It’s not very often that I come down from Daisy’s Drama LaLa Land Cloud and blog about non-Daisy’s Drama LaLa FUN, so you can be sure that if I felt compelled to jump up on Daisy’s Super Expensive I-Can’t-Believe-I-paid-THAT-MUCH-for-”special”-non-soap-SOAP box today (why am I such a sucker for “green” products?) I must be pretty passionate about this subject.
I don’t see any more harm in an idealistic image of beauty than in being prejudiced AGAINST beauty.
I do NOT condone a one-size-fits-all beauty mold. I think it IS harmful. But I also think going to the opposite extreme is CERTAINLY worthy of reproach.
WHY am I mentioning this today?
Because I read Nicole from “laugh outloud“‘s blog about “Fallen Princesses” from JPG Magazine and the JPG project kinda p.i. double S ed me off. I think society hates on beauty too much. WHO CARES THAT BELLE WAS BEAUTIFUL??? We should hate her for OTHER reasons. anyway …
The Project:
To capture “real life” scenarios of our favorite Disney Princesses.
The Results:
AND THE ONE THAT RILED ME UP:
GRRR!!!!
I freakin’ hate Belle – but this pic is soooooooooooooooooo not cool.
THEY MISSED THE MARK!!!
The idea is intriguing. In fact I’m quite taken by the idea and would even go so far as to say I LUV the idea. Disney Princesses in real life? BRILLIANT!!! But the results? Suck big time.
Belle is being attacked by haters!
(prolly ugly ones)
omgosh – I can’t believe I just typed that! But hey – it’s prolly true!!!
Why I believe she’s being attacked by haters:
Umm hello??? Did anyone else besides me watch the “Beauty and the Beast”?? Belle was a freakin’ nerd. That’s right – she was a NERD! She was beautiful – yes – but she loved books more than make-up or push-up bras. Her favorite place in the world?? The LIBRARY!! or bookstore. You really think if Belle was in REAL LIFE she’d be under the knife?
Ok – so Disney gave her perfectly arched eyebrows and a nice rack. So what?
IF YOU STOP BEING SUPERFICIAL YOU SEE BELLE IS MORE ABOUT BRAINS THAN BEAUTY
And THIS is what makes me so angry!!! Our society (on both sides of the fence) is OBSESSED WITH LOOKS! and the people who CLAIM to be fighting AGAINST an image obsessed society ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE TO IT! No one should be mad because Belle was beautiful. GUESS WHAT?? SOME PEOPLE really ARE beautiful. That is the LEAST of her troubles. And focusing on her looks? It’s hypocrisy in an ugly way. No pun intended – it IS ugly.
The REAL reason you should hate Belle:
I don’t hate Belle because she’s beautiful. I hate her because she represents something I had to fight very hard to overcome in my own life. Codependency.
When the Victim’s Right Advocate came to my house 2.5 years ago because the state of Utah ordered her to come I was SO MAD! I didn’t need an advocate. What did she know anyway? Well – she knew a lot.
“He hit you.”
“Yep.”
“Are you going to leave him?”
“I don’t know. I love him.”
Then she said something that changed my life.
“Let me guess, Beauty and the Beast was your favorite Disney movie?”
SHOCK!!!! How did she know? How could she POSSIBLY GUESS THAT??
It’s called “The Beauty and the Beast Syndrome”
And that is NOT a clinical term. It’s a term that some Victim’s Rights Advocates use to explain why some women think that love is enough. Because it is right? Oh – wait – it ISN’T. And it doesn’t matter how much you love someone – you can’t love them into something they’re not.
I’m going to repeat that one again – it’s important.
You can’t love someone into something they’re not.
And Belle? She gives little girls the ideas that those mean, hurtful men that they stupidly fall in love with will change and turn into princes.
Her story give girls the idea that inside every beast is a prince waiting to escape.
And if you just love him enough – if you just have faith – if he just loves you enough – it will all work out right? No.
And in REAL LIFE??
Belle wouldn’t be under the knife getting cosmetic surgery. She would be naturally beautiful, intelligent AND she’d make some really terrible love choices and probably end up hiding in the library with a couple domestic violence bruises from her beast of a partner.
And if the “artist” behind these pics wanted to take a step BEYOND superficiality…
If she wanted to step outside of her hypocrisy and look past appearances, maybe she could have photographed an incredibly powerful image of a beautiful and intelligent woman in love with a true beast (an abusive partner.)
… just a thought.
Jealousy shouldn’t equate to judgment.
Coveting shouldn’t turn into condemning.
Being a hater makes someone uglier on the inside than the person they’re hating on
(supposing the person being hated on is even ugly on the inside at all!!!)
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I agree with you. I just think the artist(s) who did these photos simply took the most obvious connotation about each princess and made them literal (princess Jasmine would live in a modern-time war zone, snow white is the caretaker, and Belle literally translates to beautiful), without thinking about the other aspects of the characters.
That makes sense – I know Belle means beautiful but in my little lala-land I guess I always thought it was mostly referring to her beauty on the INSIDE because she was so loving and caring and completely NOT into looks. HAHA. But you are so right – the artist was probably just looking for simple and noticeable points to play with. Thanks!
Ooh – but just had another thought – I still think it would have made a better statement to show her as beautiful but with a HUGE black eye or a long scar down her face from the beast. It’d still play on the word belle/beautiful – but show the TRUE nature. :)