Disney's New Fairytale: An Analysis of Representation in Disney's Live-Action Remakes of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/b2773w67f

Abstract

Fairytales were originally an oral tradition used to communicate past experiences and beliefs. Over time, fairytales were adapted into films, which allowed the producer to exercise great control over the messages. Walt Disney, with animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), revolutionized fairytales as films. The studio’s superiority in the production of animated fairytale films allowed it to become legitimized as an educator. Many scholars, however, found issue with some of the messages in the films. Disney’s animated films may teach children limiting gender roles or that non-Western cultures are necessarily lesser or evil. Live-action remakes function as guaranteed economic success for companies like Disney. Such commercial endeavors also provide Disney with an opportunity to improve areas of problematic representation. This project seeks to understand how Disney has responded to scholarly critiques. Two live-action remakes – Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Aladdin (2019) – are used as exemplars. A qualitative textual analysis is completed using previous critiques as a guide. The analysis focuses on the specific scenes, songs, and characters problematized by scholars. The findings of this project suggest Disney has been receptive to criticism of its animated films, although it struggles to consistently improve its messages.

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