THE PLEASURES OF PAIN:
Disney’s Masochistic Princesses in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog
Name: Marjolein Meegdes Student no: 1476645
Course: Ma Dissertation American Studies Code: LAX999M20
Credits: 20 ECTS
Supervisor: Dr. A.L. Gilroy
Date: 01-31-2011
Word count: 15.045
Table of Contents
Preface 2
Chapter 1 – Theorizing Masochism 8
Chapter 2 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 18
Chapter 3 – Beauty and the Beast 29
Chapter 4 – The Princess and the Frog 40
Chapter 5 – Conclusion 52
Notes 56
Bibliography 57
Preface
Masochistic conduct in a person has been a mysterious phenomenon in the human psyche for more than a century. How can a species governed by the drive to seek pleasure also pursue pain? The concept of masochism was first developed by psychoanalyst Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the 1880s. Krafft-Ebing described masochism as the ability to experience pain as pleasurable in sexual situations.
Although the concept might seem to be oxymoronic, it is, in fact, not. The pleasure is not derived from the pain, but from the benefits gained by suffering, degradation, and victimization.
Since its initial introduction, the theory of masochism evolved and came to be related to not just a sexual behavior, but to a behavior in society as a whole, especially with regards to women. Students of Freud, notably Karen Horney and Theodor Reik, were among the first to further the development of the concept of masochism. First, and foremost, they both departed from the idea that masochism was a feminine biological trait, but saw it rather as a cultural construct. In fact, Horney argued that the cultural factors exerted such powerful influences on women that ―at least in our culture it is hard to see how any woman may escape becoming masochistic to some degree, from the effects of the culture alone without any appeal to contributory factors in the anatomical-physiological characteristics of women, and their psychic effects‖ (Horney 256). In other words, certain cultural factors promote masochistic behavior in women through their economic and emotional dependency on men.
A crude definition of masochism can be formulated as follows: the conscious
or unconscious striving for either psychic or physical pain, suffering, humiliation, or
submission for the maintenance and regulation of the self (Tosone 416). Although the
concept of masochism originated in the medical and psychoanalytical sphere, it presently extends far beyond those disciplines. Recently, the theory of masochism has been adopted by other disciplines, among others cultural and minority studies.
The modern feminist movement also embraced the concept of masochism in order to explain the behavioral patterns of women in society at large and to suggest that social change might remedy the undesirable masochistic traits in women.
To add to the existing body of knowledge about the effects of the feminist movements in the twentieth century on the appearance of masochistic behavior in women and to gain a more complete understanding of the representation of women in popular mass-media, a survey of the female protagonists in Disney‘s animated feature films might prove insightful. Popular mass-media is one of the most influential carriers of American ideology, because it has the capacity to reach an extensive proportion of the American public. A good example of a popular medium with an audience of both young and old, female and male, American or otherwise, are the feature-length animation films of the Walt Disney Company. Since the Walt Disney Studios‘ foundation in 1923, it has produced over fifty feature-length animated movies;
with classics such as Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. In its field, the Walt Disney Studios have reigned supreme and still continues to do so.
Animation films are the most constructed of all films and have the opportunity to make the impossible plausible. As Elizabeth Bell argues: ―[d]espite its popular association with children‘s cartoons, Disney animation is not an innocent art form:
nothing accidental or serendipitous occurs in animation as each second of action on
screen is rendered in twenty-four different still paintings‖ (108). Moreover,
conventional films are limited by the restrictions of a cinematic environment which is
always rooted in reality. The creativity of the animation film artist, however, has no
cinematic restrictions, although a connection to reality is always present, because without a connection the meanings and messages of the film will be lost on its audience on account of the lack of a reference point.
Popular entertainment, and especially a cultural institution like Disney, has the ability to affect knowledge, development, and actions. In fact, to render the cultural meanings of the Disney films and the film‘s ability to carry ideological messages as insignificant by stipulating its benign nature ―would voluntarily (and, indeed, necessarily) suspend their disbelief in precisely the intentionality of this ‗landmark‘
representation‖ (Gehlawat 419). Therefore, concern over Disney‘s representations and messages merits consideration (Giroux 54). The depiction of women is significant with regards to the ideas of womanhood and the status women hold in society. The majority of Disney‘s filmography includes a female as the protagonist, which makes these films an interesting subject of inquiry into the portrayal of masochism in women, because the cultural expectations of women in American society are disseminated in the female characters of the animated Disney films.
These images of women form a map of the changing behavioral patterns of the American woman, especially when taking the feminist struggle into consideration.
The subject of the representation of women in the Disney films is by no means new, and research usually concludes that the fictional women are a conservative and stereotypical representation of either good girls, or wicked witches (Davis 1). This research, however, will not focus on Disney‘s stereotypical representation of women;
rather it will focus on the effects of societal change caused by the feminist
movements and the attendant variations of masochistic behavior in Disney‘s female
protagonists. The leading female characters in the Disney films Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog represent a
mainstream profile of the American women from the 1930s to 2010s and an analysis of the protagonists‘ behavior, with a special emphasis on masochism, will prove to be invaluable for the explanation of the effects of patriarchy on women. The behavioral patterns that the princesses in the Disney films follow are a result of the roles ascribed to women by the paternalistic morals and values of American society.
This paper will argue that masochism as a social, cultural, and physical byproduct affects women‘s behavior in Disney‘s feature-length animation films. By displaying masochistic behavior, the women affirm the relations of power arranged in the patriarchal structure of American society and subsequently use this behavior to maintain and regulate the image of the self. Over the course of seventy years, the feminist movements altered women‘s position in society, thus affecting the quality and quantity of masochistic traits in the portrayal of women. The road to equality between men and women has lessened the appearance of masochism in the representation of women. The animated Disney films document the display of masochism in women, and over a span of seventy years a clear shift in Disney‘s engagement with gender politics is noticeable. The collected works of the Walt Disney Company reflect the changes in the representation of women caused by the feminist movements.
