What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame

With the portrayal of Beast and Quasimodo in a beastly form, Disney seems to be perpetuating an appreciation and acceptance for different bodies advocating, “not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.” (Beauty and The Beast) However, on closer readings of both films, it seems tha...

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Main Author: Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan
Other Authors: Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2014
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61601
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-616012019-12-10T13:12:41Z What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English With the portrayal of Beast and Quasimodo in a beastly form, Disney seems to be perpetuating an appreciation and acceptance for different bodies advocating, “not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.” (Beauty and The Beast) However, on closer readings of both films, it seems that their beastly appearances present itself as a conflict, the Monster/Man paradox, that they have to overcome in order to transform their ‘fragmented selves’ and attain a “wholeness of self” (Swan 350). While Swan uses the elements of Gothic romance to support her claim, I propose, using the critical framework of Disability Theory, that not only is this “wholeness is in fact a hallucination” (Davis 2403), but this supposed “wholeness” leaves the characters of Beast and Quasimodo still, if not more, fragmented. In doing so, I argue that Disney sets up an ethos of appreciating difference by featuring characters like Quasimodo and the Beast, but ultimately rejects this difference in favor of “compulsory able-bodiedness” (McRuer 370). As such, Disney’s portrayal of such characters, albeit different in appearance, only serves to strengthen the image of a “normal ideal” (Davis 2398) body. Bachelor of Arts 2014-06-17T01:52:15Z 2014-06-17T01:52:15Z 2014 2014 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61601 en Nanyang Technological University 40 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan
What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
description With the portrayal of Beast and Quasimodo in a beastly form, Disney seems to be perpetuating an appreciation and acceptance for different bodies advocating, “not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.” (Beauty and The Beast) However, on closer readings of both films, it seems that their beastly appearances present itself as a conflict, the Monster/Man paradox, that they have to overcome in order to transform their ‘fragmented selves’ and attain a “wholeness of self” (Swan 350). While Swan uses the elements of Gothic romance to support her claim, I propose, using the critical framework of Disability Theory, that not only is this “wholeness is in fact a hallucination” (Davis 2403), but this supposed “wholeness” leaves the characters of Beast and Quasimodo still, if not more, fragmented. In doing so, I argue that Disney sets up an ethos of appreciating difference by featuring characters like Quasimodo and the Beast, but ultimately rejects this difference in favor of “compulsory able-bodiedness” (McRuer 370). As such, Disney’s portrayal of such characters, albeit different in appearance, only serves to strengthen the image of a “normal ideal” (Davis 2398) body.
author2 Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
author_facet Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan
format Final Year Project
author Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan
author_sort Ong, Nicolette-­‐Clare Yan
title What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
title_short What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
title_full What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
title_fullStr What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
title_full_unstemmed What makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of Notre Dame
title_sort what makes a monster and what makes a man? enabling difference in disney's beauty and the beast and the hunchback of notre dame
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61601
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