Romancing the Plot: The Real Beast of Disney's Beauty and theBeast

June Cummins

Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Volume 20, Number 1,Spring 1995, pp. 22-28 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University PressDOI: 10.1353/chq.0.0872

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although a case could be made that it heightens the moralatmosphere ofthe work.

6Compare, for example, another Stratemeyer production, TomSwift and His Television Detector, a work in a series largelyabout exploiting technology for the ends of justice. Where theboys' series educates, the girls' series evades.

WORKS CITEDBarthes, Roland. S/Z. Trans. Richard MUler. New York: HUl andWang, 1974.

BUlman, Carol. The Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate: NancyDrew, the Hardy Boys, and the Million Dollar Fiction Factory.New York: Ungar, 1986.

Chamberlain, Kathleen. "The Secrets of Nancy Drew: HavingTheir Cake and Eating It Too. " The Lion and the Unicorn. 18.1(June 1994): 1-11.

Fetterley, Judith. The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach toAmerican Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1978.

Hirsh, James. "Nancy Drew Gets Real." New York Times BookReview 9 Oct. 1988:47.

Johnson, Deirdre. Edward Stratemeyer and the StratemeyerSyndicate. New York: Twayne, 1993.

Keene, Carolyn. The Crooked Bannister. New York: GrossetandDunlap, 1971.

Montague, Susan. "How Nancy Gets Her Man: An Investigationof Success Models in American Adolescent Pulp Fiction." TheAmerican Dimension: Cultural Myths and Social Realities. Ed.W. Arens. Sherman Oaks, CA: Preus, 1981. 77-90.

Paul, Lissa. "Enigma Variations: What Feminist Theory KnowsAbout Children's Literature." Children's Literature: TheDevelopment of Criticism. Ed. Peter Hunt. London: Routledge,1990.

Romalov, Nancy Tillman. "Editor's Note." The Lion and theUnicorn 18.1 (June 1994): v-xi.

_____. "A Press Conference with MUdred WUt Benson. " The Lionand the Unicorn 18.1 (June 1994): 81-91.

Watson, Bruce. "Tom Swift, Nancy Drew, and Pals AU Had theSame Dad." Smithsonian 22 (October 1991): 50-56.

Zacharias, Lee. "Nancy Drew: BaUbuster." Journal of PopularCulture 9 (1976): 1027-38.

Eloise Knowlton teaches humanities at Boston University.Most of her publications deal with the work ofjamesjoyce andthe question of quotation. Her first book, Bordering Joyce:Citation, Modernity, and the Joycean, is forthcoming from theUniversity Press of Florida.

Romancing the Plot:The Real Beast of Disney's Beauty and the Beastby June Cummins

When Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released late in1991, critics haUed the film for its apparently innovative por-trayal ofthe heroine, BeUe.1 inNewsweek, David Arisen claimedthat "from the start, the filmmakers knew they didn't want BeUeto be the passive character ofthe original story or a carbon copyof Ariel in The Little Mermaid, a creation some critics foundcloyingly sexist" (75). In MacLean's, Brian Johnson praisedDisney for "break[ing] the sexist mould of its fairy-tale heroines.. . . Beauty and the Beast speUs out its enlightenment in nouncertain terms" (56). And in The New York Times, Janet Maslinasserted that BeUe is "a smart, independent heroine . . . whomakes a conspicuously better role model than the marriage-minded Disney heroines of the past" (1). But in spite of thisinsistence that BeUe is a strong female character, that this fairytale is "different," I saw the same old story, a romance plot thatrobs female characters of self-determination and individuaüty.Not at aU a feminist movie, Disney's Beauty and the Beast sUpseasUy into the mold of almost aU other popular versions of fairytales; that is, it encourages young viewers to beUeve that truehappiness for women exists only in the arms of a prince and that

their most important quest is finding that prince.Although it is clear that "Beauty and the Beast" has always

been in part a love story, earUer printed versions ofthe tale offervaluable lessons in addition to emphasizing the love relation-ship. Disney, on the other hand, strips the traditional fairy tale ofanything but the romantic trajectory, throws in a dose of vio-lence, and woos its vast audience into beUeving it has beeneducated as weU as entertained. Disney's Beauty and the Beast,whUe initiaUy presenting a more interesting and better devel-oped heroine than those we find in other Disney animatedfeatures, undermines the gains it makes by focusing narrativeattention on courtship as plot advancement and marriage asdénouement. Certainly, romantic love is an important part ofpeople's Uves. But if we want chUdren to develop balancedviews of relationships between men and women and of theirown identities as active individuals with fuU access to society,we should question the messages sent by such films.