At the same time, however, the animated Disney films also act as an agent of
social change, especially because the target population is one of the most malleable
group of people; children. Henry Giroux argues that Disney films ―inspire at least as
much cultural authority and legitimacy for teaching specific roles, values, and ideals
than more traditional sites of learning such as public schools, religious institutions,
and the family‖ (24). This means that many American girls form their ideas about
what types of behavior is appropriate in society by copying the Disney princesses.
The display of masochistic behavior by these princesses serves as an example for all the young viewers.
Since this paper does not provide the space to discuss the extent of masochistic display in all of the forty-nine released Disney animation films, it will focus on three films; namely Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog. The rationale for the selection of these particular films is threefold. First, all three are from different decades; respectively 1937, 1991, and 2009, stretching from the very first feature-length film to the latest to date, in addition the three decades also reflect the changes of first-wave feminism, second-wave feminism, and postfeminism. Second, these films also reflect certain changes in American society with regards to women, namely a period after the first wave of feminism where women fought for legal rights, second-wave feminism which focused on equality on the personal level, and postfeminism which emphasizes the belief that feminism has achieved its goals. Lastly, and most importantly, all three films have a leading female protagonist.
The differences between the roles these women portray are paramount. Snow
White is depicted as the stereotype of the sacred mother, Belle in Beauty and the
Beast is the loving daughter, and Tiana, the protagonist of The Princess and the Frog,
is portrayed as a fierce career-woman. These very different roles assigned to the
protagonists are a reflection of the changing social attitude towards women over the
course of seventy years. This change also generated a decline in masochistic
behavior, because a balance in power relations between men and women resulted in
a diminution of the causative factors of masochism, of which the most important are
the acquirement of acknowledgement or power through suffering.
A textual analysis of the three films shall create a thorough understanding of the films and their meaning with regards to the masochistic female protagonists. By observing and questioning the similarities and differences in the depiction of the protagonists, through the analysis of plot and character development, and by involving the film‘s socio-cultural context a comprehensive conclusion can be formed.
The paper is arranged into four sections. The first section discusses the theory
of masochism in full detail; the origin, dissemination, adaptation, and application of
the theory, followed by a chronologically ordered in-depth analysis of the construction
of the female protagonists and their display of masochistic traits. The analysis shall
include a brief historical overview of the Walt Disney Company. Also included in each
section is a summary of the film in question, followed by an analysis of masochistic
behavior in the leading female character and its implications with regards to the
feminist movement of its time.
Chapter 1 – Theorizing Masochism
The concept of masochism is over one hundred years old. While the concept started as a psychoanalytical condition, masochism has since developed into a term for conceptualizing culture. Nowadays, the study of masochism is an important component of, for example, feminist, queer, post-colonial, film, and cultural studies and ―the study of masochism shows signs of becoming a discipline in its own right‖
(Finke 1). Masochistic behavior affects many different aspects of social realities and it has the capacity to adapt to changing social conditions. However, before masochism became a cultural concept, it was exclusively used in the field of psychoanalysis.
As previously noted, the term masochism was first introduced by psychoanalyst Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1886. He named the condition after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the author of many novels in which the protagonists enjoyed flagellation and other forms of pain in sexual situations. Krafft-Ebing defined masochism as a sexual perversion that affected both feelings and thoughts, in which an individual regarded humiliation and all variations of abuse by a person of the opposite sex as pleasurable. The masochist would intentionally create situations in either fantasy, or reality, or a combination of both where control was relinquished and the masochist would completely and unconditionally be dominated by the other person (Berliner 389).
Soon after the introduction of the term masochism other psychoanalysts
expanded the definition of the concept, among them Sigmund Freud as the most
influential. His focus was on the source of masochism in a person, which, according
to him, was the ―destructive, dissolving, annihilating tendencies‖ of the ego which he
referred to as the death instinct (Reik 31-33).
iThis concept was also developed by
Freud to explain the connection between the twin urges of sadism and masochism.
Whereas the death instinct is mainly directed against the ego, it can also divert to an external object, causing sadistic tendencies. Sadism, unlike masochism, was not regarded as a perversion, especially with regards to men. The sadistic inclination to force, possess, damage, and even destroy the opposing other, has similar causative factors as masochism (Stolorow 56). However, Freud regarded sadism as a successful attempt at thwarting the death instinct, whereas masochism was regarded as a capitulation to the desire of death.
Freud was also the first psychoanalyst to include women into his study of masochism. It was his belief that the genesis of masochism was different for women than men. Although Freud believed the death instinct could also be a source of masochism in women, he mostly regarded penis envy as the driving force behind the development of masochistic tendencies in women (Westkott 53).
iiMost importantly, whereas Krafft-Ebing explained the phenomenon of masochism as a psychoanalytic trait, Freud explained masochism in women as a biological trait. He argued that certain distinctive female features, such as menstruation, first intercourse, childbirth, and early lactation, are painful yet pleasurable. Thus, he argued, women are innately masochistic and predisposed to extend masochistic behavior into their other activities.
