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Full-Text Articles in Critical and Cultural Studies
Beauty-Ful Inferiority: Female Subservience In Disney’S Beauty And The Beast, Jeremy Chow
Beauty-Ful Inferiority: Female Subservience In Disney’S Beauty And The Beast, Jeremy Chow
LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University
The ubiquity of Disney movies has certainly transformed the American cultural landscape. The Disney zeitgeist manifests itself as generations of children actively seek Prince Charmings, unrealistic fairy tale relationships and the omnipotent, happily-ever-after. One such Disney favorite, Beauty and the Beast (1991), reveals typical Disney themes such as the power of altruism, the transformation of the anthropomorphic, and the catharsis of true love. Yet, under these benevolent-seeming Disney themes lurk more sinister, subliminal messages. Beauty and the Beast promotes female subservience and subjugation in addition to the glorification of abusive relationships. Belle, the female protagonist, embodies these gendered disparities and …