I had never really thought about it, but the presence and or absence of parents does seem to serve an important role for the overall tale. Specifically I'd like to talk about Disney's film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. At the start we see the Prince and hear that he is a spoiled young prince, but we never actually see his parents. In reality we assume the Prince to have parents because, well everyone does, and also the castle is beautiful so surely the young Prince's parents must be responsible for this. At the same time though, the visual absence of said parents seems to suggest that without parents to teach children vital lessons on life, children become cruel and uncaring.
Then we see Belle who lives in a "little town full of little people." We actually see her dad and it makes sense that she is so virtuous (she had someone to teach her). It is rather interesting, however, that the other people in the "little down" call Belle strange. While all the other girls are falling over backwards to please Gaston, she could care less. This also adds to why she ends up with a prince in the end, she was not overtaken by outward appearances. Though she was afraid of Beast at first, her main disdain with him came from his temper, not the fact that he was a beast.
So it seems that the visual presence of Dad once again helps us to understand Belle. Because of Dad, Belle is a passionate and kind-hearted person. When Belle found out that Dad was imprisoned in the Beast's castle she could have thought of plots and schemes for them both to escape, but instead she eagerly tires to get down out. The Beast finds out about the intruder and without even thinking about the consequences, Belle says that she will take Dad's place. It seems to me that she does this because she feels Dad deserves it; he has taught her so much and has helped her to be the young lady that she is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
So it is not just the nature of the relationship between father and daughter that is so crucial to moral development, but also the physical presence of the father in the daughter's life. What makes this so interesting is the fact that Disney also created movie versions of tales like Cinderella, in which the girl is extremely morally "good," despite her absence of positive parental figures. In this story, it seems that the nature of the relationship Cinderella did have with her father is more important than the continual presence of him. I know the topic here is Beauty and the Beast, but now knowing more about Disney and his strict views on morality, I wonder if he actually considered the constant presence of parents in the lives of children a necessity for morality, or simply a bonus.
ReplyDeleteIn the Disney version, the father has nothing to do with the gentility of the daughter, Belle. The only reasons why he is necessary for Disney are plot-related and empathy related. The father allows for Belle to be seen as a selfless, caring, and good individual in the way that she interacts with him and sacrifices herself for him time and again. Also, through this mode, the father allows for an attack on Belle in order to force an engagement as well as working on power dynamics and offering comic relief. Disney does not and has not ever particularly linked goodness to the pressence/absence of parents. Evidenced not only by Cinderella but also by Aladin and Mulan and prctically every other Disney fairytale (aside from the Frog Princess perhaps--but only in a slight/indirect and ironic way so that even this cannot be linked to the parents). Disney has an obsession and fixation, especially in modern times, to highlight and spotlight the outcast because Western culture, especially the USA, has a fixation on feeling like an outcast or individual. Thus, it is only by rebeling in some way (but never enough to question the morals of our own society) that the hero becomes good. This has nothing to do with parents because the characters often disobey parents to do this or have no parents or, in Belle's case, support their parents...
ReplyDelete