be anything - in the spirit of "here is love for you, and the rest does not matter." The plot problem here manifests itself already at the very start.
Pickup motives in a "wise" lesson in love (getting someone else's love = a condition for success)
Infection with a harmful love myth So, the protagonist of the story - the prince - is at first selfish, not responsive and does not have love and warmth in his heart, and it is for these negative qualities of his that caused his evil act that he, in fact, is punished by turning into a monster. What should happen next, based on common sense? The prince must turn back into a human when exactly the lesson on which he "stumbled" has passed - that is, learns to understand the needs of others, to love and act out of love (= develop the missing qualities). Such a task, in general, is given to the hero - the prince needs to love someone. However, this turns out to be not his entire task, but only half - the hero is added that at the same time he also needs to earn love in return. This "exam" is presented on the screen accompanied by solemn music with an air of age-old wisdom: an old legend,high virtues and great truths. In reality, there is an imperceptible substitution here, which seriously distorts the instructiveness of what is happening. To understand what is wrong in the second part of the sorceress condition, it is important to realize the following.
Therefore, the main character can fulfill the condition of personal love for someone. But deliberately, on their own, to earn and ensure a mutual feeling of love (and the prince is set to receive reciprocity as a mandatory goal) is impossible. Oddly enough to realize this, but the love or dislike of others does not depend on the will of a person and is never truly in his power. You can only be responsible for your feelings for another, but you cannot be responsible for the feelings of another for yourself. Thus, since the prince for correction is given the task of falling in love mutually, then he is asked the impossible responsibility for the feeling of another person towards him - therefore, in the second part of the condition of transformation from a monster into a person, a substitution is concluded.
Further, as an aggravating point, this is also accompanied by a magic "timer" in the form of a fading rose, which counts down the time to correct the mistake only until the 21st birthday of the prince-monster. And as a result of the above: 1. pseudo-task to get the love of another person + 2. "deadline" to this - the events unfolding on the screen begin to strongly resemble a "pickup" (love video) or show "House 2". The monster meets the beautiful Belle and, knowing the conditions in which he is imprisoned, quickly evaluates her as a suitable person for love and urgently, since his time for disenchantment ends, he begins to fall in love with her and at the same time "receive" her love, that is, fall in love with her, which is actively picked up by his servants, knowing about the "task" of the owner. “Well, great, at dinner you will love her, she will love you, the curse will be lifted. By midnight we will all be enchanted "- says one of them. Later still sounds: "They must love each other this evening!"
According to the logic of the cartoon, it turns out that this whole pickup truck is not just justified, it is necessary: the monster prince has not yet recognized the heroine, he has not yet fallen in love, but is already beginning to actively "shoot" her (to fall in love and fall in love) - and all this is would be “right”, because he urgently needs to earn love within the framework of the “wise” lesson of love given by the local pro-Disney higher powers. The end result is not a story of saving love, but some kind of farce of love.
Cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991): Infection with a harmful love myth
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Table of contents
1 Internal beauty is more important than external (+)
2 Ability to love and act out of love (+)
3 Passion for reading and lofty ideals (+)
4 Harmful love story (-)
4.1 Pickup motives in a "wise" lesson in love (getting someone else's love = a condition for success)
4.2 Positiveness of codependency (the myth of saving monsters with love)
4.3 Violence in relationships
4.4 The choice of two evils
4.5 "Golden cage"
5 Sexualization (-)
6 Hyperindividualism (-)
7 Discrediting and devaluing parenting (-)
7.1 Negative father image
7.2 Parents - Seniors
7.3 Latent discrediting of motherhood
8 Superiority of a woman over a man (-)
9 vulgarity (-)
10 Partially harmful female role model (-)
11 Summing up
"Beauty and the Beast" is a well-known animated cartoon of the Disney company, which premiered on November 13, 1991. The cartoon is considered a recognized classic of animation, has been awarded many nominations and awards, and is very popular.
The core of the plot is well known: the beauty is captured by a terrible monster and, having fallen in love with him, helps him return to the guise of a handsome prince, as he once was.
Let's first analyze the positive sides of the cartoon, and then move on to the negative.
Positive sides
Internal beauty is more important than external (+)
plus Cartoon Beauty and the Beast (1991): Contagion with a harmful love myth One positive theme is the importance of inner beauty.