The deleterious effects of concluding fairy tales with mar-riage have been extensively examined by such critics as MarciaK. Lieberman and Karen Rowe. Lieberman points out that whUe

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such stories end with marriage, the action of the story isconcerned with courtship,

which is magnified into the most important andexciting part of a girl's Ufe, brief though courtship is,because it is the part of her Ufe in which she mostcounts as a person herself. After marriage she ceasesto be wooed, her consent is no longer sought, shederives her status from her husband, and her personalidentity is thus snuffed out. When fairy tales showcourtship as exciting, and conclude with marriage,and the vague statement that "they Uved happUy everafter," chUdren may develop a deep-seated desirealways to be courted, since marriage is UteraUy theend ofthe story. (199-200)

Rowe argues that the marriages at the ends of these tales aremore accessible to and thus more infiuential on the femalereader/viewer than any other aspect of the stories:

Because it is a major social institution, marriagefunctions not merely as a comic ending, but also as abridge between the worlds of fantasy and reaüty.Whereas "once upon a time" draws the reader into atimeless fantasy realm . . . the wedding ceremonycatapults her back into contemporary reaUty. Preciselythis close association of romantic fiction with theactuaUty of marriage as a social institution proves themost influential factor in shaping female expectations.(221)

Undeniably, Beauty and the Beast is this kind of fairy tale.Indeed, virtually aU recent Disney animated fairy tales,

including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, andAladdin, privUege the romance plot structure.2 WhUe one mayargue that Disney is not responsible for this tendency becausefairy tales have always reUed on the romance plot, it is possibleto see that in fact Disney magnifies the romantic element of itsversions ofthe tales. Writing about earlier Disney features, KayStone argues that with "subtle shifts in plot and character,Disney focuses attention on the romantic aspects of fairy tales.What he believes in, then, is the secular myth ofthe modern age,the love story" (43). Stone points to a Disney planning sessionduring which it was decided that the film version of Snow Whitewould emphasize the "romantic angle" (44). Finding the sametendency in The Little Mermaid, A. WaUer Hastings concludes,"The Disney version accentuates the most sentimental andromantic aspects of the story at the expense of its moral andpsychological complexity" (85).

This choice of emphasis has persisted for Beauty and theBeast. The differences between the version that Disney created,now becoming canonical, and the version that comes closest tobeing definitive, that written by Madame Le Prince de Beau-mont, may seem insignificant but in fact are dramatic. Clearly, nofairy tale is "fixed" in terms of having one estabUshed andauthoritative version. Betsy Hearne, who has written a compre-hensive survey of the many variations of "Beauty and the Beast, "declares at the outset of her book that "the story has not petrifiedas a reUc of the past but has adapted constantly to reflect new

variations of culture and creativity" (1). But Hearne concludes,after having researched the history of "Beauty and the Beast,"that the tale has "enduring elements" and that "the core elementsremain because they are magnetic to each other, structuraUy,and to people, variably but almost universaUy" (6). BecauseBeaumont's eighteenth-century version is considered definitive,Hearne summarizes it in her first chapter and includes a facsimileof it in an appendix. Keeping in mind that Disney's version hasovertaken Beaumont's, at least in our chUdren's view, we can seehow Disney highlights the "romantic angle" of the tale, mostnotably by changing the essential characters of BeUe, her father,and the Beast and by altering the basic plot.

Beaumont's Beauty was considered a new kind of heroine,a marked departure from the protagonists of earUer fairy tales.Instead of being nobles, Beauty and her famUy belong to themerchant class. Their wealth has been gained by the father'shard work. He uses his money to educate his chUdren, sons anddaughters alike, a fact that is mentioned even before Beauty isintroduced. Through commerce and education, the father per-petuates meritocratic rather than aristocratic advancement, andBeauty is the symbol of that meritocracy. In fact, Beaumontwrote "Beauty and the Beast" specificaUy to reinforce the goalsofthe meritocracy for the young women who were the intendedaudience of her story. Embedding the fairy tale in a framenarrative that presents several young women who have come tohear her tales, Beaumont clearly intends to provide moral andinteUectual guidance for her listeners. Although she encouragesthese girls to be virtuous and "agreeable," she just as ardentlywants them to be intelUgent and weU-instructed: "Their severalfaults are pointed out, and the easy way to mend them, as weUas to think, and speak, and act properly; no less care being takento form their hearts to goodness, than to enlighten their under-standings with useful knowledge" (rpt. Hearne 190). In thiscontext, Beaumont emphasizes Beauty's love of music andbooks, creating a heroine who is a "reading woman," an impor-tant concept at a time when the general population was only justbecoming a reading population and when Uterary heroinesrepresented a new kind of female protagonist, one who thinksand learns.

