stubborn pride. Belle bargains for her father’s re-
lease from imprisonment in the enchanted castle in
exchange for her own captivity.
Disney’s portrayal of the castle’s inhabitants, in-
cluding Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), a talking candela-
bra; Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers), a chatting
British clock; Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), a warm
and friendly teapot; and her son, Chip (Bradley Mi-
chael Pierce), a cracked teacup, are charming inspi-
rations that show Disney at its finest.Beauty and the
Beastappealed to people of all ages, drawn to the
lively characters, rich imagery, and captivating mu-
sic that made the film an instant classic.
Impact Beauty and the Beastdrew large audiences,
earned numerous awards, created demand for keep-
sake merchandise and games, and was the first full-
length animated feature ever to be nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Picture (losing toThe Silence
of the Lambs). The film won two Academy Awards, for
Best Music, Original Score (Alan Menken), and Best
Music, Original Song (Menken and Howard Ash-
man). Lansbury sang the Oscar-winning song for the
ballroom dance scene. On April 18, 1994, the Palace
Theatre in New York City opened the Broadway pro-
duction of Disney’sBeauty and the Beast. It played
there until September 5, 1999, and then moved to
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. From 1995 to 1999, the
American Broadcasting Company (ABC) ran a chil-
dren’s series titledSing Me a Stor y with Belle.In 1997-
1998, Disney released two short children’s videos
with theBeauty and the Beastpremise. The romantic
Disney series continues to enchant audiences
around the world.
Further Reading
Beck, Jerry.The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago: Chi-
cago Review Press, 2005.
Finch, Christopher.The Art of Walt Disney: From
Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom.Rev. ed. New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004.
Frantz, Donald, and Sue Heinemann. Disney’s Beauty
and the Beast. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
Cynthia J. W. Svoboda
See also Academy Awards; CGI; Film in the United
States; Theater in the United States.
Beauty Myth, The
Identification International best-selling feminist
book
Author Naomi Wolf (1962- )
Date Published in 1991Wolf’s attack on advertising and the media in her first, con-
troversial book was used by feminists to motivate women to
unite and was castigated by critics as inaccurate, histori-
cally incorrect, and paranoid.Naomi Wolf graduated from Yale University in 1984
and received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford Uni-
versity. She wrote for such publications asThe New Re-
public,Glamour,Ms.,Esquire,The New York Times,The
Wall Street Journal, andThe Washington Postbut is per-
haps best known for her first book,The Beauty Myth:
How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, pub-
lished in 1991.
InThe Beauty Myth, Wolf castigated beauty adver-
tising, which emphasizes the need for every woman
to use products to ensure that she is a “beauty.” More
important, she pointed out that the quest for beauty
pits women against each other and that this culture
of divisiveness prevents them from uniting to fight
for their real needs: child-care programs, effective
antidiscrimination laws, parental leave, reproduc-
tive choice, fair compensation, and genuine penal-
ties against sexual violence. According to Wolf, these
changes can come not from men or the media but
from women recognizing and working for their
common needs.
In a review of the 1990’s, Wolf defined feminism as
“women’s ability to think about their subjugated role
in history, and then to do something about it.” She
said that the twenty-first century would see the End of
Inequality (her caps) only if women decide to change
it. As a group, women can lose their future, she
warned, because women have been trained to see
themselves as having no claim upon their history.
Writing inThe New York Times Magazineon May 16,
1999, Wolf noted many new landmarks for women
but warned that women were at a turning point as the
decade ended. The 1990’s made feminism main-
stream, she said, but she warned that at the beginning
of a new century it could either crest further or re-
cede as women once again fail to do what they must.Impact During the 1990’s, Wolf followed The
Beauty MythwithFire with Fire: The New Female Power96 Beauty Myth, The The Nineties in America