What do Beauty and the Beast story updates say about us?

by philg

A group of us enjoyed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in IMAX 3D.

One of our companions complained that “It wasn’t realistic. He wouldn’t have had any trouble finding a woman with that castle.” What about the beastly appearance? “A lot of women like guys with hair.”

The original story (Wikipedia) was published in 1740. I’m wondering what the required-for-commercial-reasons updates say about our present-day culture. Let’s compare some of the differences:

original Disney
the dad was rich at one time the dad was a continuously poor artist
Belle is one of six kids Belle is an only child
“The sons ask for weaponry and horses to hunt with, whereas his oldest daughters ask for clothing, jewels, and the finest dresses possible as they think his wealth has returned.” No glory-hungry brothers or cash-hungry sisters.
“The Beast was a prince who lost his father at a young age, and whose mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom. The queen left him in care of an evil fairy, who tried to seduce him when he became an adult; when he refused, she transformed him into a beast.”

Moral: Tough to find good child care even when you’re a queen?

 Prince’s mom died, not the dad. Prince developed a bad character from spending too much time with his father (also had a bad character).

Readers: What do the above changes say about our society? What did you think of the movie?

4 thoughts on “What do Beauty and the Beast story updates say about us?”

  1. Belle could get the castle and 80% of all future bestial income if only they were in Massachusetts.

  2. 1 of the TV releases replaced “her” with “their” in the narration. They said “her” in the blu ray release.

  3. My theory is that Disney movies reflect the fears and aspirations of the Disney executives. That’s why the villain is always a psychopathic narcissist who isn’t content unless they can dominate everyone and steal all the wealth; its how the Disney execs perceive how they and all their colleagues are operating on a day to day basis.

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