I have chosen to analyze a scene from Mickey Mouse Monopoly that begins with a several young girls watching Beauty and the Beast. They are all between the ages of 6 and 10. They show the tape being put into the VCR, a familiar sight to anyone born before the year 2000. Then they have Dr. Carolyn Newberger, a psychology professor at Harvard Medical School, discuss family violence and how it is a big part of her profession. She claims that when you look at Beauty and the Beast with the mindset that it is encouraging domestic violence you gain a new perspective. Then they show a clip of Beauty and the Beast where Belle is singing about how she is beginning to see a sweeter side in the Beast. Dr. Newberger explains how this movie is demonstrating to children that if you look past the violence and are sweet, there is a prince inside of every beast. She is basically making the point that it is subconsciously showing children that domestic violence can be solved if you stick with the violent person and be nice to them.
This viewpoint is chilling. The way the documentary set it up by simply showing the tape being put in the VCR set the stage for shock value because it hinted at how normal it was. They edited it in a way where the viewer did not realize how this normalcy was bad until Dr. Newberger said her viewpoint. They the camera shows the young girls watching, completely unphased by the Beast’s violence or the plot of the film.
As if this wasn’t alarming enough, the documentary asks two of the girls what they would say to Belle if she was their friend. Their responses were along the lines of them being happy for her but being sad because “she gets yelled at a lot” and to “keep on being nice and sweet like you are and that will probably change him…and in the movie it does.” Ending with the girls really drives Dr. Newberger’s point home to the viewer.
Although I had some issues with the editing styles in my full review, I believe this scene was done to perfection. If they did not set up the scene as they did, demonstrating how common seeing this violence is for children, the results would not be as shocking. Seeing their faces unphased only made an impact because the viewer had just heard Dr. Newberger’s words. After that, the questions to the young girls were even more shocking. They embodied innocence so much that they did not even realize what they were saying. This is raw and authentic which makes it so sad.
Overall, this scene is impactful due to the editing. The order at which the information was presented is key. Additionally, the shots they chose to film of the girls innocently talking and nonchalantly watching made all the difference. I highly recommend everyone to watch this scene, as well at the entire documentary, as it is quite interesting.
Unfortunately, there were no previous reviews of this scene. However, my full review has a comparison of other reviews! To see my review of Mickey Mouse Monopoly, check out my other blog post!
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