On a cheerier note...
May. 25th, 2004 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kukla_tkoI had better talk about something that doesn't piss me off.
So... I will talk about what I call, "Disney getting it right."
Beauty and the Beast.
In the original story, the deal is that a rich nobleman looses his fortune. He and his 3 daughters are forced to sell off their goods and live as farmers on his country estate. The two elder daughters are "Wicked Stepsister" archetypes, who wail and moan and refuse to work. The youngest, named Beauty, rolls up her sleeves and pitches in to keep the house clean and the family fed.
The Nobleman gets word that a shipment of his goods was recovered, so he goes to collect his fortune. The elder daughters beg for gowns and jewels and talk excitedly about moving back into their mansion, but Beauty decides not to count chickens before they've hatched. She bids her father farewell, and he asks what gift he can bring her.
She assures him that all she wants is for him to arrive home, safe. He talks her into coming up with a gift idea, however, and she tells him that she misses the roses. He offers to bring her a dozen roses, and she tells him no, that she only needs one.
Off he goes, but when he gets to the dock he discovers that there is nothing left to claim, but the shipping bill. Now he is poorer than ever, and has to sell his cart to pay the bill. On the way home, his horse becomes lost in the woods. He stumbles upon a castle, and stays the night there. Food is put out for him, a warm bath and bed are provided, and clothes in the morning, but he never sees a soul.
He goes past the gardens to the stable to get his horse and head home.
He sees a magnificent rose garden, and thinking of Beauty's wish, he plucks a single, perfect rose from the bush.
A great roaring echoes through the courtyard, and a horrible man-beast appears before him. The beast tells the merchant that his life is forfeit for stealing from the Beast. The man stammers out his whole story, including Beauty's goodness and her wish. The Beast relents, letting him go home to say goodbye to his family, and that he is to return or to send his daughter Beauty to face the punishment for the theft.
The man is sent to his home in a strange magical carriage, and when he tells his daughters they all fall into weeping and despair. Beauty agrees quietly to return to the castle, as the family needs a father more than a youngest daughter.
She returns to the castle, but the Beast treats her as a visiting princess rather than a captive. She has the run of the grounds, and there are many magical marvels to entertain her during her day. Every night at dinner, the Beast asks her to marry him. She refuses him, every night. After months of this, she becomes homesick and wants to see her father. The Beast shows her the magic mirror, and how to use it to see whatever she would like to see, anywhere in the world. She discovers through the mirror that her father has fallen ill. Beauty begs the Beast to let her go to him and say goodbye before he dies and is lost to her forever.
The Beast agrees to let her go, but on the condition that she return within a specific amount of time, and then stay in the castle forever. (The time limit varies from version to version.) She agrees, eagerly, and he gives her a magic ring (Or other token) and instructs her to use the charm on it before she goes to sleep, and when she wakes, she shall be in her home with her family. She is instructed to do the same when she is ready to return to the castle. The Beast warns her not to stay too long, for he will die without her company.
She performs the charm and wakes up in her old room, next to her sisters. There is a giant chest at the end of the bed, filled with her gowns and jewelry and slippers and books from the castle.
Her sisters are astonished to see her, and beg her to tell them all about the castle. Beauty goes to her father, and the sight of his beloved Beauty whole and happy speeds his recovery. She spends her allotted time nursing her father back to health. Her sisters, seeing all the fine things in the trunk are filled with jealousy, and conspire to keep Beauty from returning to the Beast, hoping that he will tear her to pieces and then they can get all these beautiful things for themselves.
The sisters convince her to stay "Just one more day, one more day." Her father is ill, they need help with the mending, could Beauty show them how to make that wonderful stew, etc. One more day turns into a week, and one night Beauty dreams of the castle, and sees the Beast under the rosebushes, dead.
She wakes with a start, goes to her father and kisses him goodbye, and performs the charm to return to the castle.
When she awakes, she is in her bed at the castle, but something is wrong. She runs through the halls calling for the Beast, but the house is cold and dark. He is nowhere to be found.
She searches through the grounds, finally coming to the rose garden. Just as in her dream, she sees him curled up under his beloved roses. Terrified that her vision has come true, she throws her arms around him. He is still faintly breathing, and he looks at her with his beastly eyes. He tells her that he can die happy, now, having seen her one last time.
She cries out that he cannot die, because she kept her promise and returned to him, forever his, and that she would marry him because she knows now that she loves him.
She is startled by a loud crack of thunder, and a flash like lightning. Dazed, she gets to her feet, but the Beast is gone. She hears a voice call to her softly, and turns around.
There is a handsome man standing in a prince's livery.
"Where is my beloved Beast?" She demands.
"Beauty, it is I!" The handsome prince replies. He goes on to explain that he was under a curse, and only a woman of noble heart who would keep her promises and agree to marry him as a beast could break the spell.
