Beauty or the Beast?

*All pictures owned by Disney

      One of the most impactful movies I saw in the theaters growing up was Beauty and the Beast (the 1991 animated version.  I'll say up front I don't do live-action remakes, thank you very much!).  Watching that movie in theaters was an amazing, eye-opening experience...

     Beauty and the Beast made its US premier on November 22, 1991.  Back then, movies stayed in theaters a lot longer than they do today.  Nowadays, it seems like movies hit theaters, stay in about a month (if even that), then immediately come out on DVD and are available from streaming services.  There's no anticipation period.  I recall Beauty and the Beast being in the theater for the better part of a year. I ended up seeing it three times during its original run, over a period of seven months (that was the first time I had ever repeatedly seen a movie during its time in the theater).  After it left theaters, it was unattainable for several months while they prepared the VHS edition, which came out months later.  By this time, the waiting had driven up the price, and the movie cost much more than a DVD or streamed movie would cost today.  I think I recall the video costing $24.99 at our local Kmart and Price Club (that was what Costco used to be called) when the VHS hit stores at the end of 1992 (and that wasn't with special editions features or anything like that--VHS tapes didn't usually have all that.  That was just the movie on a video tape).  

     I was a pre-teen in 1991.  My dad took my siblings and me to see it a few days before Christmas 1991.  Our mom wanted us out of the house so she could get things ready for Christmas company.  Dad took us to see it, expecting it to entertain us.  He ended up enjoying it a lot more than he expected, and ended up taking my mom on a date to see it that night!  She, too, loved it!  The movie was a major box office success!  

     The titular song, Beauty and the Beast (sung in the movie by Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts, and at the end credits by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson), was a big hit, and could be heard everywhere during that time.  I remember our class having a pizza party at Round Table Pizza, and someone there kept playing that song on the juke box.  No one got sick of it.  A friend of mine said she wanted that song in her wedding (I thought it was a bad idea, because it would mean her future husband was a beast!).  Elsa singing Let it Go! had nothing on this one!

     Okay, I've set the culture stage of this movie's timeline.  Now, let's talk about Beauty and the Beast...

     The film opens with a stained-glass tableaux, telling the story of a selfish prince who cruelly refused to welcome a beggar woman into his home.  She turned out to be an enchantress.  As a punishment for his selfishness, she cast a spell on the prince and his whole household.  He was transformed into a beast, and his servants were transformed into common household objects with anthropomorphic qualities.  She gave the Beast an enchanted rose that would bloom until he turned 21 years old.  If, in that time, he could find true love, the spell would be broken, but if not, he would remain a beast forever.  

     Okay, I already have an issue with this.  Yes, the Prince was selfish.  Shame on the Prince.  I get it.  But this woman had no claim to his home or hospitality.  He refused her.  As a homeowner, that was his right.  I had a beggar ask me for money yesterday in a parking lot, and I didn't have any cash on me and had to say no.  Does that mean I deserve to have a curse placed on me?  The prince had a wrong attitude, but that's no reason to cast a spell on him!  Boundary problem, enchantress!  Besides that, her issue was with him, not his innocent bystander servants!  What had they ever done to her?  How is this fair to them?  They're probably victims of the prince's selfishness too.  The film told this from the position that the enchantress was right to do this to them.  That teaches revenge and hostility.  Good message for the kids, huh?  

     Another issue is this.  Later on, during the song Be Our Guest, the character Lumiere reveals that they had been cursed for ten years by that point.  We know the final petal falls at the end of the movie, revealing that the beast is 21 years old.  That means he was only eleven years old at the beginning!  Why did this enchantress feel the need to cast a spell on an eleven-year-old?  Where were his parents?  Maybe they were out and had told him not to invite strangers in!  Of course, time could have frozen in the castle, which would make him an adult to begin with.  We don't really know.  It's kind of troubling.  Parents, just tell your kids not to answer the door at all if you're not home!  

     Here is my final question before moving on.  If he's a prince, why don't the people in his kingdom even know about him?  What is he the prince of?  We know (also from Be Our Guest) that this story takes place in France.  Before the French Revolution of the 1790s, there were kings and royalty.  Still, people knew who their rulers were!  Something's fishy...

     Also disconcerting: This character is either referred to as "The Prince," or "Beast" throughout this movie.  He doesn't have a name?  Hmm...

     Okay, the story moves on, and we meet Belle.  When I saw this movie in 1991, I admired Belle.  She was smart and loved books.  She felt unfulfilled in her small-town life and longed for more.  She didn't have any kindred spirits in her community.  It's easy to see why.  First of all, she walks through the town reading a book, oblivious to the world, while everyone else sings about her.  

