Gender Roles In Beauty And The Beast

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After coming out with a live remake of the Disney original movie Beauty and The Beast, controversy has risen from the hidden homosexuality subplot being weaved into the film. This controversy stems from a concealed and small hint towards two gay men deviating from gender norms in the movie. Backlash from this movie has even escalated to the point of bannings on the movie in certain theaters. Margaret Farley writes about gender roles, an important topic in her book Just Love. She explains how it is a way of looking at gender being divided into specific male and female binaries (Farley 157). This idea of gender roles is so prominent that any deviance from the typical gender norms causes hateful and judgmental behavior from many people. In the …show more content…

Throughout the movie, he portrays a sensitive character, getting upset often by his friend Gaston. Along with his sensitivity, LeFou also shows an attraction to Gaston by constantly praising him and never leaving his side. The feminist side of LeFou is evident throughout the movie and his homosexuality tendencies becomes even more noticeable towards the end of the movie. In this scene nearing the end of the movie, LeFou meets a man and although there is no blatant romance, there is a sense that the two have hit it off and that LeFou is coming face to face with his sexuality. Discovering Lefou’s sexuality and deviance from the male binary opened up a situation similar to society today. Lefou’s friend Gaston is the perfect representation of the typical male binary. Throughout the movie, LeFou and Gaston spend most of their time together and the strong, masculine tendencies of Gaston seem to make Lefou’s different traits feel unnatural. LeFou tries to hide his true self as if he is afraid of what Gaston will think. This instance is realistic to society and is a key remark about gender roles. Many people that do not fit specific gender norms feel like they do not fit in and are caused sadness because of this. Later on in the movie, Gaston betrays his friend LeFou and there is a sense that he is finally set free to be himself and therefore finally meets another man he is interested in. With these two male characters that possess completely opposite characteristics an important lesson is learned about gender

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