So, I know it’s been a
while and for that I apologize. I’ve been going through an immense amount of
personal and mental growth in the months since my last blog post, and I
recently had a very shocking experience (I am safe, but it was a bit unnerving
in the moment), that prompted me to not want to write for a while. I had
planned for another post before this one; a review of The White Princess as
well as an analysis of how this show is an example of the impending death of
feminism in my opinion. But because that one is taking so much emotional energy
out of me, I decided to write this one before finishing that one. Also, this
post was long coming before I even saw The White Princess but as I will explain
in my next post, when I have opinions that can be considered conflicting to the
majority, I like to keep them quiet until I have them validated by someone I
consider smarter than me. There is a reason for this but like I said I will
explain it in my next post.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, and one of my
favorite animated movies of all time. One of the things that really makes the
movie so wonderful to me is the character of Belle. I adored Belle growing up
and still love her. I see so much of myself in Belle. She is such a lovely
character. In many ways, she was my role model. So initially I was thrilled
with the idea of a live action remake of Beauty
and the Beast, because it would expose a whole new generation of little
girls to this wonderful story and her wonderful character. And boy was I
disappointed.
The film itself is
extremely underwhelming, more or less a line for line remake of the 1991 film,
but with a lot less emotion in my opinion. Some of the changes I liked – I
liked the backstories they gave to the Beast and the Enchantress, but that’s
about it. Most significantly, I was not buying Emma Watson as Belle. She just
seemed so bland at times, and her singing was less than stellar to my ears. I
could not see Belle, all I saw was Emma Watson cosplaying as Belle. I think another
actress would have been better suited for the role, maybe Elle Fanning or even
Emmy Rossum (maybe not her since she’s like 30 but her singing is beautiful!)
AND THAT AWFUL CHEAP LOOKING YELLOW DRESS! After seeing the 2015 remake of
Cinderella, and falling in love with her magnificent blue gown, I was really
looking forward to what Disney would design for the new version of Belle, and on
that front again I was disappointed. I feel like what I wore to prom was more
ornate. I had other issues with the dress but I will get to THAT in a moment.
Honestly though, I am
such a fan of Beauty and the Beast, I probably could have overlooked all of
these things. There were things about 2015 Cinderella that I also did not like
but probably could have overlooked too, and I almost did, were it not for one
glaring thing that I cannot just ignore any longer: the need to somehow make
the new Disney Princess remakes “feminist”. I saw some of this in the remake of
Cinderella, but it seemed very obvious and blatant in Beauty and the Beast. Emma Watson really held nothing back in her
opinion that Belle should be turned into a more “feminist friendly” character,
but this all seemed to happen at the sacrifice of what made Belle such a
remarkable character. (Now before I continue, let me confess that I do not like
Emma Watson. I can’t hate her because I don’t know her, but I have a feeling I
would if I did. She comes off as an entitled, spoiled brat and is in my mind a
shining example of the hypocritical, oblivious, smug and often self-serving
pretentiousness that has poisoned feminism in recent years.)
This became more and more clear in the weeks and months leading up to the release of Beauty and the Beast. It seemed like Emma had issue with every aspect of the role, from her dress to her demeanor. But there was one thing that Emma Watson seemed to overlook in her pretentious and self-righteous quest to make a more “feminist” Disney Princess. Do you want to know what that thing is?
BELLE WAS ALREADY AN EMPOWERED FEMINIST CHARACTER!!!
This became more and more clear in the weeks and months leading up to the release of Beauty and the Beast. It seemed like Emma had issue with every aspect of the role, from her dress to her demeanor. But there was one thing that Emma Watson seemed to overlook in her pretentious and self-righteous quest to make a more “feminist” Disney Princess. Do you want to know what that thing is?
BELLE WAS ALREADY AN EMPOWERED FEMINIST CHARACTER!!!
And this is where I get
angry and somewhat fan-girly, so forgive me. But seriously this is another huge
issue I have with modern feminism. My mother once said that “one must have the right
tools to get the job done”. It seems like there is a complete lack of
understanding (or even contempt) by modern feminist for the power of being
subtle. Belle didn’t need to be some kind of cocky misandrist who held her
ovaries up in triumph against the patriarchy to have her own sense of dignity
and agency that, to someone who actually understands the power of being subtle,
translated into being a feminist character in her own right without having to
state it for all to hear.
I think I’ve made it
quite clear how much I despise what feminism has become. It has gotten to the
point that me and my similarly-minded friends have begun to use the “Alt
Feminism” because actual, well-meaning feminism has been so thoroughly poisoned
by people like Emma Watson, Lena Dunham and the like that for it to survive it
must completely separate from what feminism is now and start anew. And over the
last few months my anger at feminism has only grown but in many ways Beauty and the Beast was my breaking
point. Growing up in Baltimore (which can at times seem as small as a 19th
century provincial French village despite being a city) around a lot of people
who thought I was weird for the things I liked and not having many friends,
Belle was the type of young woman I wanted to become. Belle was the outcast and
in some ways so was the Beast, and they found solace and love and happiness
with each other. Belle didn’t have to change to get her prince, quite the other
way around – who she was changed him and
made him want to be the best person he could be, and that is how it should be.
I have heard that the
next live action princess movie Disney is planning for is Mulan. That could be
quite interesting but I must now tread carefully in my excitement of it. Now I
doubt anyone from Disney will read this but I have to say it: the Disney
Princess franchise is not inherently a feminist franchise. Yes some of the
characters like Tiana, Belle and Mulan have feminist traits. But they are
incidental. They are first and foremost great and empowering characters in
their own right. And you know what? That’s okay. I don’t like the idea of
changing an original story around in order to suit some sort of political
agenda, especially when it already did in it’s own unique (i.e. subtle) way.
What I hope for the live
action remake of Mulan is this: that they find a new and exciting ways to bring
the story of this compelling maiden to the life without needing to sacrifice
her own natural agency and put in it’s place artificial pandering at the behest
of new articles for Buzzfeed about how Mulan is now oh so feminist when she
already was.
And please, please
PLEEEEAAASSE cast Fan Bingbing in the role of Mulan!
Yours Jasmine
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