      I tried walking while reading a book after seeing this movie, and bumped into my neighbor's slug bug!  I got some cuts on my arm, but the car was okay, thankfully.  Another bad message, telling kids they can read and walk at the same time.  Don't try this at home, kids!

     Later in the story, we discover that these townsfolk are as mindless as they seem in this first scene.  They follow popular opinion.  We'll get to that.  One such townsperson is the conceited Gaston.  Gaston is clearly viewed as the guy ever girl wants, and every guy wants to be, especially his codependent sidekick LeFou.  Gaston could have any single girl he wants (and there are some who want him, such as these triplets at the tavern who look just like Belle with blonde hair), but he wants Belle, the only woman who couldn't care less about him.  It's human nature, I suppose...and a plot device.

   Gaston tries to pursue Belle, but she ignores him.  Gaston is portrayed as just a tad smarter than the townsfolk (not hard to do), but not as smart as Belle.  When LeFou makes fun of Belle's father, Gaston laughs too, but at Belle's rebuke, he turns on LeFou and defends Belle's father, but then joins in the taunting again.  Not a very bright guy!  He's about on par with a ten-year-old bully on the playground.  Anyway...Belle goes home, and we meet her father, Maurice.  Maurice is an inventor, slightly eccentric, but good.  He is planning to take his chopping invention to the fair.  He leaves the next day.  He gets terribly lost, and ends up at the Beast's castle, where he is initially greeted with hospitality by Lumiere (a candelabra) and Cogsworth, a clock.  When the Beast comes on the scene, it doesn't end so well for Maurice.  He is taken captive when all he was doing was trying to ask for directions.  I guess this is a good lesson: be careful who you ask for directions from!  When the Beast comes to him angrily, he demands, "What are you staring at?"  "N-n-nothing," Maurice stammers pathetically.  "So," the Beast continues.  "You've come to stare at the Beast, have you?"  And he takes him and locks him up.  Sheesh!  No one comes to someone's house to stare at him.  I think he's projecting a little, don't you?  

     Back at home, Belle doesn't know any of this.  She gets an unexpected visit from Gaston, who comes over to propose to her.  He has a whole wedding set up for them outside, with all the townsfolk in attendance.  What kind of dummy?  She has shown no interest in him, yet he's convinced she'll accept his proposal and just come outside and marry him?  Dumb, dumb, dumb, Gaston!  

     His proposal is pretty insulting.  He suggests Belle marry him so she can cook his meals and massage his feet.  Belle is able to get rid of him.  When LeFou asks Gaston how it went, he shouts, "I'll have Belle for my wife!  Make no mistake about that!"  I'd say he's a little threatened.  

     Once everyone leaves, Belle goes outside and sings a song about wanting to find adventure far away.

     To a point, I get it.  Gaston is a creep, the townspeople are idiots.  She has some longings inside that aren't being fulfilled.  But she's also kind of snooty if you think about it.  She doesn't try to move anywhere else.  She doesn't try to reach out to help better someone else's life.  She just reads her books and sings.  She has a lot of good things to say, but she doesn't say them.  She just looks down on everyone in town.  Too bad she lived before Martin Luther King, Jr.  Then she would know that "A leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus."  She needed to try to make an impact, and bloom where she was planted a little more (of course not giving in to Gaston or anything that drastic!).  

     Anyway, Belle's song is interrupted by her father's horse coming back without him.  Belle knows this means trouble.  Without any difficulty, she finds the castle.  Like everyone else in this story, she has boundary problems and walks right in.  The enchanted objects see her and are thrilled.  They "know" she is the one who will break the spell.  Can you blame them?  They've been stuck as objects for a decade!  We meet the teapot, Mrs. Potts (and when I originally saw this in 1991, I had a neighbor named Mrs. Potts, which was fun), and her son Chip, a teacup.  Since they've been cursed for ten years, and Chip is clearly a very young child, it leads us to assume that Chip was born as a teacup and was never human.  You're not supposed to think about it, I guess.  

     Belle discovers her father locked up, and meets the Beast, who tells her that her father is his prisoner now.  Belle then makes the most unselfish move in this whole movie.  In fact, when I saw this in 1991, I even drew the biblical parallel of sacrifice.  She says, "Take me instead."  At first, the Beast scoffs at her offer, but then you can see the wheels in his head turning.  He's thinking, "Hmmm...maybe...."  He releases Maurice and takes Belle as his captive (he captured her body before he captured her heart, since that's how it was done in 18th century France, right?).  You can see that the Beast has no idea how to treat women, and he fumbles awkwardly, like any high school boy with a crush on a girl.  He tells her that she can go anywhere in the castle except the mysterious West Wing.  He doesn't explain further, or even tell her where it is (so it is possible Belle could accidentally stumble upon it without realizing). When she asks him what it is, he shouts, "It's forbidden!"  That explains a lot.  Belle has gone from one controlling man (Gaston) to another (the Beast), and isn't having it.  The Beast has a temper tantrum when Belle refuses to come to dinner, and insists that Belle be starved to death if she won't eat with him.  Way to win her heart, Beast!  Way to get the spell broken! 