Furthermore, Freud‘s influence on the theory of masochism extended beyond that of including women as patients afflicted with masochistic tendencies. He also expanded the theory beyond the limit of a sexual perversion, which subsequently became the most influential part of the theory masochism with regards to the studies of minorities. Freud made the distinction between three forms of masochism:
erotogenic, feminine, and moral masochism. The first designates the human capacity
to experience desire for pain as pleasurable, and is therefore the prerequisite of
feminine and moral masochism. Feminine masochism is a form of masochism that refers to a condition only present in men where they assume a passive feminine attitude, allowing the male to undergo submission and humiliation. This form of masochism is based entirely on erotogenic masochism (Finke 6-8). The third form is described as the socialization of the pleasure in pain and traces of it can be found in the tendencies and behavior of practically every human being. Every individual is guided by her or his own morals and values and disobedience to these personal rules results in some form of punishment. Masochism, in this instance, stems from an unconscious desire for punishment (Reik 10). Although Freud intended the three distinctions of masochism to be able to apply to every person, Karen Horney—a student of Freud—referred to the appearance of masochism in men as sporadic and exceptional, yet always assuming the feminine form, because ―as far as men indulge in masochistic fantasies or performances, these represent an expression of their desire to play the female role‖ (Horney 242). Feminine masochism in women, however, is a redundant concept, because the conduct is based upon default feminine behavior.
Other criticism of Freud‘s conceptualizing of masochism refers to the idea that
masochism in women is inherently natural. Therefore, this concept was abandoned
soon after its introduction. Theodor Reik and Karen Horney investigated the role of
masochism (henceforth, I will only refer to the moral form) in the lives of women and
discovered that masochism is far more frequent in women than men. They argued
that this was not because masochism is a feminine biological trait; rather masochism
is a part of ideologies concerning the ‗nature‘ of women as innately dependent and
subordinate to men (Paris 15). The presentation of these ideas by the hegemonic
ideology as a universal and unalterable trait in women resulted in a rapid and
unopposed reconciliation with their subordinate role in society. Thus, masochism is a cultural construct, restricting women consciously and subconsciously to seek fulfillment in the expected ways.
Situated at the center of masochism are power relations, not necessarily power relations between genders, but rather power relations in general. It is the masochist‘s desire to become submissive, controlled by another, and maltreated, in other words, powerless and victimized. Carl Niekerk explains that the sense of victimhood and powerlessness—stemming from a lack of power belonging to the group insufficiently represented in the majority culture—is turned into ―an instrument of power and a means to access power‖ through masochism (182). The ‗victim‘
regards the absence of power as a legitimization for the attempt to acquire power through identification with those who are in power. Using masochism as the mechanism, the ‗victim‘ is acting as though she were indeed powerful herself by deliberately submitting to situations of submission, humiliation, and suffering. The pleasure is a result of the sensation of power that arises from the intentional surrender.
Moreover, the goal of the outward excessive mental or physical pain is to
render the behavior of the person in power as oppressive. By enacting the
masochistic conduct, the ‗victim‘ hopes to force a sense of recognition and a
consequent renouncement of oppressive behavior by the other (Sherwin 181). It is
crucial to understand that the pleasure in pain is only a means to an end and that the
purpose of masochism is not either mental or physical pain or self-destruction; rather
it is the price the masochist must pay in order to access power, which, for the
masochist, is connected to pain and suffering.
Perhaps the most common method to seek access to power is through love. A love for the domineering other—in most cases the other is a spouse or a parent, but it could also be another form of a love interest—is instrumental in the development of the masochistic process and a factor from the very beginning (Berliner 39). This does not mean, however, that the other is necessarily sadistic. The masochist consciously and subconsciously manipulates either the other or the situation to maximize suffering. By obtaining love, the masochist can also obtain power vicariously, because the feeling of powerlessness and victimhood prevent the obtainment of power otherwise.
The reason for the masochist to seek access to power through the beloved person is to secure a safe environment. Centuries of oppression by the opposite gender—a consequence of the patriarchal structure of society—have led women to believe that they have to depend heavily on a husband or father to provide secure and comfortable living conditions and this has caused an overvaluation of love in women, because much depends on the reciprocation of love. The inferior position of women generates an anxiety to lose that love, since love is also the connection to power. Thus, when necessary, allowing and even encouraging suffering within oneself is also a mechanism to attempt to maintain love, especially when the other has an aggressive attitude or sadistic characteristics (Berliner 45).
Furthermore, the intentional behavior of suffering and humiliation by the
masochist is exhibited in a manner of martyrdom. Pain and degradation grant the
masochist a feeling of increased love worthiness, because, on the one hand, the
masochist regards the suffering as a sacrifice for the love object (Berliner 46); on the
other hand, the suffering and humiliation is an appeal to pity, which serves as a
dysfunctional attempt to win affection (Horney 253). Thus, masochism becomes a narcissistic gratification with the obtainment and maintenance of love.
The narcissistic tendencies of the masochist are also in servitude to maintain a representation of the self. Although not every instance of masochism is primarily an attempt to maintain an image of the self, it does constitute a relevant element in the development of masochism. Especially in women, the process of establishing a cohesive and stable image of the self could have been damaged by cultural deprivations, interferences, and traumas (Stolorow 442). Hence, the masochist constantly fears the disintegration of self-representation, and the masochistic situations represent attempts to repair, restore, and sustain the maintenance of the self, because it bestows a sense of being real and alive (Stolorow 443). Thereby, the masochist re-establishes a sense of a cohesive self. The maintenance of a stable self is a reason for masochistic tendencies most common in society. This is evident in, for instance, the desire to feel pain to distinguish between reality and a dream.
Another aspect of power relations as a source of masochism in individuals is
the style of parenting, or the lack of parenting received as a child, which has the
potential to develop masochistic behavior from a very early age onwards. In the
developing years of young children, parental cruelty, over-authoritarian attitudes,
deprivation, or other forms of abuse might cause serious modalities of masochism in
later years (Berliner 41). Although described here are extreme cases of dysfunctional
parenting, lesser forms of dysfunctional parenting might also leave a mark on
children, causing masochism in adulthood. In the United States, the style of parenting
and especially the manner in which parents punish their children is a breeding
ground for masochistic behavior in children and ―it accounts for the universality of
moral masochism in [American] culture‖ (Berliner 50). Sometimes, the ‗parental slap‘
as a punishment, usually given by the father, is a mechanism used by children to capture attention which is otherwise not easily captured.
