Thursday, September 9, 2010

Appearance in Disney Movies

I wrote a post a while back about kindness. I have been thinking about kindness again so I went back and read my post I wrote. I said that I have a theory about appearance and I didn’t ever write the post. So, I thought I will now that it is on my mind.
I have noticed something in my 29 years of being on this earth that Disney movies are kind of messed up for a couple reasons. The first reason is appearance is a huge part of it. Let me explain. You have all the beautiful princesses and princes who are all beautiful and handsome. That teaches children that if you are different looking or not beautiful and maybe even plain looking you aren’t as good as someone who is beautiful. The villain is usually ugly, haggard in appearance or fat. That is kind of wrong in my eyes that almost always the villain is ugly and the hero or heroine is beautiful or handsome. It is kind of like well; if someone is different or scary looking they must be bad. I am aware that it is make believe but think about it. It kind of makes sense. It is playing on society’s obsession with outward image.

I know that this theory is flawed in two Disney movies. The first one is Beauty and the Beast. Gaston is an “attractive” man and the villain in the story and the beast is the hero. Ok, but he was put under a spell to teach him kindness and that beauty is found within, Of course he changes back in to a handsome prince. I get that they are teaching that beauty is found within but I don’t really see how they should have made him attractive at the end. Seriously what is wrong with being average or unattractive? Appearance is not the most important thing in the world it shouldn’t even be on the list of the top ten thousand important things.

The second Disney movie that flaws my theory is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasimodo is not only unattractive but he is also disabled. It’s my favorite Disney movie because it teaches the way I think about others and how you have to look past the skin and see their soul. I would of liked for Quasi to get the girl but after all it is a Disney movie and an unattractive person with a beautiful person granted neither one is under a spell is unheard of. I am also aware that it is a book and that is not how the story goes at least they didn’t kill anyone good in that movie like in the book.

Just because someone is beautiful doesn’t make them good. Just because someone is unattractive does not make them bad. They have nothing to do with each other in the slightest. I just don’t understand why appearance is such a huge deal these days. I mean something could happen and someone is stripped of their appearance. I think that you can’t judge a book by its cover is a great proverb. I look for the beauty in everyone and everything, not outer beauty but what’s inside. That is all that really matters and should only matter. Everyone is different and if everyone walked around looking like Barbie and Ken then the world would be a confusing fake place.

Who is to say what is beautiful and who is ugly? Who makes that call? Is it you? Is it society? The answer is NO ONE. No one has the right to pick out the flaws of another person. If you have time to pick out someone’s flaws you have time to deal with them. I believe that you should love everyone for real reasons and look past others short comings just as you would want someone to look past yours. No one should judge anyone because no one is perfect and no one is better than anyone else that they even have a say.

1 comment:

  1. I hear ya friend! I know that it's hard raising a daughter because every where you turn even with almost 8 year old's .. it is appearance that makes or breaks what friends you have. Not until you get older, do most people, actually love you for your inner beauty.

    I have always said that a beautiful person can quickly seem ugly to me should their personality suck! There r a few people that come to mind, I think they are gorgeous but they are miserable people which in my opinion makes them ugly!

    ReplyDelete