As we see in the outset of the story, the selfish prince refuses to help an elderly woman, who in reality turns out to be a sorceress, and as a result turns into a monster as a punishment - which, as it were, reflects his inner, spiritual “ugliness”. The hero remains a terrible monster until he acquires the "beautiful" inner qualities necessary for any person: the ability to love, caring and kindness - followed by naturally restoring his external beauty - he turns into a prince again.
With this motive, another one develops in the cartoon, thematically similar - this is the storyline of the cartoon villain, the hunter Gaston. Possessing a beautiful, prominent appearance, this hero does not have any spiritual beauty - he is rude, cruel, selfish - which makes his external beauty repulsive and has no positive meaning.
The cartoon shows that inner beauty is defining and prioritized in its meaning, and outer beauty is secondary. The lack of inner beauty even in a visually beautiful person inevitably leads to grief (the villain Gaston dies), and with inner beauty in his soul, even the most ugly person can find happiness (the happy fate of the monster).
The ability to love and act out of love (+)
plus Cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991): Infection with a harmful love myth Another positive aspect of the story is the theme of the ability to love (while the love story itself, paradoxically, leaves much to be desired, but we will return to this later).
When Belle asks the monster to release her father from captivity and take her as a replacement, the monster takes it with accentuated surprise. The heroine demonstrates an unfamiliar example of selflessness for the sake of the happiness of a loved one, and over time, the enchanted prince adopts this example - he learns to love, be sympathetic and caring: despite the fact that the absence of Belle is unprofitable for the monster, the hero at a key moment releases Belle from captivity, when she finds out about her father's illness.
Thus, the cartoon demonstrates that love is not just some kind of pleasant feeling in relation to another, love is expressed in direct decisions and actions.
The ability to love in a cartoon is instructively a prerequisite for the transformation from a monster into a person.
Passion for reading and lofty ideals (+)
plus Cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991): Infection with a harmful love myth Another good motive of the cartoon is the love of the main character for reading and the presence of lofty ideals in her life.
Belle's passion for reading is one of the defining characteristics of her character. She is ready to re-read her favorite books many times, treats them with care and dreams of seeing adventures in her life commensurate with the brilliance of artistic fiction - in other words, she has certain lofty ideals that she would like to fulfill.
On this, minus the high-quality technical performance of the cartoon and a very interesting local world (especially for the inhabitants of the enchanted castle) - with positive aspects, perhaps everything. Now let's move on to the history's cons, which are much more numerous, and moreover: upon careful consideration of the cons, all the highlighted pluses are literally "swallowed up" by the minuses and, unfortunately, lose their meaning.
Negative sides
Harmful love story (-)
Infection with a Harmful Love Myth Paradoxically, the just and important motive for the ability to love, which we discussed above, ends up being almost completely supplanted by the general negativity of the love line. This cartoon very well illustrates the following truth: if a story tells about love, this does not mean that it (the story) can be anything - in the spirit of "here is love for you, and the rest does not matter." The plot problem here manifests itself already at the very start.
multfilm krasavitsa i chudovishhe 1991 zarazhenie vrednyim lyubovnyim mifom 02 Cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991): Infection with a harmful love myth
Pickup motives in a "wise" lesson in love (getting someone else's love = a condition for success)
Infection with a harmful love myth So, the protagonist of the story - the prince - is at first selfish, not responsive and does not have love and warmth in his heart, and it is for these negative qualities of his that caused his evil act that he, in fact, is punished by turning into a monster. What should happen next, based on common sense? The prince must turn back into a human when exactly the lesson on which he "stumbled" has passed - that is, learns to understand the needs of others, to love and act out of love (= develop the missing qualities). Such a task, in general, is given to the hero - the prince needs to love someone. However, this turns out to be not his entire task, but only half - the hero is added that at the same time he also needs to earn love in return. This "exam" is presented on the screen accompanied by solemn music with an air of age-old wisdom: an old legend,high virtues and great truths. In reality, there is an imperceptible substitution here, which seriously distorts the instructiveness of what is happening. To understand what is wrong in the second part of the sorceress condition, it is important to realize the following.
The ability to love and be responsive to others (which the prince did not know how and for which he paid with the status of a person) is always and entirely in the personal responsibility, command and powers of a person.