It is perhaps important to note that either a singular source is responsible for masochism in a particular individual or combinations of sources coexist to cause masochistic behavior. The above mentioned established sources of masochism resulted from psychoanalytical research based on individuals. In recent years, however, the concept of masochism has been released from its confinement as a term exclusively used in psychoanalysis. It has since influenced branches of social sciences and other humanities disciplines and masochism is now on a path to become an academic discipline in its own right. Nowadays, masochistic tendencies are not viewed on the individual level, but on a cultural level. Especially feminist studies use masochism as a means to conceptualize culture and explain the position and behavior of women in a particular society.
For many years, the concept of masochism has been misused by a
misogynistic society as both an excuse and a justification for the oppression and
denigration of females. Designating that women are prone to suffering and stating
that masochism is a natural and unalterable condition for women, leads to an
accelerated reconciliation in women with their subordinate role in society. The misuse
is also the cause for the rarity of known cases of masochism in women in
psychoanalysis, since it was a condition regarded as a non-pathological
phenomenon in women, thus treatment was rendered unnecessary (Finke 35). This
usage of the concept of masochism led to a vicious circle; it prevented women from
understanding the underlying causes of their pleasure in submission and it rendered
women unable to improve their position in society.
However, since the modern feminist movement a change in attitude toward women has occurred and consequently exposed that masochism is far more frequent in women than was expected. According to Carol Tosone, the cause of a more frequent occurrence of masochism in women is due to the cultural climate that predisposes women to masochistic behavior (417). Over the years, women have developed a capacity for deriving pleasure out of their restricted societal structures as a mechanism for survival. Masochism can be used as a concept to analyze this behavior in women in a particular cultural setting. The predisposition of women to the deviant behavior of masochism cannot be attributed to one particular factor in a society‘s structure, rather a concoction of cultural factors is responsible.
Perhaps one of the most influential societal structures is religion. Especially Christianity, the principal religion in the United States, implicitly and explicitly propagates masochism. The foundation of Christianity is based upon the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself to redeem the sins of mankind. It was this act of Jesus Christ that formed the ultimate act of moral masochism (Rancour-Laferriere 13). He willfully chose to suffer for all mankind, even though He, being omnipotent, could have erased Original Sin by any other means. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ formed the religious creed of the Christian belief system; forgiveness and redemption from sins is offered to every follower of Christianity, with the prerequisite of some form of self-sacrifice. Although nowadays a more liberal version of Christianity is prevalent in the United States, the feelings of guilt, repentance, and the subsequent redemption are still an essential part of Christianity.
Another influential societal structure is the power hierarchy. As mentioned
above, in a patriarchal society the men are the dominant figures, thus at the top of
the power hierarchy. The United States is constructed as a patriarchal society and as
such, women are predisposed to masochism due to the cultural factors that promote suffering, humiliation, and submission. First and foremost, in a patriarchal society women are regarded as weaker, and thus inferior to men, which subsequently leads to a deterioration of self-confidence within women. Moreover, the supposed inferiority becomes a blockade for women in terms of their freedom and education. Secondly, women must be economically dependent upon men or the family. The economic dependency produces an emotional dependence upon either a husband or father, resulting in a general dependency in all other areas of life. The third cultural factor comprises the restriction of women to the emotional parts of life, such as family, charity, and church. Lastly, a competition among women of marriageable age leads to an even greater emotional dependency on men and overall strengthens the existing power relations, because it results in a compliance among females to the existing ideologies of inferiority and dependence. Moreover, the competition is
―pertinent also in so far as it creates among women a particularly strong competition from which recoil is an important factor in precipitating masochistic phenomena‖
(Horney 255). For a woman to withdraw from the competition is an acknowledgement of inferiority to men, as well as inferiority to other women.
While the cultural factors that promote these behavioral attitudes highlighted above have improved drastically in recent years, ―negative attitudes toward women are embedded in the American culture. While women have made many professional gains, there is still the societal expectation that they will place the needs of their family members ahead of their own need for individual development‖ (Tosone 421).
The alterations in the representation of women, with a special focus on
feminine masochistic phenomena, can be observed by applying a sharpened and
directed analysis of female characters in, for instance, literature or film. As the
concept of masochism became a realization through the medium of the literature of
Sacher-Masoch, the masochistic behavior of women in present-day culture could
also be analyzed through the medium of film. As mentioned in the preface, the
animated feature films of The Walt Disney Company prove to be an excellent case
study. The ideologies in the Disney films are a representation of the ideas, ideals,
morals, and values of the American culture. By analyzing the leading female
characters in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, and The
Princess and the Frog, the aims and scope of masochism in the fictional characters
can be determined.
Chapter 2 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Although Walt Disney produced cartoons since 1922, major success came to his studio fifteen years later with the full-length feature cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Before Snow White, the Walt Disney Studios focused on producing short cartoons to be shown in cinemas before the feature film. Due to the Great Depression and an overall change in Hollywood, Disney realized that producing cartoons starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and their animated friends, was no longer economically viable and would not keep the studio afloat (Davis 89).
iiiTherefore, Walt Disney embarked on a new Hollywood adventure, achieving what nobody had done before: producing a full-length feature animated film. All the studio‘s money went into the new project that Hollywood would come to call ‗Disney‘s Folly‘ because nobody believed that an audience would want to see an hour-and-a- half long cartoon. However, as it turned out, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a huge success never before seen in Hollywood. The movie generated millions at the box-office, and it still provides the studio with millions after every re-release. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs catapulted the Walt Disney Studios to the top of its field.
Although the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is widely known, a short summary of Disney‘s adaptation might be helpful in order to continue the argument. At the start of the film the audience encounters a young woman dressed in rags scrubbing the palace courtyard, this is the princess Snow White, the protagonist of the film. Out of jealousy and spite for Snow White‘s charm and beauty, her stepmother, the Queen, orders the huntsman to kill Snow White.
