"whether or not you’re willing to update you beliefs based on new evidence - a key life skill that Disney movies don’t do a good job of teaching."
I'm not sure about that. Frozen is among several films with the main antagonist initially seeming friendly and someone the main characters start out liking and trusting. Rapunzel tied up Flynn and repeatedly hit him with a frying pan, but when he changed to be less superficial she was willing to look beyond the initial impression of a thief.
And actually, Beauty and the Beast has this lesson too. The Beast initially holds Belle prisoner! He learns and grows and Belle responds to that change.
(I agree he really didn't need to turn into a handsome prince at the end. Especially not such a clean-shaven one. I liked the way at the end of the live-action remake that the now-human Beast says "How would you feel about me growing a beard?" to which Belle responds with basically an enthusiastic meow.)
Sure, Disney movies feature characters growing and changing and people reacting to that. But that's a very easy, straightforward and obvious thing in-story, and all the examples are about people. There isn't a Disney movie about someone changing a political belief based on new empirical evidence.
The ACTUAL lesson from Beauty And The Beast is: on the surface, you should pretend that looks don't matter; deep down you should believe that looks do matter (because they do), but you should never acknowledge this truth, even while acting on it. And the underlying lesson from that is that bullshit and hypocrisy should be your core values.
"whether or not you’re willing to update you beliefs based on new evidence - a key life skill that Disney movies don’t do a good job of teaching."
I'm not sure about that. Frozen is among several films with the main antagonist initially seeming friendly and someone the main characters start out liking and trusting. Rapunzel tied up Flynn and repeatedly hit him with a frying pan, but when he changed to be less superficial she was willing to look beyond the initial impression of a thief.
And actually, Beauty and the Beast has this lesson too. The Beast initially holds Belle prisoner! He learns and grows and Belle responds to that change.
(I agree he really didn't need to turn into a handsome prince at the end. Especially not such a clean-shaven one. I liked the way at the end of the live-action remake that the now-human Beast says "How would you feel about me growing a beard?" to which Belle responds with basically an enthusiastic meow.)
Sure, Disney movies feature characters growing and changing and people reacting to that. But that's a very easy, straightforward and obvious thing in-story, and all the examples are about people. There isn't a Disney movie about someone changing a political belief based on new empirical evidence.
The ACTUAL lesson from Beauty And The Beast is: on the surface, you should pretend that looks don't matter; deep down you should believe that looks do matter (because they do), but you should never acknowledge this truth, even while acting on it. And the underlying lesson from that is that bullshit and hypocrisy should be your core values.
I'm always surprised when I find someone more cynical than I am.
I don't think of it as cynicism, merely trying to see the world as it is.
What do you see in other Disney movies?