With this more developed character as a prototype, Disneyhad much to buUd upon when its writers and animators set outto create their version of Beauty, who they hoped would be athoroughly modern heroine, one who is interested in adventureand education. The screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, explainsthat

it's very difficult to take the originals and convertthem into a story that works for the Nineties----Youhave to consider what kids are Uke now in terms ofsophistication, you have to make sure that your themesare strong, that people can relate to the characters,that the story isn't sexist, (qtd. in Thomas 143)

To a certain extent, it can be argued that BeUe is a Ninetiesheroine. But Beauty and the Beast is essentiaUy a love story, andin many ways it is not even BeUe's love story as much as it is theBeast's. We can schematize it as "Beast gets girl, Beast loses girl,Beast gets girl back." In fact, as producer Don Hahn recaUs, thelate Howard Ashman, lyricist and executive producer ofthe film,

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understood this focus intuitively: "It was Ashman who reaUzed,contrary to tradition, that this had to be Beast's story. We didn'tagree with him right away. But he was right. The Beast was theguy with the problem" (qtd. in Ansen 80).

Sylvia Bryant, writing about Jean Cocteau's film version ofBeauty and the Beast, employs Teresa De Lauretis's reading ofWestern Uterature as always influenced by the oedipal myth tomake a simUar point from a more theoretical perspective:

Under the rubric ofthe Oedipal myth, woman's storyis/can be only man's story-which is, after aU, thesame old story. In other words, no story. De Lauretisexplains that this woman's dUemma as Other inOedipal narrative [is] in, appropriately enough, afairy tale frame of reference: "The end of the girl'sjourney, if successful, wUl bring her to the placewhere the boy wUl find her___[T] he itinerary of thefemale's journey . . . [Uke] her story, Uke any otherstory, is a question of his desire." (441)

In Beauty and the Beast, BeUe functions as a plot device evenmore than do heroines in many other fairy tales; she is necessaryto the Beast not just for romance, but to undo the speU he isunder. This point becomes obvious when BeUe first enters thepalace. As she tiptoes down the dark haUways, the enchantedhousehold objects are thrilled because she is "a girl, a girl! " WhUeher father's entry the previous night merely aroused curiosity,BeUe's appearance means much more because, as Lumière thecandlestick puts it, "She's the one, the girl we've been waitingfor! She's the one to break the spell! " This emphasis on how Bellehelps the Beast differs from the Beaumont version, in which theBeast's metamorphosis is only one aspect of a multifaceted story,and Beauty's character development is at issue as much as theBeast's. In the Disney version, it is BeUe's utility as female thatmost attracts the castle's inhabitants, and her beauty is a closesecond. BeUe's desires, her interest in exploration and educa-tion, have no meaning except in terms of how they can bemanipulated into a romance to benefit the Beast and the be-witched servants.

The squelching of BeUe's quest in service of the romanceplot demonstrates Rachel Blau DuPlessis's primary criticism ofthat genre.

As a narrative pattern, the romance plot muffles themain female character, represses quest . . . [and]incorporates individuals within couples as a sign oftheir personal and narrative success. The romanceplot separates love and quest, values sexual asymmetry,including the division of labor by gender, is based onextremes of sexual difference, and evokes an auraaround the couple itself. In short, the romance plot,broadly speaking, is a trope for the sex-gender systemas a whole. (5)

Necessarily inherent in this sex-gender system is the tendency todenigrate the female side of the relationship. In The Bonds ofLove: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and the Problem of Domina-tion, the feminist psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin critiques thegender polarity our culture insists upon because it creates a

fundamental imbalance wherein one pole dominates another,the male sex is subject while the female is object. Assigning thevalues of narcissism and primitiveness to the maternal role, andthe values of individuation and civiüzation to the paternal role,Freudian psychology impUcitly privUeges the father and deni-grates the mother: the paternal values are those the oedipal chUdmust achieve, and the maternal are those he or she mustrepudiate (140-41). Inevitably, the spUtting ofthe father and themother leads to the subjugation ofthe female and the dominanceofthe male.3