However, the huntsman is unable to perform his duty and out of mercy he directs the
princess to run to the forest. There Snow White discovers the house of the Seven
Dwarfs and the Dwarfs invite her to stay.
Unfortunately, The Queen uncovers the huntsman‘s betrayal and disguised as an old lady, she journeys to Snow White‘s hiding place in the forest planning to kill her with a poisonous apple. However, the apple does not kill Snow White, it renders her unconscious. In their anger, the Seven Dwarfs chase the Queen till she falls off a cliff. Overcome with grief, the Seven Dwarfs lay Snow White in a glass case until Prince Charming arrives to reawaken Snow White with a true love‘s kiss, and they shall live happily ever after.
Although the movie depicts a classic and simplistic version of the fairy tale filmed in an animated form, Walt Disney nonetheless urged for as much ‗realism‘ as possible.
The reason for this stress upon realism by the Disney Studio is fairly obvious in terms of its place within the wider arena of Hollywood cinema as a whole: the more realistic the animated characters became, the more plausible it was that audiences would accept these characters as not just cartoon figures, to be laughed at and then forgotten once the main feature started, but instead as characters to be loved or hated, but above all accepted as ‗realistic.‘ (Davis 84)
Naturally, an animated film requires a certain attitude from the viewer towards the basic unreality of the genre, yet it is not impossible to sympathize or even empathize with the cartoon characters. With realism as a standard at the Disney Studio, the film cannot escape the ideologies of the society which produced it. ―[Walt Disney]
reshaped the stories such that they reflected his vision of American social and ethical
values. Like all his films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was invested with a
distinct ideology‖ (Inge 138). However, as Stuart Hall argues, the ideologies
disseminated through the medium of film by its producer do not automatically transfer
to the audience. Through mass-communications, like television or film, messages pertaining to social and cultural practices are encoded which are subsequently decoded by the audience, thus spreading certain ideologies. These decoded messages are then reincorporated into the production again, creating a circular process of disseminating meanings and messages in mass-media (Hall 165). The codes of encoding and decoding do not, however, necessarily correspond with one another. In the process of decoding a different message may be constructed, and it is the decoded messages that ‗have an effect‘ on culture. Walt Disney claimed he had no idea that his movies contained a deeper meaning, as he famously stated; ―we just try and make a good picture, and then the professors come along and tell us what we do‖ (Inge 140). However, quite the opposite is true, the producer of a film cannot escape the process of encoding. Thus, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is also framed by the ideologies of the society which created it, and ―it is within the framework of power relations and the development of the culture industry that the reception, interpretation, and discussions of the films take place‖ (Zipes 90-91).
References to the patriarchal structure of the United States are especially present in Snow White due to what would later be called the ‗Disney Doctrine,‘
namely the notion that at the center of the American way of life was the nuclear family, with the attendant rituals of marriage, parenthood, and consumption (Inge 139). By emphasizing the dysfunctional family of Snow White and the avoidable drama it causes, Walt Disney propagated the basic structure of a patriarchal society:
man at the head of a family, holding authority over his wife, thus confining the woman to the house.
Although the movie might seem reactionary and old-fashioned—especially
from a feminist perspective—in 1937 the portrayal of women was a reflection of the
pre-feminist, strict social gender roles and hierarchies which stipulated virtues such domesticity, submissiveness, and purity in women and would reinforce a woman‘s status as a man‘s accessory (Davis 116). These virtues represent the character basis of the protagonist in Disney‘s Snow White and compose the stimulation of the masochistic tendencies and masochistic behavior in the protagonist. The manner in which Snow White is depicted was the basis of many other female protagonists in the early Disney films, for instance Cinderella and Wendy in Peter Pan. The Disney films all contain certain key elements, one of which stipulates that good women do not rescue themselves, i.e. they maintain a passive attitude (Zipes 71).
The effect of a patriarchal society on women is reflected in the behavior of
Snow White. Although she is of royal blood, thus entitled to power and a certain
degree of dominance over her subjects due to her heritage, she nonetheless displays
behavior of subservience. The excerpt from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
below is a perfect example of the submissive behavior displayed by Snow White.
When Snow White arrives at the little cottage in the middle of the forest she is nervous the occupants might not permit her to stay, even though she is a princess, and could thus demand them to let her stay since the Seven Dwarfs are supposed to be her loyal subjects. Such actions, however, would not be in accordance with the nature of the role Snow White is expected to play, namely that of the obedient wife/mother. Therefore, Snow White believes she is only allowed to stay if she does household chores in return. Before she even knows who lives in the little cottage, she decides to clean the entire house as a welcome present and upon meeting the Seven Dwarfs, she practically begs them to let her stay. Before they can stipulate some sort of demand in return, Snow White already offers to cook, clean, and wash for them.
Thereby, she has willingly and voluntarily surrendered all her power to the Seven Dwarfs. This scene is an obvious portrayal of masochism in the character of Snow White. By surrendering to the Seven Dwarfs she recreates the oppressive environment she has only recently escaped. Since it is an environment she is accustomed to, she also based her representation of the self upon being in an oppressed situation. Thus, to restore and sustain the image of the self, she instinctively recreates that environment.
Moreover, the submission of Snow White to the Seven Dwarfs is also the result of the proliferation of the patriarchal structures in society as represented by Disney. This structure also caused the overvaluation of love in the character depiction of Snow White. The audience encounters Snow White for the first time wishing for the one she loves, although she has never met such a man. And upon meeting Prince Charming, Snow White‘s primary response is to flee away from him.
