MO, on "Beauty and the Beast - Bad Boyfriend"

In the Disney film Beauty and the Beast, Belle is usually viewed as going through much the same process as any other Disney princess. The slightly sad, dreamy girl who longs for a handsome prince to sweep her off her feet and give her what every good girl should want. What the North American culture presents as the perfect traditional nuclear family, an idea that stems from the Christian religious background from which the American culture was founded and formed. It has often been said that Disney supports the idea of the Christian idea of the nuclear family.  

The fan video I have made is a somewhat satirical, somewhat humorous view of the movie Beauty and the Beast in my own mind. However, when initially composing ideas for the video I believe I may have uncovered a very interesting theme and story that is carried subtly through the movie and may not be readily apparent at first glance.

In Beauty and the Beast, Belle is offered a normal, Christian, idealistic life, by Gaston. Gaston will hunt, she will stay at home and take care of their sons, and pet dogs. Gaston forcibly suggests this lifestyle to Belle numerous times and she rejects him every time. Belle finds her father captured by a cruel beast who has been transformed by a sorceress' magic because of his evil nature. Belle strangely offers to stay with the beast forever if her father is released. Yes, maybe it was out of love for her father, but she did seem to make the decision rather quickly and it certainly was right after she saw what the beast was.

The beast is cruel, verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive, and pushes Belle away a number of times, both intentionally and not. Belle also has many opportunities to leave the beast and does on multiple occasions but she always comes back despite the way the beast treats her.

Belle's actions can be looked at in two ways. The first is she seems to have a hunger for the dysfunctional evil that the beast represents. Belle has a deep down hunger for a bad boy. However, this theme brings up other questions of Belle's self image or self worth as she begins to look like so many people who end up in abusive relationships and feel they are worthless or that the abuse is their own fault.

For a different take on Beauty and the Beast, see MO's second Beauty video "Sexual Healing" on the Disney course page