“Beauty and the Beast” (1991) is a Disney film loosely based on the French fairy tale of the same name written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756. It is a classic Monster Boyfriend story in the West. And a classic Disney princess film.
Disney had tried but failed to make the film before – in the 1930s, 1950s and 1980s, dying each time on the storyboard.
Our Story: Belle lives in a quiet French village. Her name means Beauty and she looks like a hyperfeminine Disney beauty – but she also reads books. That makes her Not Like Other Villagers and makes her dream of life beyond the village. Her dreams come true, kind of, when she finds herself well beyond the village – imprisoned in a castle in the middle of a dark woods by a werebuffalo, the Beast himself.
The castle is under a witch’s curse. That is why he looks like a beast instead of a prince. And why the servants have been turned into talking candlesticks, clocks, teapots and so on (added by Disney to make the story less gloomy).
To break the curse the Beast must love and be loved in return. And he must do it before the last petal falls from a magic rose.
The servants see their chance with Belle – but the two do not warm to each other till after he saves her from wolves and she cares for his wounds. He starts to act more princely, even dances with her in his empty ballroom (pictured at top). Better still, when he understands she is unhappy because she is his prisoner, he sets her free without any hope of ever seeing her again. (Beaumont’s Beast gave her only a week, to care for her sick father).
He loves her – but she does not love him.
Gaston, a jealous suitor and “the real monster” (another Disney addition), leads a band of marauding villagers to kill the Beast. Belle gets there too late.
But by crying over him as he lay dying – just before the last rose petal falls – she breaks the curse and he turns into a handsome prince.
And they lived happily ever after.
The moral of the story: You cannot judge a book by its cover. Or: a woman’s love can change a man for the better. Beaumont’s target demographic was destined for arranged marriages.
The big yellow dress that Belle wore during the dance scene is off by about a hundred years. The bright yellow colour alone places it after 1856 (when aniline dyes were invented). The shape too is more 1850s (crinoline dresses) than 1750s (pannier dresses).
In the 2017 live-action remake the castle looks way cooler and more realistic, but the love story itself is less believable. There is no chemistry between the romantic leads (Emma Watson and Dan Stevens). At least none that I could discern. That did not stop it from bringing in $1.264 billion (= 77 million crowns or 2,307 metric tons of silver).
In the 1756 story we find out about the curse only after Beauty falls in love with the Beast.
– Abagond, 2019.
See also:
- films
- Angela Lansbury: Beauty and the Beast – the main song
- Disney
- Disney princesses:
- monster boyfriend stories:
- The Birth of a Nation
- King Kong
- love stories with a lack of chemistry:
- billionaire
- crowns
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
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I’d like an arranged marriage to a wealthy older man with a heart problem!
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Metamorphosis – from man to beast from beast to man. There’s got to be a hitch in there somewhere.
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