However, after the initial shock, she realizes the importance of the moment and goes
onto the balcony to let the prince woo her. However, not before she made sure her
clothes, hair and make-up are in order. From that moment onwards, Snow White‘s every action is directed toward securing Prince Charming‘s love and thereby also securing her own domestic safety.
For example, when the Queen arrives at the dwarfs‘ cottage and offers Snow White the poisonous apple, Snow White‘s initial response is to decline the offer;
however, when the Queen tells Snow White the apple is in fact a magic wishing apple and that with one bite the wish will come true, Snow White wishes her prince will take her away to his castle and they will live happily ever after. Subsequently, Snow White takes a bite out of the apple and falls unconscious. Again the overvaluation of love caused Snow White suffering. She ignored her instincts with regards to the old hag and the apple, instead she took every chance to obtain and maintain the love of Prince Charming. Moreover, the antidote to the Sleeping Death induced by the poisonous apple is love‘s first kiss, again stimulating the overvaluation of love in women.
Prince Charming, however, is not the only person in this version of Snow
White who Snow White must persuade to love her. Although the prince is the main
objective, Snow White is nonetheless also dependent upon the Seven Dwarfs until
someday her prince will come. Thus, Snow White endeavors to obtain the love of the
Dwarfs, although it is perhaps a different kind of love. Though Snow White manages
to obtain the love of most of the dwarfs almost instantly, the one dwarf that is
reluctant to let her stay is Grumpy. The oldest of the dwarfs is portrayed as moody,
unkind, and sexist—Walt Disney openly referred to Grumpy as the woman-hater of
the group—yet he is also the protector of the others. Snow White persists in trying to
win his affection, because if she can convince Grumpy to reciprocate her love, she
would have successfully secured a safe environment. Moreover, Grumpy performs a
crucial part in the hierarchy of the dwarfs‘ household. Although Doc is the self- proclaimed leader of the group, Grumpy is portrayed as the dwarf who is the smartest and most sensible, thus he also functions as the leader. Therefore, the procurement of Grumpy‘s love is most important to Snow White and she constantly tries to win his affections by displaying obedience, dependence, and overall submissive behavior toward him.
Snow White‘s overvaluation of love is responsible for these forms of masochistic behavior and the American ideology of the 1930s reflected in this Disney film promotes the overvaluation of love in Snow White, because, for a woman, love for the father or spouse is the source of the necessary securities in life, for instance financial income and social status. Similar to Snow White‘s dependence on men, the American woman of the 1930s also believed she was dependent on the husband or father for the securement of a safe environment. Moreover, the American ideology did not only reconcile women with the idea of the pleasures of an overall dependence on men, but also propagated the belief that women are inferior to men (Horney 256).
Whether a young girl or an adult woman watches Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, what they will see is a protagonist displaying masochistic behavior due to the overvaluation of love, and the protagonist is subsequently rewarded for that behavior by finding her true love at the end of the film. Thus, the film instills in the American woman a behavior of dependence on men which requires suffering and debasement.
Although Snow White keeps wishing for her prince to come someday and bring with
him the promise of a better life, Snow White will in fact always be responsible for the
creation of situations where she has to suffer and endure psychological and physical
pain, because she believes the masochistic tendencies will guarantee her the
reciprocation of love. Through the encoding and decoding of the message of
masochism and the reward it brings for the protagonist, a vicious circle is created that will promote masochistic behavior in the female viewer.
Besides the overvaluation of love, the other breeding ground for masochism in
the character depiction of Snow White is the parenting style portrayed in the film. The
biological parents of Snow White are not present in the movie—it is implied in the
fairy tale that the mother of Snow White dies during child birth and Walt Disney made
the decision to eliminate the role of the father—the only type of male-oriented fatherly
compassion stems from the Huntsman, who decides not to follow the Queen‘s
ordinance and releases Snow White from the yoke of the Queen. However, until that
moment, the Queen is the only resemblance to a parent that Snow White is
accustomed to, even though the Queen does not treat her as a daughter, but rather
as a slave. The audience first encounters Snow White performing exhausting
physical labor; she is cleaning the castle courtyard. Dressed in rags and wooden
clogs, she is performing a chore that is obviously imposed upon her by the Queen,
yet the viewer is confronted by a princess smiling and singing as though she has
never been happier. Apparently Snow White has learned to deal with her hardship by
turning it into a source of pleasure; this constitutes a form of masochism that evolved
from defiance of a situation of suffering to acceptance and eventually the enjoyment
of that situation in order to maintain a sense of self, because without adaptation to a
destructive environment by escaping into masochistic activities, restoring and
sustaining the stable and positive self-representation would not be possible (Stolorow
447). Snow White is neglected and punished by her stepmother, degraded to do
chores unfit for a princess, and eventually abandoned. Parental cruelty is a frequent
theme in many fairy tales and in this case it is a decisive force of the masochistic
behavior of Snow White. The sadistic attitude of the Queen becomes an integral part
of Snow White, causing her to intentionally seek situations of suffering, humiliation, and degradation.
Perhaps the most obvious occurrence of masochism in the princess‘ behavior caused by the parenting style of the Queen is during Snow White´s flight through the forest. After the Huntsman commands Snow White to run away and never return, she flees through the dense forest and subsequently creates a terrifying fantasy. She imagines the owls, bats, and the prickly bushes are trying to attack her.
The earliest reviews of the film stated that ―in the early scene where Snow White runs
through the forest, [the audience was] thrilled by the way the branches reached out to
snatch her‖ (Ebert). Perhaps subconsciously they could identify with Snow White‘s
masochistic fantasies. Although the flight through the forest might not seem
pleasurable to Snow White, she is evoking this fantasy because she has just been
freed from the Queen‘s yoke. An escape from her oppressive environment might be
seen as a positive development, however the thought of freedom and independence
is incredibly frightening to Snow White, because she has never been in a situation of
self-autonomy. The effects of the patriarchal society on women causes the fabrication of a masochistic fantasy in Snow White, functioning as a mental blockade to relinquish control again, while the excessive stipulation of victimhood and powerlessness reassures Snow White‘s sense of self.
