Analysis of “Beauty and the Beast” story and film
电影分析代写 Beaumont’s story contains elements of women empowerment, which makes women the author's target audience. Unlike her sisters
Background 电影分析代写
The fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” is popular animal folklore that has changed considerably with time. Today, most people know the fairy tale through the popular Beauty and the Beast film produced in the United States. While there exist various films adapted from the fairy tale, this essay will address Disney’s Beauty and the Beast film produced by David Hoverman and Todd Leberman in 2017. The origin of narrative elements and characters in the film can be traced back to the mid-18th century.
In 1749, Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, a French novelist, wrote the fairy tale “La Belle et la Běte” to describe a girl who loved a beast despite his displeasing physical appearance (McLoone n.p.). Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont revised the tale in 1756, removing sexually explicit elements, dream sequences, and subplots from the story. This essay will focus on Beaumont’s version of Beauty and the Beast because it has been the most translated into English and adopted by film producers. Even though the story and the film address gender roles and evoke emotions based on Villeneuve’s “La Belle et la Běte” the two adaptations target varying audiences and deliver different messages. 电影分析代写
Summary
The “Beauty and the Beast” is a story concerning the escapades of a wealthy merchant and his six children (Beaumont n.p.). Due to his massive amounts of wealth, the merchant allowed his children to engage in fun activities such as attending concerts and parties. Two of the merchant’s three girls despised their younger sister because she was more beautiful and spent most of her time reading books. At one point, the merchant lost his fortune, except for a small house far from town. He went to live with his children in their country house where they engaged in husbandry and tillage.
After one year, the merchant received news that one vessel had safely arrived. Upon hearing the news, the two older daughters requested their father to buy them expensive gifts while Beauty asked for a rose. Unfortunately, he experienced legal challenges and returned without any fortune. He encountered a storm on his way home and took refuge in a palace where he ate, drank, and spent the night. The merchant was grateful to the fairy and, on his way out, he plucked a branch from the palace’s arbor of roses to take to Beauty. His action angered Beast, the palace owner, who threatened to kill him or take one of his daughters as retribution.
Beauty sacrificed her life for her father’s and lived in the palace with Beast until she returned to visit her family. Prior to her return, Beast had asked for Beauty’s marriage but she declined the proposal each time. Beauty overstayed her visit, only to return and find Beast fighting for his life after starving himself out of affliction that she forgot her promise. At this moment, Beauty confessed her love for Beast, who transformed into a lovely prince. The prince married Beauty and the two lived happily.
Differences between the Fairy Tale and the Film 电影分析代写
In the fairy tale, the father of the girl who marries the beast is a wealthy and prosperous merchant (Stevens 8). Conversely, the children’s father in the movie is an artist whose work entails constructing music boxes. According to the story, the village people loved Beauty because she was humble, unlike her arrogant siblings.
However, the townspeople in the movie perceived Belle as strange and peculiar due to her obsession with books (Stevens 18). While Belle’s father always brought her roses when he traveled to sell music boxes, Beauty’s father was a wealthy merchant who provided his children with whatever they desired. Beauty asked her father to bring her a rose because he lost his fortune.
After experiencing consecutive misfortunes, Beauty’s father went to a palace to seek shelter from a storm. In the palace, he tried to speak to any individual around but found no response. In the movie, the character found the gate of a forgotten castle while running away from a pack of wolves. Upon entering the castle, Belle’s father encountered a talking teacup, candelabra, and a clock. 电影分析代写
While Beauty’s father went bid his children goodbye before the female protagonist offered herself to the beast, Belle went searching for his father in the forest and found him in the castle. Towards the end of the story, Beauty arrived in time to save Beast. Conversely, the beast in the movie died from a mortal wound inflicted by Gaston before being raised as a prince by Agathe.
Gender Roles in the Story
Both the story and the film portray the heroine as a charming and caring person. Unlike her sisters who prefer material possessions, Beauty is independent and intelligent. Notably, Beauty’s sisters are proud of their family’s wealth and have set standards for their potential suitors. They claim that can only marry an earl of a duke. Conversely, Beauty portrays behaviors that contradict with gender roles formulated by society.
According to Cobban, Beauty challenges gender roles when she marries for love, depicts her intelligence, and disobeys commands (n.p.). She is an avid reader and an inventor who declares “I’m not a princess” when declining a gown (Abbybled n.p.). Even though both female protagonists in the fairy tale in the film are beautiful, their strength depends on their kind hearts. In this regard, the story empowers women by focusing on their inner strengths rather than physical attributes.
Indeed, the role of the narrative is to fight against gender stereotypes regarding women in society.
In the narrative, the writer presents Beauty as a kind, honest, selfless, and adaptable woman (Syed 12). Even though her sisters despise her, she does not hold grudges towards them.
Additionally, she is honest with Beast when he asks her for marriage. Besides, she sacrifices her happiness and freedom for her father’s life and Beast’s satisfaction. In this manner, the female protagonist depicts a strong character that is different from that depicted by other women during her era. Unlike her peers, she does not conform to societal expectations of women. Her unique behavior and strong character assist her in living a satisfactory life.
