Beastly: Modern Take, Same Message

I'm sure by now you've all probably seen the trailer for the new movie, "Beastly."

(AKA the modernized retelling of Beauty and The Beast.)

Just so you know I'm all about a movie where a person must look past the outer shell of another human and get to know the individual from within. Really, I think it's certainly a message we should be teaching our youth, for sure. Absolutely one-hundred percent.

My only qualm is, once again, the person who must do the looking past the outer shell and seeing what's on the inside is a female. Why must it always be the lady? (And a beautiful lady, not just some schlub.)

This is the message being told and enforced by stories like Beauty & The Beast:

"Appearances don't matter. What counts is what's in your heart...Unless you're the girl."

Well, here was Belle's reaction to that:

Even Belle is in shock.

You see, because as we all know in the very popular Disney version of "Beauty & The Beast," Belle is a little different than the other women, but she is beautiful all the same. It's easy to see why The Beast would fall for her. But, for Belle, she must see past his "hideous" appearance.

Having a (beautiful) woman see past the perhaps not-so-attractive physical appearance of a man is echoed in so many ways in our culture.

Here are just a few examples on the television that immediately come to mind:

"King of Queens"

"Family Guy"

& "Modern Family"

I'm just disappointed, yet, not surprised the current-day take on "Beauty & The Beast," follows the same formula we see above.

I guess I just wish I could see a story where it's not a beautiful woman being asked to see past the physical appearance of another human.

Is that too much to ask?!

Why are the standards for women set so high? Why is it so important to make ladies strive to try be a Barbie Doll? (Even though it's physically impossible. Seriously. If today's Barbie Doll was to be a real human, she wouldn't be able to stand. She'd fall over.)

While, as long as a guy is funny, it doesn't matter if he's attractive.

C'mon! Why are we (an by "we" I mean, every person who's human, not just ladies) standing by and allowing this sort of double standard to occur?

It shouldn't just be up to ladies to take the time to learn and see who a person really is.