A Successful Partnership

Gender Roles, the Ballroom, and the Rise of the Postmodern Princess in Disney’s Animated and Live-Action Beauty and the Beast

Bibliographic Data

ID12969118
AuthorsElizabeth Leung (0000-0002-9549-2989, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume16
Issue2
Pages144-161
Publication date2024-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJeunesse Young People Texts Cultures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1920-2601 • E-ISSN: 1920-261X
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jeunesse-2023-0051
OpenAlexW4405360017
LanguageEN
References cited17

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, both Trousdale and Wise’s animated (1991) and Condon’s live-action (2017) productions, are often criticized for their perpetuation of traditional gender roles. While the ballroom scene(s) in both films are often a focal point of this criticism, a close reading of the choreography holds a subtext not often seen by the common viewer—one that illustrates a complex partnership with shifting roles rather than a static understanding of domineering male leads and dainty female follows. This article contextualizes the significance of dance in these adaptations as an expansion of the themes within the “Beauty and the Beast” hypotext and the performative aspects of gender within DanceSport subculture. Particularly prominent in Condon’s live-action remake, postmodern elements are incorporated into Belle and Beast’s waltz, where they disrupt traditional gender roles and take turns both leading and following in the dance. The themes of leading and following and the conformity/non-conformity of gender roles continue throughout the micro-narrative of the film’s multiple ballroom scenes, illustrating a shift from traditional gender roles to an equal partnership between both dancers on and off the dance floor

Action (physics · Aesthetics · Art · Ballroom · Beauty · Dance · General partnership · Literature · Political science · Postmodernism · Sociology · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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