In the Disney verison, Belle is the spitting image of her father's personality. She is loyal, smart, and ambitious. In this sense, she has already become everything she can be in his image. Belle does give the Beast the benefit of the doubt, and she falls in love--with her captor, with someone who cannot read. Transitively, father is super happy and all is well. What a weird world of wish fulfillment and emulation. Morally speaking, Cocteau gives parents the most hope for their children. Disney just paints flowers and gloss on the relationship.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
When I Grow Up
Although Beauty is an adult character, her whimsy and dedication to her parents introduces a them of major dependence in these tales. I'd like to look to both the films we screened to determine exactly why Beauty emulates and glorifies her father. In the Cocteau film, Beauty's undying love for her father prevents her from a marrying a scoundrel, yes, but it also creates a sense of humility in her that is very unordinary. Beauty asks her father only for a rose as he leaves--because she is good, moral, virtuous. She knows not to ask outside her bounds. She knows to settle her dreams for a life more realistic. In this sense, Beauty is constantly seeking the acceptance of her father. She is never satisfied with the favoritism he shows; she must always take care of him. Furthermore, we find out that he is not a shining beacon to emulate. He is a trader, and he loses his fortune. Beauty is seeking the approval of a man that relies on illusion to keep his power in the family. No wonder she loves the down-to-earth beast.
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I think you make some very valid points but I actually think that in the Disney version Belle is more independent of her father than in the Cocteau version. Yes, Belle cares for her father in the Disney version but she is very headstrong and we see that she is the type of girl that really, could live on her own and be fine, as long as she has books to read. Belle's father depends on her more than anything. If he didn't have her, then he would have been committed a long time ago in that town. As we see, when Belle takes her father's place with the Beast, the town walks completely over her father.
ReplyDeleteOne of the comments that stood out the most to me was "no wonder she loves the down-to-earth beast". I think this makes a good point that there are a lot of children in the world even (or maybe especially) today who feel or are treated like the parent. They have to take on all the family responsibilities, things that should belong to the adult but are sometimes neglected if the parent suffers from some kind of addiction or just an irresponsible lifestyle. These kids often end up taking on difficult jobs, the task of raising younger siblings, and the responsibilities of trying to make sure there is dinner on the table and the bills get paid. Many children, whether the situation is economic,etc. or the situation of abuse or marital conflict, feel that they have to stay in that situation for a prolonged period of time if not forever. They believe all those responsibilities are theirs to take care of and that their family would not function/survive without their own personal sacrifice, and may even be made to feel guilty if they hoped for/ pursued other futures (such as their own education or happiness). I know this is unfortunately a very prevalent trend in society (mostly in inner city areas and rural communities more so than in the suburbs where is more likely to be an emotional dependence more than anything else).
ReplyDeleteIt is important that those children/young adults/ and in this case Beauty, are somehow pulled out of those situations to experience another aspect of life and truly understand that they are not responsible for the outcome of their family. I'm not saying that it is bad to try to help a family member who has a physical ailment or try to help them escape addiction, but there are limits to how much a child can help their parents fix their problems. Children are not responsible for reversing divorce, and should not be put in a situation where they have to help their parents detox from drugs or alcohol and clean up after the messes that drunk/high parent may have created. Or the economic messes that a gambling or just generally irresponsible parent has made (such as the Beauty in the Tiger's Bride story).
After getting away for a while and being treated fairly, even pampered by the Beast, it is no wonder that she sees something good in him, despite the societal norms of Beautiful vs. Ugly appearances that see has been raised around. She gets to be her own person who is valued for who she is more than what she can do for others. She does seem to have a bit of a relapse to her old ways while visiting her family when she tries to give her gifts to her sisters (it is a hard habit to break having been raised in that environment and guilted into such behavior). I am very glad that in the movie and the story we read that she is stopped from giving away what was intended for her.
I think Beauty's relationship to her father is one of love and devotion, but could also be seen as the situation that I have described as being used by her father (more so in some of the stories than others where the father truly cares for her). Many of the other stories we have read have been more blatant about how parents just use or abuse the children for their own benefit, but I believe this story takes a slightly different (and maybe even more complicated) take on that relationship between the parents and their kids.