Beauty and the Beast, with its emphasis on a love relation-ship and its glorification of couples, is deeply imbued with theromance plot and the gender spUtting that such a plot encour-ages. But that Disney's production ofthe story, Uke Beaumont'sversion, begins with a focus on BeUe's inteUectual and inquisi-tive nature at first suggests that the film wiU depart from the oldnarrative cUchés. Throughout much of the movie's openingmusical number, "BeUe," BeUe is reading and continues to do sowhUe she expresses her desire to travel and learn about "some-thing more than this provincial Ufe." Education and travel havebeen categorized by Jerome Buckley as necessary steps in themale BUdungsroman:

A chUd of some sensibUity grows up in the country orin a provincial town, where he finds constraints,social and intellectual, placed upon the freeimagination___His first schooling, even if not totaUyinadequate, may be frustrating insofar as it may suggestoptions not avaüable to him in his present setting. Hetherefore, sometimes at a quite early age, leaves therepressive atmosphere of home (and also the relativeinnocence), to make his way independently in thecity. (17-18)

During "BeUe," it appears that BeUe's story wUl also be one ofgrowth, of a girl's maturation into womanhood. It is clear thatBeUe does not fit into her town; she is seen as "odd," "strange,"and "pecuUar" because she has "a dreamy far-off look / and hernose stuck in a book." Reading is the symbol of this difference.As Gaston, the brutish man who covets BeUe, so eloquently putsit, "It's not right for a woman to read—soon she starts gettingideas... and thinking. " Indicating her inteUigence and superior-ity, BeUe's reading is also the activity that critics seized upon topoint out her difference from former Disney heroines. Peopleclaimed, "Belle... is different because she's a feisty heroine whoreads books" ("Going Under Cover"). BeUe is repeatedly re-ferred to as a "bookworm," a "booklover," and "studious." AndWoolverton culminates a description of BeUe's character with"She's a Disney heroine who reads books. It excites me. We'venever seen that before" (qtd. in Thomas 143).

These discussions of BeUe's reading, however, overlookwhat BeUe actuaUy chooses to read. Beaumont, by contrast,makes clearwhat sort of reading herfemale students do. Describ-ing their analytic and interpretative powers, Beaumont insiststhat her students are intelUgent and educated because they areweU read: "Nowadays ladies read aU sorts of books, history,poUticks, phUosophy and even such as concern reUgion. Theyshould therefore be in a condition to judge solidly of what theyread and able to discern truth from falsehood" (qtd. Ui Hearne

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17). Presumably, these are the sorts of books Beaumont's story-teUer refers to when she points out that Beauty reads "goodbooks," unlike her sisters, who spend their time pursuingfrivolous activities such as attending "parties of pleasure" (rpt.Hearne 193). No such comparison is made in the Disney version.And although BeUe claims that she likes to learn about "far offplaces, daring sword fights, magic spells," this catalogue ofintriguing plotlines ends with "a prince in disguise." The lastitem increases in importance when BeUe sits down to read andsings,

Isn't it amazing?It's my favorite part because you see,here's where she meets Prince Charming,but she won't discover that it's him tul Chapter Three.

At this point, we can see a picture in her book that depicts ayoung man and woman together. WhUe it can be argued that thislook into BeUe's book anticipates BeUe's own story, it alsoemphasizes the depth to which the structure of the romanceplot penetrates the movie. The trait that makes BeUe different,more intelUgent, and more "Uberated" than previous Disneyheroines is that she Ukes to read books about Disney heroines.The book she holds reminds viewers of this fact with subtle and

insidious pressure.Throughout the movie, the writers advance the metaphor

of reading. Gaston's caUousness and stupidity are underscoredwhen he throws BeUe's book in the mud, later resting his filthyboots on it, and the most exciting part ofthe Beast's castle is itslarge, weU-stocked Ubrary. In fact, this Ubrary helps the Beastwoo Beauty; when he is trying to win her over, Cogsworth,Lumière, and Mrs. Potts, the enchanted household objects, urgehim to present her with the Ubrary. As wonderful as it is thatUteracy finds encouragement in a Disney movie (a point under-scored by the American Library Association posters featuring apicture of BeUe and the Beast in the latter's Ubrary), the intent ofits inclusion may extend beyond the desire to paint BeUe as aninteUectual. Maslin observes that BeUe

is the first conspicuously weU-read Disney heroine....Naturally, Disney is playing to parents' appreciation ofüteracy. But no doubt, this also has something to do withDisney's recent publishing ventures, since the companyhas shown amazing ability to spot opportunities forcommercial "cross-pollination"4 (16)