Even though the fairy tale challenges gender roles, it reinforces certain societal stereotypes towards women. At first, Beauty’s father shows concern towards the safety of her daughter and prefers to die over allowing her to live with the beast. However, he ultimately allows Beauty to offer her freedom to the beast.
In this regard, the female protagonist has to sacrifice her happiness to a male, either her father or Beast. Subsequently, Beauty only gains happiness after accepting her role as a woman and a duty to her future husband. She has to leave her father and care for her husband to fulfill societal expectations for women. Additionally, she should embrace the new life without complaint to enjoy the benefits of marriage (Syed 13). For these reasons, the narrative depicts gender stereotypes that the society accords to women
Emotions Showcased in the Story and Film 电影分析代写
The narrative contains various elements that evoke emotions from readers and viewers. The movie director uses pathos appeals to evoke sympathy from viewers in the scene where wolves attack Belle when she escapes from the castle to the woods. When the beast realizes that Belle escaped, he goes to the forest to rescue her and ends up wounded by the wolves. In this scene, Belle starts developing feelings for the beast. In this manner, the film director convinces viewers concerning the benefits of helping others. Through these scenes, the audience sympathizes and develops passion for the beast.
Additionally, the story and the film evoke sympathy from the audience towards the female protagonist.
From the beginning, she lives a solitude life, despised by her siblings in the story and the secluded from the community in the film. Hence, she prefers staying alone and reading books. After her father’s misfortune, the heroine becomes a prisoner to the beast, condemned to live in the palace and away from home forever. Her challenging life evokes sympathy from the audience who believes she is a victim of undeserving circumstances.
Likewise, Disney showcases logos appeal in the way that it presents its evidence in the film. Elements in the film show that the producers considered cultures and values of the contemporary society before developing the film. For instance, they removed elements that children in the current society could not relate with such as the father’s occupation as a merchant and substituted it with a maker of music boxes. In this regard, the movie producer provides evidence to parents why their films are appropriate for viewing by children.
Target Audience 电影分析代写
The film's target audiences are children and teenagers. Arguably, the directors nurture positive behaviors among children through various elements in the film. For instance, the film presents Belle as an intelligent character because she loves reading. Besides, she depicts virtues of love and forgiveness towards the community and the beast. Even though the community members perceive her as odd, she does not hold grudges against them. Therefore, ideas in the film target children and adolescents in contemporary society.
Beaumont’s story contains elements of women empowerment, which makes women the author's target audience. Unlike her sisters, Beauty longs for a better life that does not revolve around men. In fact, she does not compromise herself for relationships (McDonnell n.p.). Similarly, Gaston and LeFou believe that Belle’s appealing personality stems from her dignity. For these reasons, the narrator depicts the female protagonist as the heroine who triumphs because of her self-respect.
Significance of the Story
The fairy tale and the film are significant to society because they contain important lessons to children and empowering elements for women. Children who watch the film are likely to adopt the virtues of love and forgiveness from the female protagonist. The children will perceive the heroine as their model and try to copy her behaviors.
Thus, this audience is likely to develop the art of reading or seeking more information from the story. Likewise, the fairy tale and the film are significant for girls growing up in the contemporary society that objectifies women. When growing up, girls might falsely believe that society bases their worth on physical beauty. Girls who develop this perception might develop low self-esteem when they fail to conform to societal definitions of beauty. However, the story shows that girls who base their worth on intelligence and independence are likely to be more successful in society today. 电影分析代写
Works Cited
Abbybled. “Feminist Empowerment in “Beauty and the Beast:” An Analysis of Beauty’s Feminist Qualities from 1740 to 2017” Visualizing Wonder, 2017. http://fairytales.byu.edu/2017/08/15/feminist-empowerment-in-beauty-and-the-beast-an-analysis-of-beautys-feminist-qualities-from-1740-to-2017/ Accessed 21 Apr. 2019
Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie LePrince. “Beauty and the Beast.” The Young Misses Magazine, 15 Nov. 2011. https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html Accessed 21 Apr. 2019
Beauty and the Beast. Directed by Bill Condon. Walt Disney Pictures, 2017
Cobban, McKenzie. “Beauty and the Beast in Cinema: A Challenge to Gender Roles.” Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression, 2015. https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/407/ Accessed 21 Apr. 2019 电影分析代写
McDonnel, Meg T. “The New Beauty and the Best and Women’s Empowerment.” Institute of Family Studies, 29 Mar 2017. https://ifstudies.org/blog/beauty-and-the-beast-and-womens-empowerment Accessed 21 Apr. 2019
McLoone, Juli. “Fairy Tale Fridays: Beauty and the Beast.” Regends of the University of Michigan, 24 June 2016. https://www.lib.umich.edu/blogs/beyond-reading-room/fairy-tale-fridays-beauty-and-beast Accessed 21 Apr. 2019
Stevens, Heather, A. “Changing the Nature of the Beast: An Analysis of Significant Variations from Madame De Beaumont’s La Belle Et La Bête in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” The Aquila Digital Community, 2013. https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=honors_theses
Syed, Sarah. “Beauty and the Beast: Construction of the Girl in Three Modern Variants of the Tale as Old as Time.” The University of Texas at Austin, 10 May 2018.
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