And they lived happily ever after. No come-uppance for the sisters, either.
Now, I assumed that Disney would hold true to this story, since it has all the elements that Disney likes: The cinderella story of the good, but trod upon girl who triumphs in the end, and becomes a princess. A happy ending. Plenty of opportunities for songs. A charming love story. A morality play.
However, I didn't realize that this story IS missing a standard Disney Element. A Villain. Even the Beast is not really a villain, and the sisters aren't over the top enough for the writers at Disney. It has to be a tangible evil which is vanquished in the end.
So they quietly removed the loss of riches and the ill-tempered sisters.
And Added Gaston.
Now, I should have hated this. I was pretty pissed off about the "happy ending" tacked on to The Little Mermaid, and the vilification of the "sea witch". I was pissed off about the "Happy Ending" they tacked onto the Tin Soldier in Fantasia 2000.
On the contrary, I absolutely loved it. An update to an old classic, that stays true to the original story. The angle of the Handsome Hunter who is far more beastly than the poor prince in the castle who wears a beast's face.
Now, I also liked the idea of character development on the part of the beast. We aren't given any explanation for the curse in the stories, only a vague reference to a wicked fairy or witch with a grudge. I am enchanted by the new moral woven into the story. I like the image of the young, spoiled, mean-spirited prince (who is unfit to run a kingdom in this condition) being forced onto a new path by a radical transformation. He has 10 years to get it together and grow the hell up, and he manages to waste most of that with continued tantrums and sulking.
And then, Beauty enters the scene. She's good, and kind, and BRAVE (Rock on, Beauty!) She's not an obedient servant, she's a doting daughter, who loves her father and wants to help people. She's a reader. She's an inventor's daughter, and so has some experience with thinking "outside the box."
I love her in this version.
Gaston. Ah, Gaston. Is anyone else picking up the "gay" subtext here? He's a manly man's man, who uses antlers in all of his decorating. Is it just me, or is he overcompensating? Covering for something? He wants to marry "the most beautiful girl in town, that makes her the BEST." He wants Beauty as a trophy, and object. He has no affection for her, or the three silly girls in his entourage. He does seem to have an unusually close bond with La Foue, though. (I apologize for the spelling.)
No one minces around in his tights like Gaston...
I like him as a villain, though. Gay subtext or no. He leaves sufficient teeth marks in the scenery, and he represents the Obedient Wife destiny that awaits Belle unless she does something drastic. Shudder. In fact, he resorts to blackmail to get what he wants, and when that fails him, too, he riles up an angry mob to go "kill the beast!" (By the way, that line is "Light your torch, mount your horse, screw your courage to the sticking place." Get it right, man, or it is going to come out really really wrong...)
And I myself would rather have a beast in touch with his humanity than an arrogant bastard who believes he's god's gift to this earth, because of his well-chiseled chin and manly good-looks. Bleah.
And there's two scenes that really make it for me. The one is the added bit where Beauty runs away after the Beast scares the crap out of her. She goes into the woods at night with her horse, and is hunted down by wolves. The horse gets tangled in the tree, and instead of running for home and leaving the horse to the wolves so she can escape... she picks up a stick and makes a stand. Brave woman. She loves her horse, and is willing to risk her life defending him.
And the Beast appears, gives the wolves what-for and gets injured badly enough during the fight that she has to carry him back to the castle. Good stuff.
The other one is the scene where The Beast shows her the Library. I bawled like an idiot. It marks a turning point for both of them, too. He's found kindness and generosity in his own heart, and she's responding to it. Lovely.
Then I saw the Stage adaptation.
See it. Seriously. They have polished this modern update further, and made some subtle changes in the curse which add texture to the story. In the stage version, the servants of the castle weren't immediately changed into furniture and tableware. They are slowly becoming these inanimate objects. Scene by scene, they show more and more characteristics of the objects that they shall become. Lumiere has a tendency to wave his arms about and hold them in the air. Mrs. Potts is a round woman who has a tendency to plant one hand on a hip and gesture with the other. The French maid wears a floor length sexy "french maid's" costume, which has petticoats that resemble feathers. By the last act, the characters are now looking like animated teapots, candelabra, and feather dusters. This lends credibility to the desperation of the servants to get the curse reversed; they aren't trying to regain their humanity... they're trying to keep from LOSING it.
The new songs don't add much... except for one. Gaston has a meeting with his Three Silly Girls, and sings them a song about how it doesn't matter if he gets married to Belle, he will still have his rendezvous with them. He just has to marry a beautiful trophy wife for, you know, show. EEEvil. And he's even more of an over the top Bastard in the stage show. Great stuff.
It is NOT the original story. License was taken, characters were changed, but all in all... not a bad modern update for a classic. So, as long as they are capable of good adaptations, I will still watch what Disney cranks out.