Therefore, the main character can fulfill the condition of personal love for someone. But deliberately, on their own, to earn and ensure a mutual feeling of love (and the prince is set to receive reciprocity as a mandatory goal) is impossible. Oddly enough to realize this, but the love or dislike of others does not depend on the will of a person and is never truly in his power. You can only be responsible for your feelings for another, but you cannot be responsible for the feelings of another for yourself. Thus, since the prince for correction is given the task of falling in love mutually, then he is asked the impossible responsibility for the feeling of another person towards him - therefore, in the second part of the condition of transformation from a monster into a person, a substitution is concluded.
Further, as an aggravating point, this is also accompanied by a magic "timer" in the form of a fading rose, which counts down the time to correct the mistake only until the 21st birthday of the prince-monster. And as a result of the above: 1. pseudo-task to get the love of another person + 2. "deadline" to this - the events unfolding on the screen begin to strongly resemble a "pickup" (love video) or show "House 2". The monster meets the beautiful Belle and, knowing the conditions in which he is imprisoned, quickly evaluates her as a suitable person for love and urgently, since his time for disenchantment ends, he begins to fall in love with her and at the same time "receive" her love, that is, fall in love with her, which is actively picked up by his servants, knowing about the "task" of the owner. “Well, great, at dinner you will love her, she will love you, the curse will be lifted. By midnight we will all be enchanted "- says one of them. Later still sounds: "They must love each other this evening!"
According to the logic of the cartoon, it turns out that this whole pickup truck is not just justified, it is necessary: the monster prince has not yet recognized the heroine, he has not yet fallen in love, but is already beginning to actively "shoot" her (to fall in love and fall in love) - and all this is would be “right”, because he urgently needs to earn love within the framework of the “wise” lesson of love given by the local pro-Disney higher powers. The end result is not a story of saving love, but some kind of farce of love.
So, summing up the first point on the harmfulness of a love line. The condition for the monster prince to melt the cold in his heart and learn to love is instructive, but the condition to “earn” third-party love for oneself, and even temporarily, has an absolutely anti-pedagogical flavor of “House 2” or a pickup truck (“prey” of someone’s “love As a prerequisite for personal success, failure to achieve it is a loss). In fact, in the sense of the prince's misbehavior caused by the inability to love and be responsive, the hero had more than enough to cultivate the ability to love, which he does in the middle of the story - having fallen in love (sort of like) Belle. To provide oneself with someone's love as a certain task is inaccessible for a person, since one can only be responsible for one's feelings.
If reciprocal love was a consequence, and not a condition of the prince's correction / transformation, which broadcasts to the viewer the stupid ideas of a love "shoot" - then this cartoon motive, of course, would teach good. But this is not in the cartoon, reciprocal love is posed as a “earned” condition for success, and therefore the main events of the story develop absolutely unintelligibly.
Codependency positivity (the myth of saving monsters with love)
Above, we examined the non-instructiveness of a love story from the point of view of a male hero, an enchanted prince who received a semi-pickup mission under the guise of a great truth. Now let's see what the plot looks like from the point of view of his on-screen pair - the beauties Belle, and what behaviors the heroine broadcasts to the main audience of the cartoon, the female spectators.
So, Belle's love for the monster is falsely necessary as a condition for his transformation into a prince, which, from the point of view of sound logic, he would have to cope with himself, as we said above (if the “monstrous man” is truly capable of love, then this is the solution of the whole question with his reincarnation into a "prince"). Here it turns out that by falsely depriving the monster of half of the responsibility for correcting his mistake and his salvation (the condition "deserve love" transfers 50% of the responsibility for salvation from the monster to the beauty) and putting the love of a beauty as a condition for rebirth, the creators of the cartoon thereby with a psychological points of view formed a metaphor for the relationship between a codependent woman and a “problem” man, and in their unrealistic and deceptive form. More details below.
Codependency is an unhealthy type of behavior in relationships, characterized by an obsession with changing the life and character of a person with a serious psychological problem, the solution of which depends mainly on him personally (this is alcoholism, drug addiction, other types of addiction, aggressiveness, despotism, etc.). The long-term “saving” behavior of the wives of alcoholics or drug addicts, which never leads to their recovery, is a vivid example of the described phenomenon.
Codependent-saving behavior (= the image of a "beauty saving with her love") is always ineffective and does not contribute to the formation of the addicted / problem person (= "monster") motivation to work on oneself (= "rebirth as a prince") and as a result only aggravates situation, gradually worsening the relationship of people and their lives. A person's problem / dependence (as a symbolic "monstrosity") is really completely subordinate to him, and not vice versa - it is some kind of independent misfortune that attacked a person from around the corner and holds him captive. However, codependents (symbolic “beauties”) believe that the life and healing of their problematic “monster” partner can depend on them and their love / actions / thoughts, and do not understand that what happens to their partner is the result of his life the choice for which he is responsible. Unfortunately, it is impossible to truly bear full responsibility for the fate and salvation of the “monster”. If he can change, it is primarily due to his decision and actions.
