Beauty and the Beast
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The Disney company's animated feature film Beauty and the Beast (1992) tells a well-known story in a fresh way, developing personalities for the characters that were not apparent in the fairy tale from which the story is taken and adding other characters, including something feasible only in a fairy tale or an animated film, anthropomorphic furnishings that turn out to be enchanted servants left with their changed master. An animated film is built of abstract images, for no matter how much the artist may attempt to render reality, it is always only an image of reality and thus an abstraction. The abstract images of the animated film are developed so as to serve the needs of the story, to convey not only the details of the story as such but also the underlying meaning which constitutes plot. The story of Beauty and the Beast is well-known, and what this film needs to do is not convey the story in its bare essentials so much as shape the way the viewer responds to this particular version of the story. Many of the images constitute what might be called aspects of the iconography of the fairy tale--the castle, the simple village, the creature, the enchantress who casts a spell, the beauty who can take the spell away, the enchanted mirror, and so on. These are images that are readily understood on first viewing as conveying certain set ideas that emerge from the fairy tale, though there can be variations. In Beauty and the Beast, for instance, the primary variation is on im
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ast's anger as well, having seen him destroy the portrait. The terrifying aspects of the Beast are powerful, but they are tempered by this awareness of the truth and of the despair felt by the character. In this way the film is able to present the Beast as a terrifying presence while at the same time garnering sympathy and understanding for him and his plight. Much of that sympathy is missing in the Beast's encounter with Belle's father, for only the terrifying aspects are highlighted. The Beast is often foreshadowed by his actual shadow, as in the scene with the father, and that shadow raises harrowing images of what might be coming. Ultimately, though, the shadow is another element of image that hides the truth, for the foreboding nature of the shadow is in stark black-and-white while the Beast has more colors, more range, and more to his underlying nature.
In the scene with Belle, though, when she substitutes herself for her father, the imagery shifts so as to raise once more the humanity hiding inside the Beast and to show how he uses anger, bluster, and volume to hide any feelings he might have. The Beast sees he has hurt Belle by not letting her say goodby to her father, but he says nothing. He does take her to a roo
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Beauty Beast, Prince Beast, Beast Beast, , Prince Castle, beauty beast, animated film, belle's father, fairy tale, Buena Vista, story beauty beast, images animated film, beast ugly, story beauty, nature nature, viewer responds, abstract images, enclosed glass,
Approximate Word count = 1697
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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