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Feminism, Fairy Tales, and Taylor Swift – Come and get it!

by Buddy Lord
written by Buddy Lord

The girls talk Feminism and Fairy Tales

  • Extra special guest and one of the writers of our site – Kimberly talks to Xeviuss, Teresa, and myself.
  • The girls, Ie Teresa and Kimberly talk feminism and fairy tales
  • Kimberly talks modern stay stories as fairy tales of today
  • Xevius and Kimberly bond over their mutual love for pop singer Taylor Swift.
  • We discuss D23-2019, the new upcoming shows, and what Kimberly thinks of them
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EditorialTV and Film

Hollywood and Second Chances

by Buddy Lord
written by Buddy Lord

Open letter to Jon Favreau

I first saw you as Bateman in ‘The Replacements’, where you played alongside Keanu Reeves. I loved your character acting and found the movie ‘Swingers’ shortly after. It was fun, as a fan, to watch you grow as an actor into a director. ‘Zathura’ was a simple story, ‘Jumanji’ in space, but was well done and had heart. ‘Iron Man’ ushered a new form of cinema into Hollywood. Even though comic book adaptations had been done before, none of them made the lasting impact that ‘Iron Man’ did.

Obviously this was due in no small part to Robert Downey Jr. At the time he was somewhat of a risk. His younger badboy days had no doubt soured investors and producers to his talent. His journey back had already begun, doing films like ‘Tropic Thunder’ as a sort of mea culpa to the cinematic landscape, but ‘Iron Man’ put him back in the limelight. He went on to become the face of what we know now as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He was able to do that because you took a risk, as a fledgling director and probably friend, on his talent and ability to overcome his own demons. I think it takes great men taking great risks to achieve great things.

And that’s what you did.

In that same vein,

you’ve come now to be the showrunner for ‘The Mandalorian’, which for many disenfranchised Star Wars fans, is the last bastion and sliver of hope we have. Very little we’ve seen from D23-2019 excites us, because Disney has made it clear that we don’t matter. However your showing was different. The trailer for your show was interesting, gritty, and mysterious. It made many of us want more, and long once again to dream about the boundless universe of Star Wars.

This is the second chance we’re giving Hollywood and Disney to recapture our imagination, and our hearts. Many of us lost all hope after ‘The Last Jedi’, and felt cast aside by Disney and especially Kathleen Kennedy. We watched D23-2019 with bated breath in hopes it would deliver something to love. Your new series is the only program worth mention.

Rian Johnson laughed at his own fans, called us manbabies and worse, because we dared to criticize something we’ve spent a lifetime enjoying. Star Wars for so many is comfort food. It’s a reason to get together, to enjoy the company of someone like minded, who enjoys and loves what you love. The fandom, whether it’s ‘The Fandom Menace’, the ‘501 Legion’, or anyone else; is a family.

Welcome to the family.

You have a chance to rekindle the passion many of us have lost. I can only promise that if you do right by us, we’ll do right by you.

May the force be with you.

 

 

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EditorialTV and FilmUncategorized

The Cold Bothers Her

by Teresa Martin
written by Teresa Martin

The Cold Bothers Her

By Teresa Martin

The Snow Queen is the fairy tale upon which Frozen is loosely based. The original story by Hans Christian Andersen is a heavily pious, Christian narrative of the Devil, his servant the Snow Queen, and two children who become the victims and ultimately victors over a spiritual assault.  In true Andersen fashion, the narrative focuses on children as the spiritually strong, having within them the ability to see truth and beauty, and hence able to conquer. The fairy tale begins with a troll who is the most traditional villain and sparks the

conflict: 

“He was the very worst—the ‘devil’ himself. One day he was in a really good 
mood, For he had just finished making a mirror that could shrink the image of 
whatever was good and beautiful down to almost nothing, while anything 
worthless and ugly was magnified and would look even worse. ”   

     The mirror would actually laugh whenever in the face of piety.  But as in the myth told in The Bible, all was fun and games with the mirror until the demons got the urge to

…Fly all the way up to heaven to make fun of the angels and of God himself. 
The higher they flew with the mirror, the more it chuckled until finally they 
could barelyhold onto it. They flew higher and higher, closer to God and the 
angels, but suddenly the mirror shook so hard with laughter that it flew out of 
their hands and crashed down to earth, where it shattered in into a hundred 
million billion pieces and even more than that (Andersen, 19).

     The particles from the mirror scatter all over the world.  There are different effects on people depending on where pieces land.  The most apparent effect comes from the mirror as a symbol of truth, and hence, when it shatters, truth is shattered.  A piece of it gets in the eye, so that perception of what was true and good is distorted.  It “made everything looks bad or else it only let you see what was wrong with things.”  The worst though was when it went to a person’s heart for “their hearts became as cold as a chunk of ice” (Andersen, 22).  Maria Tatar, a master contemporary critic of fairy tales, sees the Devil in this story as “a kind of artistic Anti-Christ whose art consists in finding truth . . . through criticism and satiric distortion.”  As a result, this splintering is “the opposite of love, a power that unites and overcomes oppositions and antagonism.”  Tatar further elaborates in her commentary that “for many theologians, the devil is seen as the being that divides and creates enmity . . . The transition from plentitude and wholeness to division and sin reveals the action of evil in the world.  God’s creation is shattered and atomizes into isolated fragments and creates Hell on Earth” (Andersen, 22).

