Religion and politics will always influence
literature. We can tell a great deal about a time period based on its works…
Beauty
and the Beast is hands down, no argument, my favorite
Disney movie of all time! I was all giggly like a school girl at a Justin
Bieber concert when I bought my ticket to see the live action version. During
the movie, my fiancé got terribly annoyed with me and threatened to move away.
I, of course, attributed his frustrations to my loud, off-key singing. Though I
am sure the singing did not help, his aggravation came from the fact that every
time something happened in the live action film that did not happen in the
animated version, I leaned over and whispered, “That’s not right!” or “That’s
not what really happened!” I am a firm believer in leaving the classics alone.
I did not like the remake of Steel
Magnolias. I despised the version of The
Rocky Horror Picture Show recently aired. Why? Because they are classics.
Leave them alone!
With that being said, I had a completely different
take on the various versions of fairytales. I love watching the evolution of
the characters and the softening of the storylines. I wrote my paper on Beauty and the Beast. I knew going in
that my personal bias could affect the lens through which I read; however, I
tried to remain objective. To my surprise, I enjoyed the reading. I actually
continued reading the different versions long after I determined which tales I
would use for the purpose of the paper. The assorted versions of the tale
provide insight into the culture and values of the region in which they were
written. The underlying messages and satirical commentary are so interesting
and reflective of social issues. Why do the fairytales change? Because the
moral changes; the purpose changes. The live action version of Beauty and the Beast was intended to
draw in children AND adults, so changes were made and information was added.
Did it make the tale worse? No! Actually, it answered a great deal of questions
and offered new perspective. Reading multiple versions of fairytales works in
the same manner.
The Grimms version of Beauty and the Beast, known as “The Signing, Springing Lark, was so
different from the contemporary version. The girl immediately married the
beast/lion and seemingly fell in love. He did not have to work for her
affection or try to win her over. What also intrigued me is that he was only a
lion by day; at night he took on a human form. Bettelheim made several
interesting arguments about oedipal love and arranged marriages. He explained
that sex without love is “beastly” and a person must be loved in order to
become loveable. Very interesting perspective…
Reading various versions of fairytales is both
insightful and interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment