Beauty and the Belles: discourses of feminism and femininity in Disneyland

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of Disney’s animated film and stage production of Beauty and the Beast, especially of the heroine, Belle, within a more general historiography of the fairy tale. It is argued that Disney’s version displaces the heroic focus from Belle (Beauty) to Beast, while also narrating a response to feminism that involves compressing feminist ideology into conventions of popular romance. The broader representation of femininity in Disney is also examined with reference, particularly, to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and with reflections also on non-fictional characters from media with a relationship to Disney, specifically, Diana Princess of Wales, (Mrs) Lillian Disney and Ellen DeGeneres. Teresa de Lauretis’s ‘elsewhere of vision’ is introduced to disrupt and rewrite the domesticating effects of Disney’s feminism on its heroines.