If we translate the character of the enchanted prince from “Beauty and the Beast” from the metaphorical language to the language of reality, then we get just such a “problem” type, similar to alcoholics, drug addicts, tyrants, etc. His image is as follows:
- heartless, selfish, aggressive person (= the prince's refusal to help someone in need, his bad temper and aggressive behavior),
- due to its nature, socially maladjusted and separated from society (= becomes a monster isolated from the world in an enchanted terrible castle),
- put by higher powers in a difficult situation in order to pass a personal lesson and improve: learn to love, be responsive, act out of love and compassion (= the correct condition for a sorceress to fall in love, which is the only thing, according to sound logic, should "heal" the hero).
The main character is metaphorically dependent on a personal psychological problem, the solution of which, if not for a false scenario move with reciprocity, would really depend on him and only on him. However, the decisive condition for the healing of a dependent person in Beauty and the Beast is not only his independent actions, decisions and feelings, as it should be in order to transmit viable, instructive ideas to the viewer, but also someone's loving attitude towards him, metaphorically speaking a symbol of the presence and influence of a codependent partner.
A beauty, pairing up with a monster, the type of a problem person, metaphorically acts as a codependent partner, and her feelings and actions are falsely presented by the plot as decisive in the question of whether at the end the hero will remain a problem type (monster) or become a healthy, normal person (Prince). Thus, the plot broadcasts to the viewers negative psychological attitudes characteristic of codependents about the possibility of “saving” the “monster” by love, ie. by adjusting his life / feelings / thoughts / actions to resolve a psychological problem under his control. Thus, the ideas of the cartoon turn out to be very unsafe for spectators who adopt Belle's model of behavior.
Such an idea, instilled in plots like Beauty and the Beast, that a woman's love for male “monsters” is half the battle in the success of relationships and the transformation of such men into “princes” (worthy, healthy people), can be a very harmful guide for later life. Women's belief in their ability to re-educate the metaphorical "monster" is a common misconception that can lead a woman to a destructive, painful, destroying union. Having a subconscious program about saving the "monster" with love and a number of her own psychological problems, a woman can even become obsessed with dysfunctional relationships, subconsciously seek them and expect that from her "special", "correct" attitude, the "monster" will be happily turned into a prince. Some researchers call this "love myth obsession."
It is important to understand here that personal changes in a person (rebirth from a monster into a prince or, for example, from a prostitute to a princess) can occur primarily as a result of personal internal efforts and decisions, and third-party persuasion, actions, or feelings (= “salutary »Love) will be able to act as no more than stimuli for correction and will never become a panacea and half of the solution, as in the cartoon in question. Monsters turn into princes primarily because of their personal efforts, and not because someone will love them. It is also important to remember that codependency is not a real action out of love for a person, the importance of which was mentioned in the positive aspects of the cartoon, since being responsible for someone else's psychological choice is impossible and only misleads the other person.that he can be "saved" like that. Codependent behavior also does not exhibit a healthy response to a person's life choices - which in these situations would be more loving action for the happiness of the addicted / problem person.
People want to believe in this beautiful myth that a beauty, pairing up with a monster, saves him with her love, but almost always this scenario turns out to be inoperable, since the key to salvation is not in the hands of the "beauty", but inside the "monster" … By the way, the moment is very interesting that "Beauty and the Beast" and other variations of this plot, including "The Scarlet Flower", carrying false psychological attitudes about love relationships, are much more popular and loved than a similar fairy tale with similar types, but with correct lesson on the topic of "monsters" and "beauty". We are talking about the fairy tale "Bluebeard", which has a very similar structure (a beautiful girl enters into a relationship with a monstrous man), but sums up the story with the correct lesson on how a woman should behave in such a dysfunctional relationship. Find out that a monster is a monster and run away from it. In reality, monsters are rarely corrected by outside love, and their many beautiful under-“saviors” are simply “stored” in one sense or another as a failed experience of “salvation”.
The disdainfulness of the love story of Beauty and the Beast is further revealed in several more important motives.