Maslin's point and my contention that BeUe's propensity forreading ultimately has Uttle weight in her development as anintelligent woman find vaUdity in the fact that BeUe is only onceshown reading, for a very Uttle time (exactly fourteen seconds)after she is given the Ubrary. We do not know what she is readingor what she thinks about it. In fact, as the paraUel commentaryofthe household objects confirms, this scene emphasizes BeUeand the Beast reading together and thus developing their rela-tionship more than it conveys the idea that BeUe is reading toincrease her knowledge or pleasure. Here is a crucial indicationthat BeUe's quest for adventure and education wiU be swaUowedby the romance plot.

Buckley connects education and the desire to travel; BeUe's

reading inspires her to leave her "provincial Ufe" and seekadventure. When she finaUy gets that chance, however, BeUe'smotivations change. As we have seen, DuPlessis explains that inthe typical romance plot, quest succumbs to love, and BeUe'scase is no exception. When BeUe sets off to find her father,Maurice, it seems her quest to explore "the great wide some-where" beyond her smaU town might be fulfiUed. To her credit,BeUe is adventurous and brave, as her determination to find herfather and her proposal that she take his place as a prisoner bothdemonstrate. Yet in these actions, BeUe's desire for adventuregets lost first in her need to take care of her father and second inher growing affection for the Beast, Eariier, when Maurice rodeoff on their horse, PhUippe, the viewer saw several seconds oftravel time and a few "shots" showing the changing location andthe day graduaUy turning into night, indicating that Maurice wascovering some distance. When BeUe jumps on the horse, theaction cuts immediately to the castle, with BeUe sitting onPhUippe right in front of the gates. Any sense of journey, of thetravel and exploration BeUe had yearned for, has been eradi-cated. Indeed, as the movie progresses, the castle seems to movecloser and closer to BeUe's village. BeUe's desire to see far-offlands and travel is visuaUy as weU as narratively squelched.'

In spite of BeUe's aspirations to educate herself, the filmlocates her real value in her capacity to nurture. The only humanfemale in the movie with more than two speaking Unes, BeUemust take on the responsibUity of caring for her father (to thepoint of self-sacrifice) and ministering to the Beast's physical andemotional wounds.6 BeUe's concern for her father finds prece-dent in eariier versions ofthe fairy tale. In these versions, BeUe'sfather is a merchant who has lost aU of his money in a commercialventure. Disney's Maurice, presented as a lovable, bumbling,absent-minded inventor, appears never to have had much moneyand needs Beauty's support and encouragement from the firstmoments that we see them together. When his Rube Goldberginvention fails, Beauty soothingly persuades him to try again,which he does. She acts as both mother and daughter to him. Infact, BeUe's concern for her father provides two crucial plotdevelopments. The first is Gaston's attempt to have Mauriceconfined to an asylum; he is certain that BeUe wUl consent tomarry him in order to have her father released. Since we havealready seen BeUe suggest such self-sacrifice in the Beast'sdungeon, we know that Gaston's assumption is correct.7 Later,after the Beast and BeUe have begun to faU in love, the Beastreleases her when he realizes how deeply she is concernedabout Maurice. BeUe's care for her father, not herself, is whatmotivates much of her action in the story. WhUe such commit-ment is commendable, it is typicaUy insulated, drawing a femaleprotagonist back into the famUy circle and denying her thechance to act for her own sake.8

BeUe's nurturing tendencies are also instrumental as shegrows fond of the Beast. WhUe cleansing his wounds afterwolves attack him, BeUe first develops positive feelings for him.Most significantly, not only the Beast's security but also the plotofthe story itself hinge on his obtaining BeUe's love. In order forthe speU to be broken and for the tale to reach its slatedconclusion, the Beast must cause BeUe to love him. Similarly, theGaston subplot pivots on the quest for Belle's affection. In bothplots, however, BeUe is the object of desire, not the activesubject. When the action ofthe film shifts to the castle, the point

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of view simUarly shifts to the Beast (where it had actuaUyoriginated, in the prologue). Finally, near the end ofthe movie,the Beast lies dying and BeUe cries over his prostrate body. Whilesome critics have suggested a feminist impulse in this reversal ofthe customary set piece of a prince kissing the body of a sleepingor wounded girl, the image seems more suggestive of the Pieta—the mother holding her dying son. In fact, the Disney bookversion uses the word "cradling" (90).

