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Catching up with Beauty and the Beast
Nov. 1st, 2013 11:56 amHmm.
The second season is not at all off to a good start.
So first off, the fact that Vincent comes back with amnesia is straight out of Romantic Clichés 101. Because being "in love" is apparently not as exciting as "falling in love," therefore they play the old amnesia card to get to write about Vincent and Cat falling in love all over again. Except it's just so transparently done for romantic drama that it's not even funny.
Perhaps even more worrying is that this "second time around" plot is becoming straight-up problematic.
Beauty and the Beast stories can be really beautiful when done well, but they also have the potential to be really problematic. Even in their most benign forms, they often have consent issues. BATB 2012 is veering into outright abusive relationship territory.
First off, Cat literally puts her entire life on hold to search for Vincent for 3 months. She doesn't really show up at work (uh, generally not okay in real life, guys), her sister can't even get a hold of her...basically, her entire life revolves around finding Vincent. It's one thing to love someone a lot; it's another thing to be destructively obsessed with your romantic partner. Tess even points out that her obsession with Vincent is kind of ruining her life.
Even worse is the fact that Vincent kidnaps her and actually physically hurts her to the point of bruising. This isn't romantic anymore; it's bad news. While she makes it clear that what he did was not okay...it's still a pretty big elephant in the room. I mean, this kind of stuff happens in some abusive relationships, too. Guy hurts lady, promises not to do it again, lady forgives him. It happens again. And again.
Ignoring consent is so not okay.
Physical harm to your love interest is so not okay. It doesn't matter if "he didn't mean it" or she forgives him after he apologizes. Any time you're dealing with anything even remotely resembling an abuse narrative, you have to be REALLY careful, and BATB doesn't do that.
And I'm sorry, but Cat's obsession with Vincent and her constant assertion that he'd never hurt her (up until he does) really devalues her as a character. She no longer has that much of a life outside of him, and that's kind of screwed up.
The second season is not at all off to a good start.
So first off, the fact that Vincent comes back with amnesia is straight out of Romantic Clichés 101. Because being "in love" is apparently not as exciting as "falling in love," therefore they play the old amnesia card to get to write about Vincent and Cat falling in love all over again. Except it's just so transparently done for romantic drama that it's not even funny.
Perhaps even more worrying is that this "second time around" plot is becoming straight-up problematic.
Beauty and the Beast stories can be really beautiful when done well, but they also have the potential to be really problematic. Even in their most benign forms, they often have consent issues. BATB 2012 is veering into outright abusive relationship territory.
First off, Cat literally puts her entire life on hold to search for Vincent for 3 months. She doesn't really show up at work (uh, generally not okay in real life, guys), her sister can't even get a hold of her...basically, her entire life revolves around finding Vincent. It's one thing to love someone a lot; it's another thing to be destructively obsessed with your romantic partner. Tess even points out that her obsession with Vincent is kind of ruining her life.
Even worse is the fact that Vincent kidnaps her and actually physically hurts her to the point of bruising. This isn't romantic anymore; it's bad news. While she makes it clear that what he did was not okay...it's still a pretty big elephant in the room. I mean, this kind of stuff happens in some abusive relationships, too. Guy hurts lady, promises not to do it again, lady forgives him. It happens again. And again.
Ignoring consent is so not okay.
Physical harm to your love interest is so not okay. It doesn't matter if "he didn't mean it" or she forgives him after he apologizes. Any time you're dealing with anything even remotely resembling an abuse narrative, you have to be REALLY careful, and BATB doesn't do that.
And I'm sorry, but Cat's obsession with Vincent and her constant assertion that he'd never hurt her (up until he does) really devalues her as a character. She no longer has that much of a life outside of him, and that's kind of screwed up.
