Disney: True Beauty Is Knowledge

Jenesis Veras
Prof. Jackson
9/16/14

Prompt: "Any woman who counts on her face is a fool." -Zadie Smith

For many years women were defined as child-bearers, nurturers, housewives, beauty symbols, sexual objects, but never as intellectuals. Women were mostly seen as unfit creatures to give back common knowledge to the world because they were only presentable for show and display. Some still to this day, give into to that concept and genuinely believe that outer appearance is more valuable than ideas and aspirations. Where does this common conception come from? Well, young girls start to grow in many mental areas in their Early Development. That can range from morals, ethics, intellect, and judgment. If that is the case than what is it that makes them lose hope in their mind and gain hope in their facial beauty? When many young girls turn on the television at home, they see these young women with a truckload of makeup on and who probably have been Photo shopped from head to toe. However, in the eyes of many young girls they look like perfect, tall, gorgeous supermodels that are successful because of their physical appearance. 

What young girls should be watching at a young age rather than heads on sticks strutting down a runway, are Disney movies like Mulan and The Little Mermaid. In the Disney movie Mulan, a young girl's parents' dream for their daughter is nothing but to get married and to be contained as a typical "proper" Chinese girl. Mulan then sees how her disabled father is called on to help fight in the war at the time and she ends up leaving her life behind to take her father's place acting as his "son." She fought hard and saved China, not with her beauty and delicate feminism, but with her determination that a woman can fight as hard and be just as deserving to military acknowledgment as any man. She proved that work and bravery is a more powerful tool than the outer beauty of a female. In the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, we can see how constrained Ariel felt in the underground world. She wanted to be more than a creature trapped in a body with a tail. She was always curious about learning and being part of a world greater than her own. In her song Part of Your World, she sings "Bet'cha on land they understand. Bet they don't reprimand their daughters. Bright young woman, sick of swimmin. Ready to stand." She wanted to increase the common knowledge that mermaids had about the outside world. She simply wanted to know more, know what the humans know and get her questions answered. She even gave up her most beautiful quality- her voice. Her voice had the most memorizing sound to it but she was willing to put knowledge and ambition before beauty. Stories like the warrior Mulan and the inquisitive Ariel are the ones that should show examples to future women that true beauty is knowledge.