BeUe's entrenched maternity promotes the gender polariza-tion to which Benjamin objects. Indeed, "Beauty and the Beast,"more so perhaps than many other fairy tales, encourages genderpolarity to the point of celebration. Whereas other heroines faUin love with princes, Beauty must learn to love a man who isgrotesquely animaUstic. Many of the characteristics that makethe Beast ugly are exaggerations of normal male traits: his size,his hairiness, his gruffness, and his strength. Representing the"sexual asymmetry" and "extremes of sexual difference" typicalofthe romance plot, the Beast pushes these differences to theirlimits. They are even more evident in comparison to the rela-tively tiny and deUcate BeUe, a contrast that the film insistentlyprovides and that it sometimes exaggerates even further withthe use of shadows and Ughting.9 Furthermore, Disney's Beasthas an angry, violent streak that is not present in Beaumont'sversion. Her Beast is cordial, gentle and refined; as Beauty putsit, he has "virtue, sweetness of temper, and complaisance"(202). Disney's Beast, on the other hand, is characterized by aterrible temper, manifested through physical power, whichcauses him to tear apart his private chambers and frightens thecastle's inhabitants. The film's insistence on sexual difference,magnified when the Beast becomes the focus ofthe movie, wiUtake its toU on BeUe. Her traditionaUy unfeminine traits loseimportance as the film progresses. WhUe BeUe initiaUy appearsspunky, independent, and curious, her surrender to the seduc-tion of sexual difference, Uke the plot's surrender to romanticclosure, denies her that independence and forces her intosubjugation.

That the Disney writers portray the Beast as an ignorantmonster instead of as an intelUgent being also substantiaUychanges the meaning of Beauty's acceptance of him. WhenBeauty returns to her famUy and misses the Beast, she reaUzesthat she loves him for the quaUties that made him a pleasingcompanion, despite his unattractiveness; Beauty has learned alesson and grown as a result, just as the Beast, too, has changedand matured. Beaumont makes clear that this growth occurs asa result of nightly, shared dinners that receive significant narra-tive attention in her version. In the Disney film, this period ofmutual education is collapsed into a few moments of screentime, described in the book version as a period during which theBeast learns and Belle teaches. Note the language in the follow-ing passage:

Over the next few days, things began to changebetween Belle and the Beast. They were becomingfriends! Belle learned a lot from the Beast, too. Hedidn't know how to eat with a knife and a fork, so shetaught him. He didn't know how to read, so she readto him. She taught him how to feed birds and how toplay in the snow. (Singer 69)

Despite the declaration that "BeUe learned," it is clear here whoevolves and who stays essentiaUy the same. Disney consciouslydiscarded the dinner scenes, diminishing the reciprocity andmutual growth on which Beauty and the Beast's relationshiprests.

BeUe does seem to learn one lesson in the Disney movie: oneshould not form opinions of others based on how they look.Here, Disney does not modify Beaumont's version at aU. Al-though I respect the lesson that both Disney and BeaumontiUustrate, I must point out the danger lurking beneath it whenviewed from the perspective of the latent sexism in the tale. Itis BeUe and not the Beast who must learn to love ugliness andUteraUy embrace the bestial. The inclusion of Gaston in Disney'sversion does hint that handsome men are not necessarily goodmen, but again, that lesson is directed toward female viewers.Disney movies make no great strides in teaching boys that girlsneed not be beautiful in order to be desirable or interesting.

In addition to the changes in BeUe's and the Beast's charac-ters, Disney alters the secondary characters as weU, eliminatingsome and creating others, increasing the romantic aspects ofthestory at the expense ofthe didactic messages and moral develop-ment ofthe heroine. Disney excludes Belle's two sisters and the"fine lady" who visits the heroine's dreams, adds Gaston, andmodules the father's personaUty substantially. In Beaumont'sversion, the sisters are not only grubby and stupid but also self-centered. Moreover, they are deceitful, conspiring to trickBeauty into breaking her promise to the Beast even as theysecretly hope that he wiU kUl her in his rage. By omitting thesisters, the Disney version de-emphasizes most of the earUerversion's concern with virtue, further intensifying the focus onthe "romantic angle."