In conclusion, the identity of the protagonist in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is imbued with masochistic tendencies that influence her behavior on practically all fronts; during her daily routines and during crises. To maintain and restore her representation of the self a constant state of masochistic pleasure is required for Snow White. Through means of the typically female characteristics in the 1930s, namely passivity, obedience, and dependence, the masochistic tendencies are easily facilitated.
These female characteristics of the pre-feminist Snow White nowadays appear
to be old-fashioned and outdated with regards to the behavior of women, especially
with the recent ―radical redefinitions‖ of family and the influences of the second wave
of feminism. ―Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs […] is very much a part of its
original time and place. It accurately reflected the general public attitude toward the
place of women in society and continued a long tradition in Western culture of
portraying women as passive vessels of innocence and virtue‖ (Inge 141). These
reflections of women are also portrayed in other Disney films made during the first
successful period of the studio, such as Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and
Sleeping Beauty. These films from the 1950s also display a passive attitude in the
female protagonists. Some critics even argue that the studio was still portraying a
female protagonist unadjusted to its time in the 1989 box-office hit The Little Mermaid
(Inge 141). Not until Beauty and the Beast can a noticeable change in the depiction
of established gender roles in Disney movies be detected, as will be discussed in the
next chapter.
Chapter 3 – Beauty and the Beast
The first Disney animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs paved the road for many successes in the animated film industry in the 1940s and 1950s;
however, by 1960 the successes stagnated. The animated film releases resulted in disappointments at the box office for the Walt Disney Company, for example The Aristocats (1970), The Rescuers (1977) and The Black Cauldron (1985). Not until 1989 with the film The Little Mermaid was the Walt Disney Company able to resurrect the animated film as a lucrative genre. However, the release succeeding The Little Mermaid in 1991, Beauty and the Beast, established the renaissance of the animated feature film in Hollywood. Moreover, the animated film was of such a high quality that it was nominated for an Academy Award, and until 2009 it was the only animated film ever to be nominated.
ivThe creation of Beauty and the Beast started in the 1930s. After the enormous success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Walt Disney surveyed several fairy tales to be developed into feature length films, and one of those stories was Jean- Marie Le Prince de Beaumont‘s fairy tale La Belle et la Bête. Although some work on the production of the film was attempted, the story proved to be too much of a challenge for the animators at the Disney Studio in the 1930s and again in the 1950s.
Then, after the death of Walt Disney in 1966, a difficult era began for the Disney
Company. Although the Studio attempted to fashion the animated films as Walt
would have done, this, however, proved unsuccessful. Not until the installation of the
so-called ‗Team Disney‘ did the animated films become a success again (Bell, Haas,
and Sells 6). Like before, Team Disney also concentrated on the legacy of Walt
Disney and the production of fairy tales, with one pivotal change. Whereas it was
problematic for the Studio to capture the special ‗Disney magic‘ in the so-called
Middle era of the history of the Walt Disney Company, this problem did not occur during the period succeeding the Middle era; the so-called Eisner era. With the new CEO Michael Eisner, the Walt Disney Company adopted a new stance. The storytelling became modernized while at the same time persisting on using the model Walt Disney created for the depiction of fairy tales. This proved to be a successful combination.
One of the modernized features pertains to the depiction of women in Disney‘s animation features. After the rise of feminism in the 1970s and 1980s, the Walt Disney Company was critiqued more and more for their depiction of women as weak and domesticated. Beauty and the Beast was to change that image. As Maria Warner explains in her book From the Beast to the Blonde,
This fairy tale film is more vividly aware of contemporary sexual politics than any made before; it consciously picked out a strand in the tale‘s history and deliberately developed it for an audience of mothers who grew up with Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, who had daughters who listened to Madonna and Sinead O‘Conner. (313)
Beauty and the Beast was to be the film that would change Disney‘s image with regards to the depiction of women in their films, with the lead character Belle as a smart young lady with dreams of more than marriage. To achieve a change in the depiction of women the first action taken by the Disney Studios with the production of this new film, was the appointment of Linda Woolverton as one of the head writers.
She was the first woman ever to be a head writer on a Disney film. Although the
screenplay is in fact an adaptation, it nonetheless required extensive rewriting,
because the fairy tale had its origin in the eighteenth century and had to be adjusted
for an audience of the twentieth century.
The film starts with a brief history of the antagonist, the Beast. As a young prince, the Beast was enchanted by a witch due to his selfishness and rude behavior.
The witch told him the spell can only be broken by love. Years later, an inventor becomes stranded at the castle and is taken prisoner by the Beast. Unexpectedly, the inventor‘s daughter Belle comes to the castle to rescue her father. However, the release of her father causes Belle to be imprisoned herself. During her stay at the castle, the Beast and Belle develop a friendship and eventually the Beast decides to release Belle to visit her father. Upon Belle‘s return to the village, she inadvertently causes an angry mob headed to the Beast‘s castle by refusing to marry Gaston. The townspeople, led by the offended Gaston, decide to storm the castle and kill the Beast. Fortunately, Belle is able to save the Beast and confesses her love for him and the Beast becomes human again, after which they live happily ever after.
As mentioned above, Team Disney planned to modernize their animated feature films while also maintaining true to the Disney model for the depiction of fairy tales, a feat not easily accomplished. In Beauty and the Beast this combination of old and new resulted in a film that maintained a focus on the conservative romantic aspects of the plot, as with the older Disney films like Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, while also dealing with the pressures of a feminized society (Sumera 41). As a part of one of the new aspects the screenwriters and animators at the Disney Studio portrayed a young woman with dreams other than finding a suitable husband. Instead the protagonist is portrayed as a girl with dreams of independence, traveling, and adventure as she herself explains in a song:
I want much more than this provincial life I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell And for once it might be grand To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned.
