Beauty and its BeastIn today's beauty-obsessed society, unhealthy body image among adolescents is on the rise. Media of all kinds plays an important role in defining exactly what it means to be beautiful. This brainwashing of unrealistic expectations of what beauty is starts at a young age with fairy tale films like Disney. “The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest media companies in the world. It has dominated the world of children's films for decades” (Lamb & Brown 2007). Disney films are infamous and overloaded with gender stereotypes. These films are the very basis of what young children aspire to be. Little girls around the world imitate the princesses created by Disney over the decades. But you see, not only little girls imitate these fictional characters, but little boys are forced to lie about what it means to be a hero. However, the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast seems to deviate from this trajectory by depicting an intelligent female protagonist, a handsome "villain" and a brute as "Prince Charming." An example of a fairy tale is Walt Disney's 1991 animated production of Beauty and the Beast, which was based on the 1756 French fairy tale La Belle et la Bête by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Beauty and the Beast is the story of a beautiful but humble girl named Belle whose father is imprisoned by the Beast. Belle bravely sacrifices her freedom for her fathers at Beast's castle. The Beast treats her well, with plenty of food and water and enough books to fill a library. Belle learns to love the Beast for who he truly is. Belle soon becomes homesick and the Beast allows her to leave only if she promises to return a week later. The Beast gives Belle a ring that allows her to...... middle of paper ......build, meaning what we think men and women should do or the way we think that men and women should behave is not based on each person's behavior. biological sex” (185). In other words, Barnett argues that gender roles are learned from a young age and taught by society. In a time where learning is crucial, a child begins to recognize what is considered "masculine" and what is considered "feminine." It is therefore very important to know what he is exposed to. Children have been and continue to be influenced by Disney's overly stereotypical gender schemes. This taught behavior is then reflected in society as the population ages and blends into all aspects of society. These same principles directly correlate with the large number of people who have a false impression of what it means to be beautiful, as well as what it means to be a man, or even a hero...