Another female character, the "fine lady" of Beauty's dreamswho appears in Beaumont and most of the tales that Hearneexamines (128-29), is absent in Disney's version. Counseling andsoothing Beauty, this fairy godmother guides Beauty to make"judicious" choices and is "crucial" to the plot (203, 128).Although I have taken issue with her primary purpose, which isto teach Beauty to look beyond appearances, I view her absenceas detrimental because it deprives Belle of connection to afemale character who has BeUe's interests uppermost in hermind. Unlike Mrs. Potts and the Wardrobe, the missing fairygodmother is a stand-in for Beaumont herself; both womencounsel and teach young female readers. Hearne points out thatof the versions she has studied, only those written by "Lamb,Crane and Cocteau (aU male!) feature no fairy godmother fig-ures" (129). Stronger than CindereUa's fairy godmother becauseshe is concerned with Beauty's ethical and mental development,this fine lady could have incorporated an important example offemale bonding and support in the Disney film.

The omission of the sisters and the fine lady is linked to thechange in character ofthe father in that both deletions weakenthe significance ofthe story. By simplifying and infantiUzing thefather's character, Disney dUutes the dramatic tension in thestory. For example, in Beaumont and virtuaUy aU subsequentversions, the father returns to his family and brings Beauty backwith him to the castle according to the Beast's demands, but inthe Disney version, Maurice is absolved of aU responsibUitywhen the Beast locks him up and later throws him bodily out ofthe castle. The reduction of complexity in this area again

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redirects our attention to the romance.Adding Gaston forces the issue of romance even further.

Except for Avenant in Cocteau's film, there seems no precedentfor the large role of Gaston in any other version of "Beauty andthe Beast. " In addition to the violence and brutaUty that Gaston'scharacter creates, his inclusion sets up a love triangle. He is, ineffect, the other man. That BeUe has no interest in Gaston doesnot diminish the romantic elements that he introduces. He isconsidered by the townspeople (most of aU himself) as a "catch";he arrives at BeUe's house to propose marriage; he conspires tohave Maurice committed to an asylum so BeUe wUl marry him,and with the same intent he incites the villagers to kUl the Beast.WhUe it may be argued that his character retains some of thenegative traits that Beauty's sisters represented in Beaumont'sversion, including crass superficiaUty and stupidity, his role aslover supersedes the potential that those characteristics have formoral edification.

Furthermore, Gaston's presence reinforces a violent, angryelement, also seen in the Beast, that is in itself objectionable.That Gaston's brutal and often sadistic actions are provoked bydesire for a woman invidiously links sex and violence in a culturethat far too often suffers the ramifications of that union. Morethan the obvious violence shown when Gaston stalks and thenattempts to kUl the Beast, subtle sexual violence is also impUedwith his character. When he visits BeUe to propose to her, BeUecontinuaUy shrinks from him as he towers over her and muscleshis way around her home. Pinning her against the waU andsending a chair flying, Gaston threatens BeUe with bodUy harmwhile he demands that she marry him.

Such imagery is common in Disney films. Michael Eisner,the chairman of Disney, has made it clear that he has no problemwith the depiction of violence. When asked what he thought ofmovie studios that routinely make violent films, he answered,"It's not a moral issue. I'm glad they do. " His opinion of whetheror not there is a distinction between cartoon and real violenceis simUan "I don't know the answer to that. I don't want to sit injudgment. I don't think about it that much" (qtd. in Auletta 48).He accuses those who are concerned with hypocrisy, chargingthat " [they] get on a platform and berate HoUywood for violenceUi the movies, on the one hand, and ignore the proliferation ofhandguns-something they could do something about-on an-other." Eisner's attempt to reUeve studios of any moral respon-sibUity is stunning.

If Disney claims to be updating fairy tales for contemporarychUdren by eliminating sexism and creating strong female char-acters, then Disney is subject to an examination of these aspira-tions. To be sure, it is important to remember that BeUe is animprovement on earUer Disney heroines. She is presented as amuch more weU-rounded person, with interests, goals, andaspirations. More than just a self-sacrificing, devoted daughter,BeUe shows gumption when she stands up to the Beast, curiositywhen she explores the forbidden West Wing, and rebelUonwhen she runs away from the castle.10 But these traits, Ui and ofthemselves, are not rewarded or acknowledged as the talecloses. The emphasis is on BeUe's nurturing tenderness, herbeauty, her sexuaUty, and her happUy-ever-after commitment tothe Beast. Each ofthe refreshing traits set up at the beginning ofthe story is diminished or eliminated. The importance of BeUe asa reader is greatly reduced. We do not see her travel beyond her

village and the neighboring palace. We do not know whethershe develops any new interests or ideas. Instead, we find her invirtuaUy the same position as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, andCinderella at the end of their stories: by the side of her prince.The capitulation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast to theromance plot is complete. Because it aspired to move beyondthis conclusion and snared us into thinking that it might, theDisney version is ultimately more dangerous than the mostblatantly sexist fairy tales. Recognizing this danger is the firststep in transforming that beast.