Moreover, Belle is also portrayed as an intelligent, inquisitive, well-read woman, whereas the rest of the townspeople think she is odd, as they explain in a song:
―Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar / I wonder if she's feeling well / With a
dreamy far-off look / And her nose stuck in a book / What a puzzle to the rest of us is
Belle.‖ However, this point of view from the townspeople reflects a conservative
standpoint rather than stressing an overly feminist protagonist, because Belle‘s
hopes and wishes can hardly be named feminist anymore in the 1990s. In fact, taking
a close look at the character portrayal of Belle it becomes obvious that she only
possesses one semi-modern, representational trait of feminism, namely her fondness
for reading. It is important to note here that although reading is not necessarily
feminist, the fondness for reading symbolizes characteristic traits applicable to
modern women such as intelligence, education, and independent thinking. However,
Belle‘s favorite book, as she describes it, is the Disney version of a fairy tale. (―Far off
places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise.‖) On the surface Belle
might seem an improvement on the passive and weak heroines of the previous
Disney films. The feminist qualities, however, foregrounded by Belle in Beauty and
the Beast are only a mask for Disney‘s engrained conservatism, evidenced by ―it‘s
stringent adherence to the patriarchal order‖ (Sumera 40). Although Belle‘s dreams
exceed that of becoming a provincial farmer‘s wife, she nonetheless reverts back to
the patriarchal order by marrying the Beast due to the pressures of society. At first
glance the film might seem as though it incorporates the improved position of women
in American society in the last decade of the twentieth century, but it also maintains a conservative outlook, affecting the quality and quantity of masochistic behavior displayed in the protagonist.
On the one hand, this conservative attitude toward women by the Walt Disney Company is expressed by the embrace of powerlessness in the heroine. Despite dreams of a future that is different from the provincial life she knows, Belle is never truly granted that wish, because everybody else planned a conventional lifestyle for her. First, her father encourages her to find a suitable husband, and suggests the town‘s most eligible bachelor Gaston. And this eligible bachelor has no doubt that Belle will marry him, even though she has refused his marriage proposal several times. The third party to have mapped out Belle‘s future toward marriage is the enchanted servants at the Beast‘s castle. ―It is Belle‘s usefulness as a female that most attracts the castle‘s inhabitants, and her beauty is a close second. Belle‘s desires, her interest in exploration and education have no meaning except in terms of how they can be manipulated into a romance to benefit the Beast and the bewitched servants‖ (Cummins 24). Apparently, Belle is at peace with her powerlessness, since she follows her father‘s advice (to marry) and the servants plan (to marry the Beast) to the last letter.
On the other hand, the film portrays the current of events leading up to the domestication of Belle as a consequence of her own actions, most notably her decision to trade places with her father, when he has been imprisoned by the Beast.
It is obvious from the interaction between Belle and her father Maurice that it is the
daughter who must take on the responsibility of caring for her father while also
mustering support for her father‘s goals, rather than having any particular goals of
her own (Davis 191).
vAlthough Belle is the active agent that propels the plot forward,
it is the loyalty that she feels toward her father that is the driving force behind all her actions. Unfortunately, the assistance Maurice receives requires extraordinary sacrifices from his daughter, most notably when Belle renounces her own freedom to the Beast to spare her father.
Belle‘s decision, however, is a reaction to her powerlessness in this family crisis.
Self-sacrifice is the only power she has left. The intentional surrender to a frightening and violent character and casting herself in the role of a victim is an attempt to shift the power relation between both Belle and her father and Belle and the Beast. The Disney heroine regards her powerlessness as a legitimization for the attempt to acquire power and the masochistic action is used as an instrument to gain a pleasurable feeling out of the sense of power. The brief moment of victory for Belle indeed grants her pleasure, which is, however, immediately rescinded with the start of a lifelong imprisonment. The Disney princess can nonetheless revel in satisfaction that the submission to a situation of suffering and humiliation was of her own making.
Moreover, she intentionally prolongs her suffering by refusing the invitation for dinner,
thus creating a situation of potential starvation. It is after the ‗first taste‘ of power that she feels the need to rebel against all oppositional powers; not only the Beast, but also Gaston and her father, even though her opposition creates situations of masochism. The deliberate production of an agonizing position for the protagonist is created to acquire a feeling of power in a situation where she is powerless.
Furthermore, the self-sacrifice is also a wish fulfillment for the protagonist on multiple levels. First, because Belle has an opportunity to have an adventure away from her provincial lifestyle, and foremost because it grants her the title of ‗the good daughter‘, an archetype that is very common in fairy tales. This archetype is also an reflection of the depiction of women in American society, as Amy Davis explains:
―while it may no longer be acceptable to a large segment of the American public to feature stories of women putting their needs as secondary to the needs of their husbands, the notion that a woman is willingly sublimating her needs to those of a kindly, loving father is slightly more acceptable‖ (206). Just as masochism can occur in a relationship between man and woman, so it can also occur in a father-daughter relationship. Although there is no evidence of intentional maltreatment by Maurice, the supposition that he is absent-minded and more involved with his inventions than his daughter does indicate forms of past and present neglect. This, and other forms of suffering, ―at the hands of the love object is the basic and most clearly causal pattern in all the cases [of masochistic behavior]‖ (Berliner 41).
Although all of the causal factors of masochism in the Disney heroine can
never be ascertained, the motivation for the current display of masochistic behavior
in the character portrayal of the protagonist does transform from that of a loving
daughter to that of a loving wife, because Belle‘s masochistic tendencies are at first
directed at her father and then switch to the Beast after her imprisonment. Moreover,
Fig. 1. The Beast‘s terrifying physique
