Beauty Beyond the Beast
I am sitting in a Starbucks on the east side of Tucson, a conservative corner in a liberal city in a red state. Across the room sit two older gentlemen, one Caucasian, the other of African-American descent, discussing conservative politics, liberal whining, and the politically incorrect humor of Don Rickles. Seated adjacent to me is a young white man reading a copy of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan: The Impact of Highly Improbable Fragility, described by Amazon as “a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness, Antifragile, and The Bed of Procrustes.”
And I sit, a gay first generation half-Filipino/ half-German man, earbuds in place, listening to the soundtrack to the 1991 Academy Award-winning Disney Animated Feature that tells the tale of a young outcast yearning to break free from expectations who learns to find acceptance of herself and that of another outcast. Learning the valuable lessons that appearances can be deceiving and that love can bloom in the most unexpected places, with the partnership of those you may not assume capable.
There is a certain irony to my setting, an understated balance of worlds, fictional and real. This country is currently in a state of this delicate balance, with accusations of “Fake News”, reanimated segregation and isolation, all very reminiscent of a provincial dark-age, as represented in this Disney-adapted fairy tale. In the coming weeks, we will see yet another representation of this familiarity on the big screen, in the form of the latest live-action remake from the House of Mouse. Of course, I speak of Beauty and the Beast, the Emma Watson vehicle that to shock and surprise to people the world over, has recently revealed the announcement of the inclusion of a gay character, in its bumbling, comic-relief, sidekick-for-life Lefou.
To some, this is a long overdue representation that has been yearned for from many of the Disney-obsessed fandom. To others, as I have been reminded today, this opens up a door of what some are labeling as liberal propaganda being forced onto children. This comes off the news that a drive-in theater in Alabama has refused to screen the movie based on this new inclusion of a gay character, citing the usual rhetoric of Jesus’ acceptance and rights to believe as they feel. (Original Article Here) This begs the question of whether it is more forceful to present a different, some would deem controversial, view or denying others the option to decide for themselves by not even presenting it in the first place. Statements I have heard today alone, summarized of course, include:
Personally I have no issue with gay or lesbian or whatever they so choose. But there is no reason to mess with children's stories. They want a movie to honor the LGBT hen create an entirely new movie to do so.
Reading a statement like this, I am reminded of another movie recently released in theaters to huge box-office and critical acclaim, Jordan Peele’s racially charged, social-commentary horror film Get Out. With his intelligent and creative thriller, Peele touches on the subject of racism and bigotry in a seldom talked about, although very often experienced, passive-aggressive form of bigotry. This is the type of subtle prejudice where someone hides behind a surface-level, socially acceptable form of xenophobia.
“I have gay friends, so I cannot be homophobic, even though I do not feel they have the right to marriage.”
“I believe the positive stereotypes of black men, so I cannot be racist for believing the negative stereotypes.”
“I believe you are strong for a woman, so I cannot be sexist, even though my immediate assumption would be to think of you as weak.”