The
Short:
Disney’s
Beauty and the Beast is a masterwork of animation and
cinema, but it’s not without its flaws. In my opinion, Belle isn’t as well
developed a Disney “Princess” as previously thought. The Beast is much crueler
than given credit for and seems detached and uninvolved in the romance of the
film throughout. Gaston, although a villain with a specific goal, unlike most,
is still a weakly motivated character. The side characters are better handled
than those in other Disney animated films of the time. And most importantly,
the moral of the film isn’t as wrote, but is instead strong in an entirely
different sense. For an in-depth analysis of these points and others, continue
to read. What I have to say might inspire you to think of this animated classic
in a unique light.
The
Long:
For those who have yet to be introduced
to this animated classic - which celebrated its 20th anniversary in
2011 – Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
is an adaptation of the French fairytale in which a cursed Prince imprisons a
fair maiden who, through the power of her love, is able to lift his curse. Yet,
despite this seemingly simple premise, Disney’s multi-layered adaptation of the
tale is anything but. Perhaps this is the reason why the film has become the
definitive version of the story and perhaps this is also the reason why it is
held up on a pedestal as an achievement in both animation and storytelling.
Even so, it is my misfortune to say that despite the praise Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has
received, I, personally, am not a fan of the film. For anyone who has yet to
see it, I insist on viewing it before continuing due to spoilers and references
which may not be understood without prior knowledge of the film. I will begin
by addressing each main character and my respective criticisms of their actions
before continuing onto the moral of the story itself.
First and foremost I will discuss the
Beauty of Beauty and the Beast – Belle. Introduced through the opening musical
number of the film, Belle is an adventurous woman whose love for books stems
from her aspirations to explore the world around her. This trait distinguishes
her from other Disney “Princesses” before and after, but also presents a major
flaw in her development as a character. It is firmly established that she
prizes adventure over love and yet in the end she chooses love. This would be
admissible if it wasn’t for the fact that the Beast demeans this trait by
imprisoning her in his castle. Since he does not offer what her heart truly
desires, it seems as though she is denying her distinguishing trait by valuing
love over the adventure she used to crave. This returns her to being a cliché
Disney “Princess”.
Once imprisoned, Belle does nothing, but
defy and betray the Beast by refusing to come to dinner and venturing into the
West wing of the castle when she was expressly forbidden to do so. Directly
after the latter, she flees which terminates their initial agreement, and is
attacked by wolves. Yet, the Beast rescues her anyway. It stands to reason that
the Beast, who refused an elderly woman shelter – hence his current predicament
– and planned on leaving Belle’s father, Maurice, to die of exposure in the
tower, would need a suitable reason to value the life of another human being. Due
to the fact that Belle has done nothing but defy his wishes, why would he risk
his life to save hers? It can be argued that the Beast was implored by Belle’s
sacrifice for her father. It can also be claimed that by refusing his dinner
invitation, Belle was reacting realistically to her situation and by exploring
the West wing she is further establishing her character as curious, but in
order to produce the Beast’s sympathy it’s important that Belle demonstrates a
trait focused toward him that the Beast would find redeemable enough to risk
his life for, which she has not.
Completing the equation is the Beast.
First of all, when Maurice enters the castle he is immediately imprisoned. In
the original fairytale, not only did his character stay the night, but he also
stole a rose from the Beast’s garden. In the film however, he merely takes of
his hospitality, which can be argued as a counter-point – his inability to be
hospitable leading to his downfall - but even so, the Beast’s reasoning is
weak. It is then that Belle appears at the castle and sacrifices her freedom
for her father’s, but why this is necessary is never fully explained. The Beast has lived in isolation for years and
in that time has refused all human contact due to his appearance, so why would
he be interested in keeping her captive, especially since Maurice did little to
nothing to deserve his imprisonment in the first place? This entire ordeal also
calls into question why the Beast deserves this chance at redemption when all
he’s ever done is wallow in self-pity and live in the hope that he will be
given the opportunity to break his curse. Having done nothing proactive to
achieve his happy ending as of yet, he and Belle’s meeting is very coincidental
and not character driven, which is a detriment to the otherwise character
centered story.
In fact, his cruelty is all we’ve
experienced from him thus far. No redeemable qualities, besides allowing Belle
her own room and sympathizing with the situation he’s forced her into - his
reasoning for neither ever being specified – have been revealed and yet he
worries that she will never see him as anything more than a monster. Neither
Belle nor the audience can see beyond face value because that is all he has
made himself out to be at this point – a monster - so his concern about this is
unfounded and premature.
From the beginning of the film, the rose
is used as a ticking clock in order to give the story a sense of urgency.
Borrowed from the original fairytale, but given a far more significant role in
this version, this plot device attempts to create dramatic tension.
Unfortunately, it also poses a problem by creating a deadline. Due to the fact
that the Beast must find someone to love and who loves him in return before the
last petal falls or he and his castle will be cursed for all eternity, at times
he and Belle’s romance can seem contrived. Constantly concerned with this fact,
the Beast’s servants do everything in their power to bring the two together
with only momentary concerns as to how they might be rushing the relationship -
the Beast allowing them to take control. It stands to reason that if he truly
loved her, this deadline would be inconsequential throughout and the Beast
would take control of their romance from his servants and also take into
account Belle’s opinion on the pace of their relationship. Although it can be
argued that they are still in the process of falling in love at this point and
that he’s not intending for his advances to be seen in this light, nevertheless
this deadline still feels as if the Beast is forcing Belle into the relationship
at his own discretion, which is rude and inconsiderate – just what Belle states
that she detests about Gaston.