So... I will talk about what I call, "Disney getting it right."
Beauty and the Beast.
In the original story, the deal is that a rich nobleman looses his fortune. He and his 3 daughters are forced to sell off their goods and live as farmers on his country estate. The two elder daughters are "Wicked Stepsister" archetypes, who wail and moan and refuse to work. The youngest, named Beauty, rolls up her sleeves and pitches in to keep the house clean and the family fed.
The Nobleman gets word that a shipment of his goods was recovered, so he goes to collect his fortune. The elder daughters beg for gowns and jewels and talk excitedly about moving back into their mansion, but Beauty decides not to count chickens before they've hatched. She bids her father farewell, and he asks what gift he can bring her.
She assures him that all she wants is for him to arrive home, safe. He talks her into coming up with a gift idea, however, and she tells him that she misses the roses. He offers to bring her a dozen roses, and she tells him no, that she only needs one.
Off he goes, but when he gets to the dock he discovers that there is nothing left to claim, but the shipping bill. Now he is poorer than ever, and has to sell his cart to pay the bill. On the way home, his horse becomes lost in the woods. He stumbles upon a castle, and stays the night there. Food is put out for him, a warm bath and bed are provided, and clothes in the morning, but he never sees a soul.
He goes past the gardens to the stable to get his horse and head home.
He sees a magnificent rose garden, and thinking of Beauty's wish, he plucks a single, perfect rose from the bush.
A great roaring echoes through the courtyard, and a horrible man-beast appears before him. The beast tells the merchant that his life is forfeit for stealing from the Beast. The man stammers out his whole story, including Beauty's goodness and her wish. The Beast relents, letting him go home to say goodbye to his family, and that he is to return or to send his daughter Beauty to face the punishment for the theft.
The man is sent to his home in a strange magical carriage, and when he tells his daughters they all fall into weeping and despair. Beauty agrees quietly to return to the castle, as the family needs a father more than a youngest daughter.
She returns to the castle, but the Beast treats her as a visiting princess rather than a captive. She has the run of the grounds, and there are many magical marvels to entertain her during her day. Every night at dinner, the Beast asks her to marry him. She refuses him, every night. After months of this, she becomes homesick and wants to see her father. The Beast shows her the magic mirror, and how to use it to see whatever she would like to see, anywhere in the world. She discovers through the mirror that her father has fallen ill. Beauty begs the Beast to let her go to him and say goodbye before he dies and is lost to her forever.
The Beast agrees to let her go, but on the condition that she return within a specific amount of time, and then stay in the castle forever. (The time limit varies from version to version.) She agrees, eagerly, and he gives her a magic ring (Or other token) and instructs her to use the charm on it before she goes to sleep, and when she wakes, she shall be in her home with her family. She is instructed to do the same when she is ready to return to the castle. The Beast warns her not to stay too long, for he will die without her company.
She performs the charm and wakes up in her old room, next to her sisters. There is a giant chest at the end of the bed, filled with her gowns and jewelry and slippers and books from the castle.
Her sisters are astonished to see her, and beg her to tell them all about the castle. Beauty goes to her father, and the sight of his beloved Beauty whole and happy speeds his recovery. She spends her allotted time nursing her father back to health. Her sisters, seeing all the fine things in the trunk are filled with jealousy, and conspire to keep Beauty from returning to the Beast, hoping that he will tear her to pieces and then they can get all these beautiful things for themselves.
The sisters convince her to stay "Just one more day, one more day." Her father is ill, they need help with the mending, could Beauty show them how to make that wonderful stew, etc. One more day turns into a week, and one night Beauty dreams of the castle, and sees the Beast under the rosebushes, dead.
She wakes with a start, goes to her father and kisses him goodbye, and performs the charm to return to the castle.
When she awakes, she is in her bed at the castle, but something is wrong. She runs through the halls calling for the Beast, but the house is cold and dark. He is nowhere to be found.
She searches through the grounds, finally coming to the rose garden. Just as in her dream, she sees him curled up under his beloved roses. Terrified that her vision has come true, she throws her arms around him. He is still faintly breathing, and he looks at her with his beastly eyes. He tells her that he can die happy, now, having seen her one last time.
She cries out that he cannot die, because she kept her promise and returned to him, forever his, and that she would marry him because she knows now that she loves him.
She is startled by a loud crack of thunder, and a flash like lightning. Dazed, she gets to her feet, but the Beast is gone. She hears a voice call to her softly, and turns around.
There is a handsome man standing in a prince's livery.
"Where is my beloved Beast?" She demands.
"Beauty, it is I!" The handsome prince replies. He goes on to explain that he was under a curse, and only a woman of noble heart who would keep her promises and agree to marry him as a beast could break the spell.