Violent relationships
The cartoon contains another dangerous message - the normality of "abuse" (violence, both physical and psychological) in relationships.
In addition to the fact that the monster imprisons the beauty, which in itself carries the image of violence in relationships, there are also direct scenes of aggression from the monster to the beauty in the film (“barking” at her, the threat of starvation, the collapse of everything in a row when she ends up in the forbidden West Wing, etc.). However, in the end, moments of aggression for some reason in no way embarrass the beauty and do not interfere with the development of a feeling of love between the characters. Belle's initial love affair with the monster prince also begins to develop on the basis of a very deceiving incident involving violence.
As we can see, at first the monster imprisons the beauty in captivity (a metaphor of violence) - and the beauty logically suffers from this. When, in one of the episodes, a monster within the bounds of the beauty's captivity, into which she was placed with her own hand, saves her (the scene of Belle's rescue from the wolves) - the beauty immediately begins to believe that this monster is not so bad, he saved her. The scene with the wolves does not reveal the monster's motivation to rescue the captive. It occurs in the first stages of the relationship between the heroes, when the prince has not yet changed - therefore, the motivation could not be the rudiments of selflessness, but the return of the beauty to her captivity. After all, as we remember, Belle's love provides him with release from the spell, so, of course, he must be interested in her well-being so that she could love him. For Belle herself, saving a monster from wolves is simply her return from one danger (being eaten by wolves) to another (being a prisoner of the monster).
This creates a very deceptive situation. The imprisoner saves his prisoner from outside threats, thereby returning him to his possession, and the prisoner falls in love with the prisoner. It will be similar here, for example, if one person psychologically or physically tortures another (the symbolism of a beauty's captivity in a monster), and then suddenly somehow cares about his well-being within the current painful relationship (after psychological violence he gives a gift, after beating he calls an ambulance, etc.) etc.) - is it worth it in such cases to really start considering your unhealthy partner "good", "not so bad monster"? It seems not.
The choice of two evils
Infection with a harmful love myth The love theme of the cartoon also contains the idea of a choice between two evils, which is revealed in the semantic confrontation between Gaston and the monster as candidates for marriage to Belle.
The Beast Prince and Gaston are opposed and act as potential partners for Belle - supposedly right (prince) and wrong (Gaston). However, in reality, there is a situation of "two evils" here, and that one applicant for a relationship and marriage is inherently bad, that the other. In fact, as explained in detail above, the love of a beauty is not half the success in changing the monster. And as long as the monster remains a monster, it cannot be the option for a happy love relationship as suggested here. The main heroine of the story, thus, chooses a groom among the "evils", one of which (Gaston) is completely bad, and the second (the monster) is a little better.
Golden cage
Infection with a harmful love myth The present motive of the monster's comfortable wealth for a beauty, unfortunately, is also bad - and this applies to both "Beauty and the Beast" and the beloved by many "Scarlet Flower".
In both cartoons, the subtext is quite clear that the security of the “monster” is a significant support for the development of a positive attitude of the beauty towards him. The big question: the beauties of monsters would quickly fall in love and love in general if they were captured in uncomfortable conditions - in some basement, hut or cave, and not a wondrous castle with gold, feather beds and servants. In general, the comfortable wealth of the monster as an incentive for a loving relationship is a rather negative motive leading to the idea of a marriage of convenience.
So, let's summarize the lack of instruction in the love story of "Beauty and the Beast"
- the viewer, under the guise of a "wise" lesson of love, is offered to watch how the monster falls in love on a timer and deserves the love of a beauty, which promotes unhealthy pickup ideas with the flavor of the show "Dom-2" more than the idea of the importance of love and its saving meaning. Love here develops unfreely and involuntarily, and in the condition of the prince to find reciprocity in order to turn back into a person, there is a substitution, since one cannot be responsible for the feeling of another;
- the cartoon instills in viewers false psychological attitudes about relationships and a harmful "love myth"that a metaphorical "beauty" (an ordinary woman) who was captured by an enchanted "monster" (who fell into dependence on a man who has a psychological problem under his control, because of which he is cut off from society and normal life), can (with love) to change him and turn him into a "prince" (healthy, free, worthy person). In reality, this motive is false, since the love of a “beauty” cannot be the decisive condition for the transformation (correction of vices, socialization, etc.) of a “monster” into a “prince”. The primary decisive condition for the transformation of the "monster" into a "prince" is his personal choice, personal efforts, etc., which the hero of the monster here is falsely deprived of by the original conditions of a sorceress. Someone's love for the "monster" cannot be half the battle in reincarnating him into a "prince"or maybe, at best, some kind of private incentive or a happy consequence of his personal work on himself, and at worst, the motivation for the “monster” not to change anything, since they already love him and want to be responsible for him and his changes;
- the cartoon broadcasts the idea of the normality of violence in relationships (the aggressive behavior of the monster does not prevent the beauty from seeing a good game in it), the heroine begins to fall in love with the monster in the style of the "Stockholm syndrome" (falls in love with her prisoner, who showed himself on the good side for his captive as part of her imprisonment);
- the choice of "two evils" is acceptable (the main character rejects one unsuitable applicant for marriage (Gaston) and chooses another unsuitable one (monster);
- material reckoning in love plays a role (an important motive for the development of a beauty's love is the comfort of life provided to her by the monster - a rich life in the castle).
