Beauty And The Beast: Modern But Classic
A film analysis by Gillian Mullin
https://www.disneyplus.com/video/1eed1453-9e70-49ca-b022-f32c9880e540
(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771200/)
Beauty And The Beast, the popular fairy tale, was first published in 1740. However, it has since been reimagined and retold in many different forms by many different individuals. Maria Tatar tells us that almost every culture has their own version of the fairy tale. The story has been shared through many books, films, and even in the theater. In this analysis I will be comparing Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s written version to the 2017 Disney film.
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont published her take on Beauty And The Beast, also known as La Belle et La Bête in 1756. There are quite a few changes from the version we think of today and Beaumont’s. In this take there is a rich merchant with six children. Beauty is the youngest of the siblings and they are very cruel to her out of jealousy. However, we begin to recognize the story when she is taken hostage with a beast in exchange for her father.
Disney’s 2017 live action film of Beauty And The Beast was directed by Bill Condon. Like the fairy tale, the movie begins with the famous words ‘once upon a time’ and goes on to tell the story of a selfish prince turned into a beast by an old lady. The beast is given a rose and told that he must learn to love another, while also earning their love in return before the last petal falls in order to undo the curse. We are then transported into a village where we meet Belle, a young girl who lives with her poor father and has no mother. While the rest of the town seems to be content with life the way it is, we learn that Belle earns more.
Within the first few minutes of the film we are able to see some of the key elements of the fairy tale. Such as normalized magic with the old lady, transformation with the prince to a beast, and the beginning of the many tropes we will see. Tropes are themes we see across multiple fairy tales. The first recognizable tropes in Beauty And The Beast are the obvious ‘once upon a time’ beginning and the mother who has passed and therefore not present. Another trope we see pretty quickly in the film is the presence of mirrors. Gaston, a young man who is chasing after Belle, is seen talking to himself in the mirror just after 16 minutes into the film. These are all aspects of an original fairy tale showing how this film is a modern take on Beauty And The Beast but has kept the important classic elements.
(https://medium.com/@DrGJackBrown/nonverbal-communication-analysis-3835-beauty-and-the-beast-official-final-trailer-body-8fa6c0e57941)
However, it is important to note the major changes in the story that were made. For example, Gaston, who I just mentioned, is a new character in Disney’s version and not present in Beaumont’s story. So as assumed when he is killed by the Beast this is unique to the film. In Disney’s version we see Belle’s father become lost in the woods around 19 minutes in, however in Beaumont’s the father becomes lost in a snowstorm. Also in Beaumont’s version we learn of a treasure chest in which Belle’s father takes and later loses. However in the 2017 film there is no existence of a treasure chest. We also see the animated objects around the Beast’s home helping Belle through her imprisonment in the film, while in the original literature Belle is assisted by the magic book.
As the film continues, so do the many apparent tropes. We see a grand castle, where the Beast lives, which is present in many other fairy tales as well. We continue to see forms of normalized magic and similar to talking animals, talking objects. But one of the most important tropes is the concept of a girl in need. Like in many other fairy tales we know of, Belle appears to be in distress while in the castle. It is the common theme that women need a male to save them from their current situations.
(https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/beauty-and-the-beast-2017-review/)
While Condon’s film version has changes to the original it also includes the key fairy tale elements. The 2017 film is the perfect pairing of modern yet classic. The changes allow the movie to flow better, capturing our attention and keeping it throughout. We still see the very important tropes and characters of the original but with some added and some deleted content. We learn of the sacrifices Belle makes out of her love for her father and the importance of giving everyone a chance. Throughout the Beast’s cruelty and anger Belle still sees the chance within him. It teaches us the very important lesson to be kind to everyone because you never know what they are going through. We also learn the importance of not judging someone off of first impressions. However, most importantly in my opinion we see the story of a young girl not afraid to take chances and stand for her thoughts which is the most important lesson to young girls in society.
