Before I have an army of angry feminists and fans coming at me for this, let me preface this article with the following disclaimers: I am a feminist and I have nothing personal against Emma Watson.
However.
In my opinion, feminism has become something of a spiraling spectacle. It went from the goal of having females make the same wages as their male counterparts and overall gender equality to women refusing to shave their underarms and thinking it's cool to walk around with their breasts out at the beach.
In honor of the two-year anniversary of the 2017 release of the "Beauty and the Beast"live-action film, I felt compelled to discuss something I recently discovered.
While watching YouTube clips of the 2015 Disney remake of 'Cinderella", (yes, I'm that person) I scrolled through the comments just for fun. One of the comments mentioned how the "Cinderella"waltz scene is better than the one in 2017's "Beauty and the Beast"and that it would have been nice if self-proclaimed feminist Emma Watson had just let the costume department do its thing with Belle's iconic yellow ballgown for the waltz scene. The comment had 500+ likes.
I was confused. What did Emma Watson do with the dress that, according to this guy, made such a difference?
So I Googled. And my research supported what this comment said. Emma Watson worked closely with the film's lead costume designer Jacqueline Durran to give Belle "something more modern, as a reinterpretation of an 18th-century dress." She chose to not wear a corset because women shouldn't feel obligated to make their waists look unrealistically small.
Between Watson and Durran, it was eventually decided that:
"She [Belle] shouldn't have delicate ballet shoes. She should have strong shoes that would be grounding for her and enable her to do all the things that boys who wear boots would do... [Emma] was working so hard to create a strong, individual, modern, emancipated kind of Belle."
Well, that's nice of you Emma, but I strongly disagree with what you guys did here.
I remember eagerly watching Beauty and the Beast the day it came out in theaters and thinking the yellow dress was... not that great. It wasn't too pretty, the design was odd, and it just didn't feel or look like a princess ballgown.
So, this is where it's not feminism anymore. Or, at least, where it shouldn't be feminism anymore. The set of an iconic Disney classic should not be the arena for feminism to make its presence known. If I had been part of the film's production, I would've told Watson to take a hike.
There are other ways and places to direct your feminist ideas. If you're going to try your absolute hardest to change a classic look, you're not respecting that originality. You're not respecting the classic ideas. You're not respecting the original character. Belle lived in 18th-century France, not the year 3000. Belle is a female character, not a male one. She doesn't need to be in combat boots instead of ballet flats just because men wear combat boots.
See how ridiculous this whole thing becomes? Belle's character didn't need anyone's fixing.
I very much agree with and love how Belle's character was independent. She read books, she did not accept a man's marriage proposal just for the sake of him proposing, and she was headstrong. She already had these qualities, she didn't need any extra redoing.
But, at the end of the day, let's be realistic. Emma Watson bills a huge name. She attracted much of the film's movie-going audience because of how famous she is. Production wasn't going to let her get away, so even if they did disagree with the direction she wanted to take Belle in, they weren't going to say that.Let's compare this to Lily James' portrayal of Cinderella in 2015.
No, Lily's version of Cinderella is not exactly like its animated original character either, but she's still "princess looking". A fitted corset, a full-length ballgown, and a beautiful full skirt make for the most stunning waltz scene. (She also wore ballet flats in her village day outfit but that's neither here nor there.)
My bottom line point is that Emma Watson could have, and should have, taken her feminist views outside the set of "Beauty and the Beast." A classic, iconic piece of film and fashion should not have been redesigned for the sake of feminism.
I respect Emma Watson's contributions to the work of women and in the UN, but I truly believe her trying to apply new-age feminist ideals to such a classic character as Belle to fit an agenda was a misstep.
You give feminism a bad rep when you take it to a Disney classic film instead of keeping the focus on the important issues, like the unequal gender wage gap and women making up a small percentage of global company CEOs and having to work twice as hard in the entertainment industry to even be looked at.
When it really comes down to it, I highly doubt an 8-year-old girl watching the film noticed Belle wasn't wearing a corset.