And they lived happily ever after. No come-uppance for the sisters, either.
Now, I assumed that Disney would hold true to this story, since it has all the elements that Disney likes: The cinderella story of the good, but trod upon girl who triumphs in the end, and becomes a princess. A happy ending. Plenty of opportunities for songs. A charming love story. A morality play.
However, I didn't realize that this story IS missing a standard Disney Element. A Villain. Even the Beast is not really a villain, and the sisters aren't over the top enough for the writers at Disney. It has to be a tangible evil which is vanquished in the end.
So they quietly removed the loss of riches and the ill-tempered sisters.
And Added Gaston.
Now, I should have hated this. I was pretty pissed off about the "happy ending" tacked on to The Little Mermaid, and the vilification of the "sea witch". I was pissed off about the "Happy Ending" they tacked onto the Tin Soldier in Fantasia 2000.
On the contrary, I absolutely loved it. An update to an old classic, that stays true to the original story. The angle of the Handsome Hunter who is far more beastly than the poor prince in the castle who wears a beast's face.
Now, I also liked the idea of character development on the part of the beast. We aren't given any explanation for the curse in the stories, only a vague reference to a wicked fairy or witch with a grudge. I am enchanted by the new moral woven into the story. I like the image of the young, spoiled, mean-spirited prince (who is unfit to run a kingdom in this condition) being forced onto a new path by a radical transformation. He has 10 years to get it together and grow the hell up, and he manages to waste most of that with continued tantrums and sulking.
And then, Beauty enters the scene. She's good, and kind, and BRAVE (Rock on, Beauty!) She's not an obedient servant, she's a doting daughter, who loves her father and wants to help people. She's a reader. She's an inventor's daughter, and so has some experience with thinking "outside the box."
I love her in this version.
Gaston. Ah, Gaston. Is anyone else picking up the "gay" subtext here? He's a manly man's man, who uses antlers in all of his decorating. Is it just me, or is he overcompensating? Covering for something? He wants to marry "the most beautiful girl in town, that makes her the BEST." He wants Beauty as a trophy, and object. He has no affection for her, or the three silly girls in his entourage. He does seem to have an unusually close bond with La Foue, though. (I apologize for the spelling.)
No one minces around in his tights like Gaston...
I like him as a villain, though. Gay subtext or no. He leaves sufficient teeth marks in the scenery, and he represents the Obedient Wife destiny that awaits Belle unless she does something drastic. Shudder. In fact, he resorts to blackmail to get what he wants, and when that fails him, too, he riles up an angry mob to go "kill the beast!" (By the way, that line is "Light your torch, mount your horse, screw your courage to the sticking place." Get it right, man, or it is going to come out really really wrong...)
And I myself would rather have a beast in touch with his humanity than an arrogant bastard who believes he's god's gift to this earth, because of his well-chiseled chin and manly good-looks. Bleah.
And there's two scenes that really make it for me. The one is the added bit where Beauty runs away after the Beast scares the crap out of her. She goes into the woods at night with her horse, and is hunted down by wolves. The horse gets tangled in the tree, and instead of running for home and leaving the horse to the wolves so she can escape... she picks up a stick and makes a stand. Brave woman. She loves her horse, and is willing to risk her life defending him.
And the Beast appears, gives the wolves what-for and gets injured badly enough during the fight that she has to carry him back to the castle. Good stuff.
The other one is the scene where The Beast shows her the Library. I bawled like an idiot. It marks a turning point for both of them, too. He's found kindness and generosity in his own heart, and she's responding to it. Lovely.
Then I saw the Stage adaptation.
See it. Seriously. They have polished this modern update further, and made some subtle changes in the curse which add texture to the story. In the stage version, the servants of the castle weren't immediately changed into furniture and tableware. They are slowly becoming these inanimate objects. Scene by scene, they show more and more characteristics of the objects that they shall become. Lumiere has a tendency to wave his arms about and hold them in the air. Mrs. Potts is a round woman who has a tendency to plant one hand on a hip and gesture with the other. The French maid wears a floor length sexy "french maid's" costume, which has petticoats that resemble feathers. By the last act, the characters are now looking like animated teapots, candelabra, and feather dusters. This lends credibility to the desperation of the servants to get the curse reversed; they aren't trying to regain their humanity... they're trying to keep from LOSING it.
The new songs don't add much... except for one. Gaston has a meeting with his Three Silly Girls, and sings them a song about how it doesn't matter if he gets married to Belle, he will still have his rendezvous with them. He just has to marry a beautiful trophy wife for, you know, show. EEEvil. And he's even more of an over the top Bastard in the stage show. Great stuff.
It is NOT the original story. License was taken, characters were changed, but all in all... not a bad modern update for a classic. So, as long as they are capable of good adaptations, I will still watch what Disney cranks out.