     Hunger gets the better of Belle, and she leaves her room in search of food.  The enchanted objects feed her, in spite of the Beast's order.  This is where they do their epic number Be Our Guest!

     The song is probably the most fun, upbeat and engaging of the movie.  However, Belle doesn't eat a bite, just enjoys the show.  You're not supposed to think about it, but she doesn't eat!  When the song ends, Belle wants the grand tour of the castle, and manipulates a hesitant Cogsworth to take her.  Don't be fooled.  Belle is no innocent victim in this.  She takes the first opportunity to ditch Cogsworth and Lumiere and go to the forbidden West Wing.  She discovers the Beast's private lounge, with the slashed picture of himself as a prince, and the rose.  Belle doesn't just observe.  She touches these things, even lifting the glass over off the rose and fingering it.  She could have caused serious disaster to the Beast's future.  Not that she intentionally knows this, but she has no business being there, touching his personal property.  

     The Beast shows up just then, catches her tampering with his stuff, and has a fit.  He rages and yells at her.  She seems shocked by this.  A beast who captures people and already shouted at me is shouting at me again?  Huh?  She's already seen this side of him, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.  Secondly, though, she has overstepped her bounds.  Yet Belle is completely affronted by this.  She takes off and runs away.  I can't blame her for running away, but think of this:  If it's that easy to get away, why didn't she do that earlier in the evening?  Was finding the West Wing that much more important than getting away to safety?  The Beast apparently has given her some level of freedom.  Why didn't she run off when she was unsupervised?  She gave her word when she exchanged herself for her father, but it wasn't a fair deal.  She would have been 100% justified in breaking that promise at any moment, and she apparently realizes that now, and takes off.

     Unfortunately, Belle doesn't fare very well out in the snow, and is attacked by wolves.  She is saved by the Beast, who is in turn attacked and almost dies.  The plot thickens a little.  Now, Belle owes him a little.  Somehow, (the movie doesn't show how), Belle gets him onto her horse and gets him back to the castle.  The next scene shows Belle treating his wounds, and they get into this argument illustrating cause and effect, which goes something like this: 

Beast (shouting, enraged): "That hurts!"

Belle (huffy): "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much!"  I don't think holding still would make it less sore, but it would help her get him treated faster.  Anyway...

Beast (with a smug expression): "If you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened!"

Belle (outraged): "If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!"  

Beast (looking lost for a moment before regaining himself): "You shouldn't have been in the West Wing." A very valid point.  Score one for Beast

Belle: "Well you should learn to control your temper."  Another valid point, but not a logical response to his assertion, because it is true that she shouldn't have been in the West Wing, regardless of what his temper problem was.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  Theoretically, they both owe each other an apology here, but neither does it.  

Beast has no answer for this.  Belle continues treating him, but humbles herself enough to thank him for saving her life.  From then on, things start to improve between them.  They develop a friendship.  The enchanted objects grow hopeful.  Beast gives Belle the castle library for her own.  They have a cute number (Something There), while they feed birds in the snow.  Their growing relationship is evident.  

     The timeframe isn't made very clear, but not long after this, Beast and Belle had a special romantic night.  This is the highlight of the movie.  Beast acts like the stereotypical young man, nervous for his first date with a woman he believes will be "the one."  It's actually kind of cute.  As they dance together, Cogsworth and Lumiere cheer him on.  They look like his fraternity brothers or something!

     After this romantic dance, Beast takes Belle out to the balcony and asks her if she's happy with him, and he says, "Yes."  Belle has learned to be happy while a captive.  Is that dysfunctional or what?  I mean, we've seen the Beast's heart soften, and seen their relationship develop, but she is still his captive.  We're starting to see Stockholm Syndrome.  As it currently stands, they can never have a healthy relationship.  

     Beast gives her the opportunity to look into his magic mirror to see her father, and it is revealed that Maurice is in trouble, lost in the snow.  Beast knows he has to let Belle go to him.  He releases her, and she thanks him.  They part in a loving and bittersweet goodbye, and Beast gives Belle the magic mirror to keep.  Beast knows he is possibly giving up his chance to be freed from the spell. This is a true act of love from his heart.  When the enchanted objects ask how he could do this, he says, "Because I love her."  That is the most powerful moment in the movie.  He has realized that true love gives, and isn't forced.  

     Belle gets to her father, and gets him home.  It looks like everything will be okay, but the townspeople (led by Gaston) gang up on him to put him in an asylum.  Earlier, he had told them about the Beast who had Belle, and they didn't believe him.  Gaston tells Belle that he'll clear this all up with her father if she'll marry him.  Belle says "Never!" Score one for Belle!  Anyway, Gaston has a big fit about this and insists that Maurice be thrown in the asylum.  Belle then has a clever idea.  She shows everyone the Beast in the magic mirror.  Everyone, especially Gaston, look shocked that the Beast is real.  These people didn't believe the Beast was real seconds ago.  Now, Gaston realizes that Belle cares about the Beast, and is threatened by this.  He then tells everyone how dangerous the Beast is and how he must be stopped, even with Belle insisting this isn't the case.  The townspeople prove themselves true idiots, when they didn't believe the Beast was real, then saw he was real, but believed Gaston over Belle, when it was clear Gaston knew nothing about it and Belle did.  They lock up Maurice and Belle in the cellar and go off to the castle to kill the Beast, singing a foolish song to this end.  The men even sing, "We're counting on Gaston to lead the way!"  If they're counting on Gaston, they've proved themselves total losers who deserve what they have coming!  Unlike Maurice earlier, they find the castle with no problem, never missing a beat in their little ditty about killing the Beast. 

     Belle and Maurice are rescued from the cellar by Chip the teacup, who stowed away in Belle's pack.  He uses Maurice's chopping invention, and tells them, "You guys gotta try this thing!"  Everyone in the theater chuckled at that line all three times I saw it!

     At the castle, the enchanted objects put up a good fight, and best the townsmen.  Only Gaston remains, and he faces the Beast down.  Beast is very depressed by this time, and doesn't put up a fight at first, until Belle appears, giving him strength to fight back.  Beast has a chance to throw Gaston over the edge of the balcony.  He has Gaston by the throat, but his heart softens, and he puts Gaston back down and said, "Get out!"  He then turns to Belle, and Gaston takes this opportunity to stab him.  The Beast's arms flail, inadvertently knocking Gaston to his death.  The Beast collapses.  He is clearly dying.  Belle says, "This is all my fault!"  She didn't take responsibility for the whole West Wing incident, but is now taking blame that isn't hers.  Belle isn't a healthy person, folks.  

     Belle has the chance to tell Beast she loves him, just as he dies and the last rose petal falls.  The enchanted objects cry, believing all is lost.  But it isn't.  This is Disney, folks!  

     The Beast is transformed back into a prince, very much alive.  Belle watches all of this, wide-eyed.  Completely restored, he turns to her and says, "Belle, it's me!"  She looks him in the eye, and says, "It is you!"  All the enchanted objects turn back into humans.  The final scene shows Belle and the Prince dancing and everyone around watching.  And I guess they all lived happily ever after.  

      In case you weren't tracking, the morals of this story are: 1) If an eleven-year-old won't let a stranger come in when his parents aren't home, it's okay for that stranger to cast a spell on him.  2) Reading while walking is perfectly acceptable, although people might sing about you.  3) Be careful asking people for directions!  4) Being snooty toward ignorant townspeople is a much better idea than educating them.  5)  It's okay to walk into castles and other homes without knocking or being invited.  6)  If you lock someone up, they'll fall in love with you eventually.  7) If someone else tries to murder a person you know, it's all your fault.  9)  You can turn into a beast for ten years, isolate in your castle, throw temper-tantrums, and then still get married earlier in life than the average American nowadays.  8) Big takeaway: You can break the spell!

     All silliness aside, the good message here is that beauty is within.  Sometimes you have to look closer and get to know people for who they really are.  Love is developed over time.  Belle's willingness to sacrifice herself for her father is an example of Christlike love, as was Beast's willingness to let her go.  These are some good points.  

     The unhealthy messages are kind of mirrored in the joking responses I gave above.  There is a serious lack of boundaries in the major characters in this story, both the "good" characters and the "bad" ones.  Belle's relationship with Beast isn't healthy, because she is his prisoner, and he is using her toward his own end of breaking the spell.  However, his letting her go resolves that. This movie teaches codependency, that we can "break the spell" in other people's lives.  The truth is, we can help them, but we aren't responsible for them on that level.  We can't heal them.  We can't meet emotional needs.  I know people who stay in abusive relationships because they believe they can change the other person.  They can't.  That person needs to make their own choice to change, with God's help.  He's the real healer.

     So that's Beauty and the Beast!  Come next time!