Beauty and the Beast: 1991 & 2017
It's a podcast released on the Apple Podcasts on September 28, 2020. The host is Eric, and the co-host is Jessica. This podcast's main idea is toxic masculinity, gender duality produced through anthropomorphic household objects, weird condescending performance, and extremely low feminism in Disney's films. Eric and Jessica first talked about the main plots in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and how gender roles are represented in this film. The second segment discussed the later one's plot progression, published in 2017, compared with the older one. In the third segment, their attitudes and emphasizing gender social construction reflected in the two films are the main contents. "She has to be the most astute, confident, empathetic cognizant, realistic, grounded person in every way to all these men, but all of these other men, in general, are given ample and ample amounts of opportunities to be better. Or she isn't allowed to fail." Eric said this to illustrate the unfairness in females and males.
Compared with men, women always need to be fantastic, excellent, and flawless, without any fail. This is a perfect example that I can use in my script since it expressed a traditional gender role: girls often have to work harder than boys to gain recognition. Besides, there is a dialogue between Eric and Jessica, talking about household objectives. Male objectives in the film provide sustenance, light, and heat, keepers of the time, such as Lumière and Cogsworth, who represented brightness, always be the smartest and made the best choice. However, female objectives are the wardrobe, teapot, and the feather duster, such as Madame Garderobe, responsible for serving part, like cleaning and keeping Beauty. This comparison can also prove this film's gender roles, and its purpose is writing for men instead of women. More than these two parts, there are too many conservations about toxic masculinity, not only about Gaston but also about the Beast, all that could be discussed in our group's podcast.
With Rogue One, the Star Wars Franchise Gets Even More Feminist
It's an essay about gender and Star Wars from The Atlantic, written by Megan Garber, published on December 16, 2016. This article compared feminism in Rogue One with the other films' feminism in the Star Wars series, from the heroine's clothes and her relationship with other male characters. Unlike the heroines in other movies, the heroine of this movie, Jyn, is not a role waiting to be rescued but can take the initiative to save others.
This article has a very detailed description of Jyn's clothing so, this content can be cited in the third segment of our group podcast. For instance, "pants that are neither too loose nor too tight, a jacket, clunky combat boots, and a shawl that doubles as a scarf and a head covering. All of them come in drab shades of brown and gray." Megan's description of Jyn in this paragraph is a reasonable interpretation of independent women's physical characteristics. Compared with other female characters in Star Wars, who wear "the vaguely Grecian dresses; the skin-tight white Spandex; the convenient rip in the midriff of the skin-tight white Spandex; the layered robes; the skimpy bikini." Jyn's wearing exposed the difference between her and other heroines, emphasizing the progression of gender roles in Disney's films.
Looking into the Magic Mirror: Disney's Impact on the Fairy Tale Genre
It's an essay about the impacts of fairy tales from Disney, written by Lynda Haas and Shaina Trapeodo. This essay talked about how Disney films affect other fairy tales from two aspects: establishing the first Disney film about princesses and changes in Disney films style. The article first tells how Disney established the deep-rooted princess image's social construction step by step and then introduced the difference between the Disney princess image in the later period and the earlier period. For example, the last princesses gradually became brave and independent, such as Mulan, and Mermaid, unlike the original princess image, such as Snow White waiting to be rescued by the prince. This proves that people's views on gender roles are gradually changing and improving.
From this article, I can talk about how Disney represent feminine value (segment 2) in the different time period. For example, the most common scenery of Disney princess film is about a beautiful princess who lives a terrible life, and the only way she can save herself is by waiting for a prince's true love and a "key" kiss. The reason for always using this boring plot is because "The goal was to make films that would bring the company popular acclaim, and the passive female role was the mainstream perception at the time." (Haas & Trapedo) Mainstream perception about gender role is a passive female role supported low feminism in Disney's films and people's minds, which is significantly related to our group's topic.
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