Gender Stereotypes in Beauty and the Beast

O’Hara, P. (1991). Belle. On Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack. Disney.

White, R. (1991). Gaston. On Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack. Disney.

Johnson, A. (1997). The gender knot: What drives patriarchy? Temple University

Press.

October 29, 2007
After viewing The Little Mermaid in class, I decided to examine gender stereotypes in Beauty and the Beast. I concentrated on two songs about major characters titled, Belle and Gaston. When I examined specific traits, I found that males were supposed to be aggressive, strong, and have an attractive wife and that females were supposed to be beautiful and happy to be someone’s wife.
The recurring lyric in the song “Belle” was “a beauty but a funny girl.” Belle was the most beautiful girl in the town but was considered strange because of her intelligence and desire to something more than get married with her life. When the epitome of manliness, Gaston, asks her to marry to him she says no. Belle refuses to be someone’s “little wife” and states how she “wants so much more than they’ve got planned.” Belle was in direct contrast to three blond, buxom females called the Bimbettes who nearly faint every time they see Gaston. It would appear that Belle was challenging gender expectations.
The lyrics in Gaston describe his masculinity in terms similar to Allan Johnson’s What drives patriarchy. Gaston is described as a “tall, dark, strong, and handsome brute,” “the greatest hunter in the world,” “no one fights like, no one as burly or brawny,” and “not a bit of him’s scraggly or scrawny every last inch of me’s covered with hair.” This supports the notion that men are supposed to be aggressive and dominant. According to Johnson (1997) men, “pump iron, talk and follow sports, study boxing and martial arts, learn to use guns, play football or hockey or rugby” (p. 97) In addition a man’s manliness is elevated by the attractiveness of their girlfriend or wife. The main reason Gaston wants to marry Belle is because of her looks. Gaston describes the situation as, “Belle is the most beautiful girl in town that makes her the best. And don’t I deserve the best?” Johnson (1997) describes the relationship between marriage and patriarchy as, “people routinely compliment a man married to a beautiful woman because he has proprietary rights of access to her” (p. 100).