"The Patriarchal Cinematic Placebo/ Anesthetic" (2021)| A Film Video Essay

From Ellen and Count Orlok in Nosferatu (Murnau 1922), Elizabeth and the Monster in Frankenstein (Whale 1931) and Belle and the Disney animation Beast in Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale and Wise 1991). Despite the diversified genres from horror, sci-fi to romance and different social contexts throughout history from warfare trauma, scientific exploration to marriage relationships, the unchanged trope of 'Beauty and the Beast' maintains popularities in cinema storytelling with its similar settings. This video essay will examine the two characters' gender roles and their symbolisation within the different historical contexts and the ever-changing genres. Further, explore the meaning of this common trope and the role of cinema in adopting various genres to disseminate such gendered social values in the context of the patriarchal dominated society. Overall, it is worth considering that the patriarchal influence has permanently been entrenched in social gender values. At the same time, the films and the trope itself is an entertaining placebo that continuously perpetuates public ideology to comfort the gendered inequality repression. Lastly, this essay will not conclude to distort any gendered universal value but rather to build and reserve an expectation of different genres' future possibilities in utilising such stabilised trope.