This lack of involvement in the romance
he is supposed to be helping build is another of the Beast’s less than
respectable traits. He is more than happy to allow his servants to help him
learn about Belle as a person – most importantly her love for books - as well
as plan their night of romance. This hands off approach to their relationship
further cements the fact that he’s done nothing to deserve his happy ending
thus far. In all actuality, only once he allows her to leave the castle in
order to find and nurse her father back to health despite his own selfish needs,
does he truly do anything to deserve her love and his happy ending.
In this same vein, the song Something There claims that Belle and
the Beast are finding traits in each other that they didn’t see before and yet
the film never specifies what these traits are. Even Chip, the son of Miss
Potts, one of the servants, asks what they’ve found in each other – a useful
question - and it’s played off as a joke without an explanation. It can be
assumed that the simple fact that the Beast shows genuine interest in Belle and
is willing to change his ways for her, unlike Gaston, is enough of an answer,
but still, what is the Beast’s defining redeemable quality? The only action of
this sort that he has taken at the point in the story when this becomes an
issue is saving her from the wolves - his reason for doing so also being
unfounded as I stated above – but that’s not a trait in and of itself. What
does the audience see in Belle and the Beast’s relationship that makes their
romance tangible?
Gaston is another important character to
take note of. His motivation as the villain of the film is to demand Belle’s
hand in marriage, but when he is humiliated by her refusal he concocts a more
despicable tactic to “win” her love. Once this plan – to have her father
illegitimately committed – backfires and Belle reveals the Beast to him and the
townspeople, Gaston goes onto lead the mob to pillage the castle under the
presumption that he can still accomplish his goal. It can be disputed that due
to her obvious feelings for the Beast, Gaston is attempting to spite her, but
he still legitimately believes that once the Beast is out of the way, Belle
will be his. So, how does destroying something dear to her help him achieve her
love? This can be passed off as an oversight by Gaston as a character – his
desire for Belle so strong that he will go to unrealistic lengths to achieve
her - but it’s still an oversight nonetheless.
Subsequently, Gaston enters combat with
the Beast which serves as the climax of the story. Unfortunately, this sequence
ultimately fails at creating dramatic tension. During the song, Gaston, the audience is told that he is
an expert marksman and yet, throughout the entirety of the film we are never
given any indication as to whether this is true. Also, granted his less than
reputable character, how can we believe that how the village portrays him is
anywhere close to realistic? With most of his actions in the film being
classified as buffoonish at best, why are we supposed to be worried about the
Beast’s safety when we also know for a fact that Belle is on her way back to
the castle to give the Beast a reason to fight against Gaston?
Gaston’s persistence in his pursuance of
Belle is also questionable in the film as a whole. Since Belle and the Beast’s
meeting is very coincidental – as explained above – the movie seems to be
indirectly sending the message that hope and fate are preferred to persistence
and diligence. It can be debated that the way in which Gaston pursues Belle is
wrongful and villainous, which is true, but because the happy ending is
achieved in part by Belle and the Beast’s chance meeting, the film unknowingly sends
the previously stated message to its audience which could potentially influence
its target demographic poorly.
However, I believe that the side
characters are an aspect of the film that is handled exceedingly well unlike
other Disney films of the time - such as the gargoyles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even though the servants assume the
responsibility of moving the plot along when this should be handled by other
characters – namely the Beast as I explained above – they are still integral to
the story and even have their own sub-plot. Due to the Beast’s secluded lifestyle,
they have begun to think of themselves as useless and as a result long to
return to their human forms in order to feel valuable again. Yet, as the plot
develops they find that they are useful, human or not. This realization comes,
albeit indirectly, when they are able to fend off the mob during the invasion
of the castle. Even so, this emotional journey is only insinuated and never
openly stated, rendering this powerful plot point unresolved. And yet, with the
inclusion of the musical number, Human
Again – a sequence cut from the original theatrical release, but restored
for the Special Edition DVD of the film – this plot point is made to feel much
more resolute as the servants use their aspirations of returning to their human
selves as motivation to return the castle to its former splendor – as much as
is possible due to the curse. This song gives the audience another example of
just how useful they are even in their current state – unlike when The Morning Report, another cut
sequence, was returned to the Special Edition DVD of The Lion King. Albeit harmless, it still managed to add nothing of merit
to the plot or characters.
And now I will access my greatest
critique of the film – the moral. As stated in the opening sequence, the old
woman tells the Beast not to be deceived by appearances and that beauty is
found from within. Now, while I don’t plan to criticize the moral itself, I do
intend to criticize how it is used within the context of the film – mainly
because it isn’t. If the moral the Beast must learn is to look past the
appearances of others then Belle’s beauty does very little to promote this
lesson. It can be argued that in a round-a-bout way, the Beast is supposed to
learn how it feels to be judged by his appearance, but his prejudice was
against others, so how does being turned into a beast, himself, accomplish the
goal of helping him love others besides himself? This point can also be debated
because it is said that you must learn to love yourself before you can love
another, but then again, the Beast was already selfish and self-centered, so
how would forcing him to focus more on himself accomplish the goal as stated
above? To be perfectly honest, what I saw as the moral of the story was
actually very well developed considering it wasn’t the moral the audience was
lead to expect. This moral – learn to sacrifice of yourself – was first
established when Belle sacrificed her dreams to save her father from
imprisonment. This behavior was then mirrored by the Beast when he allowed
Belle to leave just as he was one step away from breaking his curse. Due to
this, the Beast was made worthy of Belle’s love which in turn lead to their
assured happy ending.
Overall, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is a captivating piece of cinema that
can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Do not mistake my criticisms as disdain
for the film because I, like most, find it easy to engross myself in the story.
Still, this does not mean that the story is without its flaws. My goal is not
to tear this film apart, but to help its general viewing audience see it from a
different perspective. As always, feel free to comment.
Thank
you.
