Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday, Meg and Laney went to see Beauty and the Beast.

Let's face it, with the possible exception of Tiana and Mulan, Disney princesses are remarkably anti-feminist. Their beauty is their most important (and sometimes their only) aspect. Meg really hates this about Disney princesses. But, she has also long been fond of Beauty and the Beast despite this. She loved that Belle is odd because she is bookish. And she loved that Belle was so brave and kind. And, sweet FSM, when Jerry Orbach sang "Be Our Guest," all bets were off.

But watching this movie with her eight and a half year old daughter, made her look at it in a different light. And this morning there was a conversation. Here's a transcript:

The Conversation

Meg: So, what'd you think?

Laney: I liked it. I liked that Belle liked to read. I thought that the candle (Lumiere) was funny. The music was pretty nice. The Beast was nice to Belle.

Meg [deciding to skip over the whole "nice" thing and go straight to the hypothetical she'd been noodling on since watching the movie]: Let me ask you this, what if the movie was about a strong, handsome boy who preferred reading to things like hunting or playing sports and he ended up as a captive in a castle which was run by a female Beast; a huge, scary woman who was all covered with hair - do you think that there could be a movie like that?

Laney: That wouldn't make sense because boys usually like pretty girls. Boys and girls are different.

Meg: So why did Belle like the Beast?

Laney: Either it was because he was kind or it was because the library - probably choice 1 (the kindness). He was sweet to her."

Meg: But he held her prisoner.

Laney: But instead of the dungeon, he gave her that nice room with an actual bed and not a lump of straw.

Meg: Hmmm... well, what about the Beast's terrible temper.

Laney: When Belle was around he tried his hardest to control his temper.

Meg [desperately wondering if it's just Disney or the world at large or some huge, gaping flaw in parenting that resulted in her darling girl accepting such toxic realities. She goes back to the easiest of the questions]: Would Daddy still love me if I were big and fat and all covered in hair?

Laney: Yeah because he loves you for who you are and because you're married.

Meg: So why couldn't a handsome boy fall in love with a girl who was big and mean and all covered in hair for who she was.

Laney: Because he wouldn't know who she really was.

Meg: Well, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle didn't love the Beast right away. She fell in love with him after he was kind to her. Do you think that could happen in my alternate story of the big, mean girl Beast and the handsome boy?

Laney, dubiously: Maybe.

Meg: You sound real dubious. Do you think that girls are supposed to be pretty and boys don't have to be handsome?

Laney [objection! Leading]: I didn't say that.

Meg [I'll rephrase]: Is it possible that a handsome boy could fall in love with a big, mean, hairy lady?

Laney, Uh, yeah... I guess... actually no, he couldn't because you said mean. The Beast wasn't mean to Belle. He gave her the actual room.

Meg: Because he gave her the room that made it OK to not let her leave?

Laney: Listen, it wasn't his choice that she leaves or not.

Meg: Yes it was.

Laney: She could run away without him knowing.

Meg: So it's Belle's responsibility to run away and not the Beast's responsibility for holding his girlfriend captive?

Laney: Actually, I guess he was keeping her captive. But it was a nice place. You should take me to that library. I'm going to go play iCarly.

In Conclusion

Meg still loves "Be Our Guest." but, after this conversation, found her lingering fondness for the movie diminished to the point of non-existence. This is a movie that teaches little girls that:

- You can cure a man's temper by being sweet

- Holding a girl captive is a mild to moderate malfeasance

- Men get to be mean and ugly but girls don't

Meg is frankly disturbed by the whole thing. And Laney ran off before she had a chance to talk about the class issues in the film (it's always bugged Meg that the movie leaves unquestioned that the staff be punished for the arrogance of their employer).

And yet, not for nothing, The Little Mermaid is so much worse.

Our children (note: this stuff is as bad for boys as it is for girls) consume so many toxic notions of femininity in pop culture. They won't go away - but as parents we can keep on making them question these perceived realities. After a few generations of questions, maybe they'll go away.