Sexualization (-)
Infection with a harmful love myth The next negative aspect of the cartoon is the explicit work on sexualization (the early initiation of child viewers into the topic of sexuality).
1) In part, this can be traced in the already described pick-up motives of the love story. The monster prince falls in love for a while (up to the age of 21) and falls in love with a girl who gets in his way, and if he does not accomplish this, he will never become a man (= will not succeed). Such motives of love for speed lead by meaning to sexualization: fall in love and fall in love as soon as possible and you will be happy (turning into a prince), and if not, then you are a loser and you will remain them forever (in m / f, if the monster does not receive mutual love, then forever will remain a monster).
2) To the topic of sexualization are added the physical love contacts of the main characters, which are prominently emphasized in the cartoon and which make the love line inappropriately "naturalistic". The monster gently plays with the beauty's hair, she snuggles up to him in a dance, teaches him how to properly hold her by the waist, etc. - many moments of physical expression of love between the characters look superfluous for a children's cartoon, diminishing the spiritual ideas of love and adding carnal ones.
3) There are overly sexualized secondary female characters in the cartoon: these are three Gaston's fans, with their behavior and appearance resembling prostitutes (and, most likely, they are) / Fifi the servant, also looking like a girl of easy virtue / a woman with a cleavage in the market.
4) A minor character, Lumiere, is also related to the topic of sexualization. This hero has the type of a womanizer, which is presented in a positive light (from the song “Let's become people again”: “I will become slim again and beautiful again, I will be surrounded by ladies again. …
5) There is at least one subliminal message on sex in the cartoon:
Sex themes in cartoons for children and teenagers are obviously completely unacceptable.
Hyperindividualism (-)
Infection with a harmful love myth Also an important negative point is the breakaway of the main character Belle from society. The opening song of the heroine explains the state of affairs to the viewer: Belle lives in a small town, where everyone is busy with some everyday affairs from day to day, she is also a kind of “different”. She is excluded from ordinary affairs, visually and according to her interests does not fit into society and, as she conducts the subtext, considers those around her to be backward: "The small town is full of small people", "There must be something more than this provincial life!"
Such hyper-individualistic motives in stories, where the main character vividly opposes the environment, which is depicted in the spirit of the "gray crowd", set the viewers up to the awareness of themselves as hyper-exclusive and special, and those around them as worse, unworthy, insignificant, etc., which leads to an anti-systemic, harmful perception of the world. If everyone in society, by analogy with the main character, considers himself an exalted, chosen “beauty”, and others around him are gray and “little people”, then society will quickly turn into a collection of arrogant loners and will have no chance to realize unity and concentrate forces in achieving common goals.
Discrediting and devaluing parenting (-)
The cartoon broadcasts negative images of parenting to the viewer:
Negative father image
Belle's father, Maurice, is depicted as a weak, stupid-looking man, who the whole neighborhood makes fun of. In many scenes, the hero is presented extremely pejoratively (loses his pants, falls into a snowdrift, etc.).
The creators of the cartoon even portrayed the horse at times more noble than the father of the main character.
Parents are elderly
To devalue parenting, the following technique was also used: two parents in the story (Maurice and Mrs. Potts) are depicted as elderly people who more resemble grandfather and grandmother. Thus, the image of the mother and father in the cartoon is actually replaced by the image of the grandparents.