NOTES

I am indebted to Mitzi Myers, the "fine lady" of this paper, andtoJ.D.L.

'Throughout this paper, I use "Disney" when I refer to the WaltDisney Production Company. Its use is not intended to sUght thememory of Walt Disney, the man.

2If a film has a male main character, romance recedes inimportance. For example, it is only a subplot in The Lion King.

'For a deeper analysis of Benjamin's ideas in the context of fairytales, see Zipes.

4Stephen KUne demonstrates that Disney created this chUdren'smarket as far back as the 1930s with Snow White: "The feature-length Snow White did not only prove successful among thecritics and at the box office. It also showed the greatmerchandising potential of animated characters.... the immediateimpact of Snow White on Disney Licensing was remarkable....Snow White was the first indication of what would eventuaUybecome a multibilUon dollar revenue for the Disney empireconstructed around the copywriting [sic] of images" (118).KUne supports my beUef that Disney is not a benign reflector of"what kids want. " On the contrary, films such as Beauty and theBeast are deeply invested in shaping what chUdren want for theprimary goal of making money. If Snow White did so weU in the'30s, Disney has Uttle to gain by wandering far from that formulain the '90s, despite the significant and entrenched changes inattitudes toward women that transpired in the decades between.As KUne explains, "Business interests trying to maximize profitscannot be expected to worry about cultural values or socialobjectives beyond the consumerist cultural vector thatunderwrites commercial media" (350).

The concept of the journey is so intrinsic to "Beauty and theBeast" that Hearne characterizes it as one of the "enduringelements" of the tale in aU its variants and claims that journey "isthe framework of the story. . . . The outer journeys serve asvehicles for the inner journeys" (129-30). But Disney sees journeyas important only in terms of the goal of finding a man. In thefilm, BeUe tells her father, "It's just that I'm not sure if I fit in here.There's no one I can reaUy talk to." And her father then suggestsGaston. The "ClassicDlustrated" book, aDisney Press pubUcation,makes the point even more obvious: "Belle knew that [herfather] would prove himself to the world someday. And when hedid, maybe he would take her somewhere glamorous andexciting where she could meet her own Prince Charming" (1 2).

28 articles

The other prominent female presence is Mrs. Potts, the teapot.Indubitably female, Mrs. Potts is also a nurturing mother toChip, the teacup, and to aU the rest ofthe castle's inhabitants,including the Beast and Belle. Likewise, Belle's armoire ismaternaUy helpful. The feather duster, so obviously a version ofthe seductive French maid, is Ui the same mode as the threeblonde "bimbettes" in the village who stupidly pine afterGaston. In effect, then, aU the female characters in the film canbe characterized as madonnas or whores, except for BeUe, whois the sweet ingenue on her way to becoming a mother herself.

7BeUe1S sacrifice here has precedents in the earUer versions ofthe story. Because her father is a much stronger and more self-determined character in these versions, however, Beauty is notdepicted in such a maternal role.

"Maria Tatar notes that Bruno Bettelheim's reading of "Beautyand the Beast" further promotes that famUy circle. " [Bettelheim]finds that Beauty... provides [her father] with 'a happy life inproximity to his beloved daughter.' Beauty's devotion to herhusband and her father becomes the happy ending both to herown story and to Bettelheim's meditation on fairy tales" (xxv).

9WhUe any version of "Beauty and the Beast" wiU necessarilyportray the Beast as unattractive, it is possible to do so whilesimultaneously pointing to similarities between the two maincharacters in addition to their differences. In the MariannaMayer and Mercer Mayer version of the story, the Ulustrationsmake this subtle comparison. For example, the Beast andBeauty share similar physical characteristics, such as long,straight, flowing brown hau*.

10For a discussion of the heroine's curiosity in "Cupid andPsyche," a precursor to "Beauty and the Beast," see Tatar 148-49.

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June Cummins is a graduate student in the Department ofEnglish and Comparative Literature at Columbia Universityand is working on a dissertation on the female coming-of-agenarrative in the modern British novel.