Warning: language. A rant on the portrayal of Ben’s family.
You know what pisses me off about Descendants?
How Ben (and his entire family, really) are used as total (and in Beast and Belle’s case, entire out-of-character) plot devices.
I mean, we have Beast, who made all these questionable decisions about reviving the villains (for no reason) banishing them to the Isle of the Lost forever, then doing nothing to help their kids. Which is a pretty shitty decision, and makes NO SENSE for the guy who’s entire story revolved around learning not to be such a cruel and awful person. It’s like Disney just chose a random prince to be their plot device as to why the Isle exists, and didn’t care how OOC it was for Beast. And in Descendants 2, his only role was to support Mal and didn’t seem to really care about what was wrong with Ben until Ben made the announcement about the barrier.
We have Belle, who, though she seems kind enough, made some rather mean remarks about Audrey on Family Day (”fake smile” “kind of a kiss-up” AS IF THE REAL BELLE WOULD EVER SAY THESE THINGS?) then turn her back on Ben at Family Day (albeit reluctantly, but she still did so), all to show how his decisions had negative consequences. This is so completely out-of-character it’s not even funny. The real Belle, that we all know from Beauty and the Beast, would never have turned away from her son when he needed her help. (Nor would Beast, if he were in-character. Again, they’re plot devices who’s personalities are ruined solely for the ‘well someone’s gotta be the bad guy’ thing.) And in Descendants 2, again, her only role was to support Mal and stare at Ben in disappointment for like five minutes.
And Ben. Oh, Ben. Disney doesn’t treat him like he’s important to the story at all. He gets love-spelled (twice), treated like the damsel in distress, and Mal in Descendants 2 treats him like dirt. Ben gets shoved to the side in all the “MalXHarry” promotional crap, and even Mitchell Hope doesn’t get much cast coverage. Disney acts like Ben’s only important to the story because he made the decision to get the kids off the Isle and he had the coronation in Descendants. That’s it. Disney doesn’t seem to give a damn about how important Ben really was to the story. His only role in Descendants 2 was to be treated like shit by Mal and be the unintentional bad guy because he forgot to bring over more Isle kids.
Disney, stop making excuses and admit you wrote a shitty story and don’t actually give a damn about your own characters.
(You’re welcome to reblog this with commentary or debate, but please, keep it respectful. And sorry for the language. I had a lot to say.)
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