Hidden discrediting of motherhood
The most interesting are two moments with the hidden discrediting of motherhood. The first is a casually appearing image of a mother with many children with her “piglet” children in her arms in a market scene. The frame is structured in such a way that the beautiful Belle rises above the image of this repulsive mother of many children. At the same time, a cage with missing rods is drawn next to Belle as a symbol of the theme of freedom / non-freedom. In the scene, the subtext implies the freedom of the beauty in contrast to the image of the animal enslavement of a mother with many children. In the song that sounds in this episode, it is repeated many times that such a life as that of the inhabitants of the town is bad, and, thus, motherhood also belongs to the components of the “bad life”.
The second hidden antimatter moment is built like this: the villain Gaston, having come to Belle with a proposal to marry, paints the girl the delights of a future life together, including the birth of children, and at the same time puts his feet on the table. Belle frowns in disgust at this moment - superficially her reaction refers to the fact that Gaston put his dirty feet on the table, but hidden this negative reaction is associated with the theme of motherhood by the creators of the m / f.
It is also interesting that Gaston talks about six or seven children, and a woman with children in the market asks the shopkeeper for six eggs, after which someone's phrase "Expensive" sounds. The symbolic chain is thus: children = expensive = unacceptable.
All of the above demonstrates the cartoon's conscious anti-parenting orientation. We remind you that discrediting and devaluing parenting is the most common negative topic in Disney products, aimed at fostering a negative attitude of viewers towards their parents and towards the topic of parenting in general.
The superiority of a woman over a man (-)
Also with this cartoon in the production of "Disney", a shift towards feminization began noticeably. In "Beauty and the Beast" we see the first notes of a qualitative imbalance of female and male characters from Disney towards female characters.
Belle is positioned as a beautiful, intellectually advanced, special and positive girl in every possible way. Her on-screen couples - the prince-monster and the hunter Gaston - are "two evils", imperfect men, one of whom is imprisoned in the consequences of a long-standing mistake and almost despaired of somehow resolving his fate, which, moreover, according to the plot, he cannot even achieve on his own and the second is a narcissistic and stupid redneck. There is not a single truly worthy male character in the cartoon, and the female is superior to all male characters - which is a common characteristic of feminist (or rather feminist-fascist) media products.
Everything becomes clearer when you consider that the screenwriter of the cartoon was the feminist Linda Wolverton, who also wrote scripts for other characteristic Disney products: the cartoon Mulan (1998), the films Maleficent (2014), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (2016), which also tells about the superiority of women over men.
Vulgarity (-)
In the cartoon, there are also various vulgar moments, classically for Disney, (losing pants, showing chest hair, burping a chest, a man dressed in a vulgar female outfit, etc.).
The vulgar moments in media products stimulate the development of a corresponding aesthetic taste in the viewer.
Partially harmful female role model (-)
It is also interesting to note this point regarding Belle as a role model for spectators.
Visually, the heroine is depicted as a hardworking, practical girl: she is very neatly dressed, wears an apron, leaves the house with a basket, as if she is on business, and she always looks very responsible. However, this visual positioning of her hardworking and down-to-earth is filled with no real meaning. Belle wears an apron with an important look, but at the same time does not do any work - she goes out of the house to the bookstore to return the book (it is also possible that she goes out to get some bread - but this micro-moment is served so quickly that you cannot catch anything) … In the cartoon, almost not a single scene is depicted where Belle would noticeably be engaged in something practically useful (the most significant is washing the wound of a monster), but the authors definitely deliberately created a visual image of a toiler. What for? It looks like in orderto hide the emptiness of the proposed role model. In fact, Belle is just a beautiful girl who reads adventure books, dreams, considers herself special and is not really busy with anything else. And the image of a practical worker turns out to be just a diversion for the eyes of parents who mistakenly choose this cartoon for their children as an instructive one.
I would also like to note that the heroine is endowed with a great deal of arrogance. The monster and the servants strictly forbid her to go to the West Wing of the castle, where the monster's room and the magic rose are located. However, she violates this prohibition absolutely without any hesitation or agony. The pain and despair of the monster are metaphorically hidden in the West Wing, and the main character invades this sphere absolutely unceremoniously with a surprisingly immodest, impudent look.
Belle, of course, is not devoid of positive aspects and qualities (curiosity, interest in reading, love for her father), but in many ways is a harmful role model: she is divorced from reality, which the creators are clearly trying to "cover up" the image of the worker, is excluded from society and As a result, he gets into such a relationship, which in reality would end very badly.
