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A Critical Disability Studies Reading Of Beauty And The Beast: Détournement In Pedagogical Practice, Nicole Eilers

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Disney’s interpretation of the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, and the decisions made to include or exclude certain key elements of the original plot, provide insight into how ideas about what it means to be human have changed over time. Specifically, a critical disability studies reading of Beauty and the Beast brings to light the taken-for-granted category of disability as a social construct, the ever-shifting indicators of an individual’s normality/Otherness, and the socio-historical context that results in such distinctions. The intent of this paper is to (1) explain the theoretical framework behind a détournement, or counter-text, I created …