The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Catholic Sexual Oppression The denial of basic human needs can only be repressed so far before they begin to manifest in malicious ways, specifically the celibacy among the Catholic clergy. It’s intriguing that there are historical and literary references on the issue of mandatory celibacy of the clergymen within the Catholic church. Isn’t it even more interesting that a 19th century novelist pontificated about the extreme scenario of Catholic celibacy in his book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and almost two centuries later, Disney adapts the same conundrum in children’s animated film and reaches many of the same conclusions? Consider this scenario: It’s movie night with your family. You sit your children down in front of the TV, fully loaded with popcorn and candy to snack on. You are without hesitation of your choice of movie, it’s Disney - a cartoon. How adorable, Disney is always adorable, right? Not too far into the movie, upon the screen is a high-ranking Church …show more content…
(Yearsley, 2010) In French, Notre Dame means ‘Our Lady,’ and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the ‘Mother Church,’ represents the Virgin Mary. (Yearsley, 2010) In both the film adaptation and the original novel, Esmerelda maintains her virginity and is sentenced to execution by Frollo as a direct result of her refusal to be with him. The differences are that in the Disney version Esmerelda is saved from her execution by Quasimoto (Trousdale & Wise, The Hunchback of Notre Dame), whereas in the novel, she hangs for her disobedience to the archdeacon. In both versions, she is seen wearing white during the execution scenes. Wearing a white dress is widely recognized as a symbol of purity within religious traditions, and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this remains true that Esmerelda maintains her sexual innocence even in her final