Let's sum up
Drugs in the cartoon, alcohol appears in several scenes - both in a negative context and in a positive one (in the scene of the song "Be Our Guest", a large number of beer and champagne are depicted / in the scene of Gaston's proposal there is champagne / the inhabitants of Gaston's tavern drink beer)
Sex in the cartoon contains overly sexualized secondary female characters (fans of Gaston, maid Fifi, etc.) / there is a hero with the type of womanizer (Lumière), which is presented in a positive light / the main love line works for sexualization, in which the enchanted prince needs to be done in due time to love and earn love ("speedy" love as an indicator of success) / overly naturalistic depiction of the love contacts of a beauty and a monster (dance, hugs, affection) / there is at least one subliminal message on sex.
Violence cartoon with subtext promotes the normality of violence in relationships - the monster's aggression towards the beauty does not in the least interfere with the subsequent development of a feeling of love between the characters. There are also a number of tense scenes and moments (the monster captures the father of the main character / aggression in the communication of the monster with the main character / the scene of the battle with wolves / the captivity of the main character and her father by the townspeople / the battle of the enchanted servants of the castle and the townspeople / the battle of Gaston and the monster).
Morality
Positive aspects:
- inner beauty is more important than outer (beautiful, but evil Gaston dies / terrible, but who knows love, the monster prince turns back into a human and reaches a "happy end" - the positivity of the second moment is largely supplanted by a love line that is harmful in meaning),
- the importance of the ability to love and act out of love (the motive of the salvation of the main character of his father / the main character, having fallen in love with the heroine, releases her from captivity) - the topic is also largely supplanted by the negativity of the love line
- love of reading and the presence of lofty ideals in life (refers to the main character).
Negative sides:
the cartoon contains a mostly mischievous love line:
- In order to atone for guilt and correct selfishness, an enchanted prince needs not only to love someone, melting his hard-heartedness, but also to earn love in return, which he carries out, forcedly, within a limited time, falling in love and falling in love with a girl he has fallen into. captivity. At the same time, the task of earning love for correction is in itself a subtle substitution, since a person cannot be responsible for the feeling of another for himself, but only for his feeling for another;
- the tandem of beauty and the beast acts as a metaphor for widespread illusions about relationships with codependency and broadcast to the viewer a harmful "love myth" that a "beauty" (a woman) who is captured by an enchanted "monster" (gets into codependency to a man who has psychological the problem due to which he is cut off from normal life), supposedly can turn him into a “prince” (a healthy, free, worthy person) with his attitude (love). In reality, this scenario is often unworkable, since the primary, decisive condition for the transformation of the “monster” into a “prince” is his personal choice and personal efforts, and the love of the “beauty” does not act, as here, as half of the success in the matter of “rebirth” and does not guarantees the healing of the "monster". The love of a “beauty” for a “monster” can be, at best, some kind of additional stimulus, or a happy consequence of the normalization of the life of the “monster”, and in the worst case, motivation for the “monster” not to change anything. In reality, the relationship of "monsters" and "beauties" - "saviors" is almost always dysfunctional and has no "happy end";
- the cartoon broadcasts the idea of the normality of violence in relationships (the aggressive behavior of the monster does not prevent the beauty from seeing a good game in it), the heroine begins to fall in love with the monster in the style of the "Stockholm syndrome" (falls in love with her prisoner, who showed himself on the good side for his captive as part of her imprisonment);
- the choice of "two evils" is acceptable (the main character rejects one unsuitable applicant for marriage (Gaston), and chooses another unsuitable one (monster);
- material calculation in love plays a role (an important motive for the development of a beauty's love is the comfort of life provided to her by the monster - a rich life in the castle);
- through the main character, hyperindividualism and anti-systemic worldview are promoted (the heroine vividly opposes the society depicted in the cartoon as boring and gray);
- the cartoon contains negative images of parenting (the derogatory image of the father / the parents in the cartoon are depicted as elderly people, ie the images of the parents are replaced by the images of grandparents / there are hidden moments that discredit motherhood - the image of the mother as a “sow” and the hidden negative reaction of the main character in address of the idea of motherhood);
- the superiority of the female over the male is promoted (in the cartoon there is not a single worthy male character, and the female surpasses all male characters);
- the cartoon contains vulgar moments;
- the main character is for the most part a harmful role model (she is divorced from reality, which the creators of the film try to hide through the visual positioning of the heroine as a hard worker / is cut off from society / gets into such a love relationship that in reality would end very badly).
Evgeniya Kumryakova
