Tale as Old as Time: A Feminist View of Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' Ally Schrieber College

Across centuries, fairy tales have provided young women with a form of escapism from the restrictive society around them with princes, magic spells, and evil-stepmothers. The women in fairy tales, specifically from the writers and producers of Disney, are more than often placed in a situation of distress or longing. Most women in Disney movies are depicted in need of salvation, which typically comes at the hand of a prince or patriarchal figure. Heroines are written as beautiful, quiet, and kind, characteristics loved by men because with these qualities a woman can never be perceived as strong-willed or powerful. Snow White’s voice is silenced for a vast part of the animated Disney version while she lays in a deep sleep, only to be awoken by a nonconsensual kiss from a male figure. Another princess whose silence is dependent on a male is Ariel, only to gain her voice back by marrying a prince. Beauty in Disney’s 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast is depicted as nurturing and gentle to her capturer, although no physical restrictions are placed upon her voice, she is in the position of a damsel in distress in which marrying her beast will solve.

In contrast, the female villains in Disney movies are shown as power hungry, ugly,...