 

     Into the story come two children, Gerda and Kai.  This little boy and girl become friends, their homes sharing herbs and rosebushes.   Herbs stand for natural forces of good and evil because of their ability to heal or kill (Cirlot, 144).  The roses especially connect the children in their struggle.  Roses are a symbol for great beauty as well as great pain: the thorns.  Moreover, and applicable to Andersen’s tale, are that they are used traditionally to symbolize the Passion of Jesus, the journey made by Him that all of His followers are called to follow.  Often this is called the Christian’s Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa (Latin for “Way of Sorrows” or also translated “Grief” or “Suffering”).   Literally, this is the name of the road on which Jesus struggled in Jerusalem.  The children, especially Gerda, take this journey in “The Snow Queen” to the bitter yet happy ending.

It is begun when Gerda and Kai stand in front of the roses which were “unusually beautiful.”  Here they sing a hymn:

Down in the valley, where wild roses grow wild
There we can speak with our dearest Christ child.

 

Then, “the children held hands, kissed the roses, and looked up at God’s clear sunshine, speaking to it as if the Christ Child were right there.  The summer days were glorious, and it was heavenly to be outdoors near the fragrant rose bushes, which never seemed to stop blooming” (Andersen, 27-28).  Tatar describes “God’s great sunshine” as symbols of “warmth, clarity and divine powers” set “in opposition to ice, chill, bewilderment and diabolical forces” (Andersen, 27).

     The stage is set.  Let the battle begin!

And it does.  The Snow Queen had already made a first move the previous winter.  Kai had seen the villain the evening after Gerda’s Grandmother told them of her.  She had said that The Snow Queen is “Queen Bee” of the snow bees: the cluster of snowflakes that appears as bees, those beautiful creatures that work with nature, but also have a terrible sting.  The Queen travels at night through the streets to look into the windows of peoples’ homes.   In response to the story, Kai had cried out a challenge to The Snow Queen.  As if in response, she visited outside his window and beckoned, disturbing him.  Months later, during the following summer, Kai is touched by a shard from the demonic mirror, crying out that he feels he has been stung.   The shard strikes his heart, and a piece lodges in his eye.  He immediately starts to see everything as ugly, including his friend, but most notably the rosebush which he calls “digusting” and he kicks the boxes in which the roses grow.  He then starts insulting the stories Gerda likes calling them “for babies,” and makes fun of the kindly grandmother.  Curiously, some praise Kai for his insight by mocking anything “odd or unappealing,” even saying “That boy must have a good head on his shoulders” (Andersen, 29).  Others have been afflicted too.

When winter returns again, Kai shows an unusual interest in snowflakes.  He uses a magnifying glass to see them better and finds beauty there, for indeed they were “lovely to look at.”  Kai then cruelly says to Gerda, “They’re far more interesting to look at than real flowers!  They have no flaws at all, and they’re absolutely perfect, as long as they don’t melt.”  Tatar comments that ”Mirrors, glass, magnifying glasses, and window-panes form a symbolic nexus of hard, sometimes transparent substances that seem to heighten understanding and consciousness but in fact also impede it.”  They are things of “arresting beauty but sinister power” (Andersen, 27).

Beautiful, so long as they do not melt.

Snowflakes do in nature.  Remarkably fast.

Soon after, Kai is kidnapped by the Snow Queen who is now beautiful to him, and they fly away during a storm.  People assume that Kai is dead.  However “sunshine” tells Gerda that this is not true.  She puts on her best shoes, red-colored, and sets out to save her friend.  Before she can leave to begin her journey though, she has to sacrifice these beautiful shoes.  Tatar calls this a “sign of both vulnerability and vitality” (Andersen, 27).  Gerda is, and has, both.  Her first trial is being taken by an Old Woman who wants her for her own and bewitches her to forget Kai, not out of spite, but loneliness.  However, the woman becomes concerned when Gerda goes into the garden since roses will help her remember.  Knowing she can’t keep Gerda from flowers, she decides to surround her with every bloom except roses.  This disconcerts Gerda for she feels their absence, yet she cannot name them.  That is, until the Old Woman accidentally wears a hat with a rose on it.  Gerda then bursts out, “Why are there no roses here?” and she dissolves into tears.  These tears “water the earth” at a point where a rosebush had been removed and cause it to bloom again leading Gerda to remember Kai.  The roses speak to her then, letting her know that her friend is not dead, and the other flowers help to bring to memory the rest of who she is.  She leaves barefoot and so her feet become “tender and sore, and everything around her was so cold and raw” (Andersen, 42).

Her Passion continues

 

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     Next, Gerda comes upon a Prince and Princess who are able to tell her they saw Kai going into the castle of the Snow Queen.  Here she sets out again, being given a carriage, a horse and a pair of boots—the items she needs to physically continue her journey.  She meets up with others who help her.  When she loses her transport, she is given a reindeer to ride who with joy cries out when he sees the Northern Lights, and takes Gerda closer to her goal.  They come across “an old Lapp woman” and “the Finn woman” who Tatar points out are symbols of the “wise woman”, and the reindeer begs them to help Gerda.  The Finn Woman reveals that Kai has a glass splinter in his heart and eye, allowing Gerda to see that to which is facing.  Then the reindeer asks,  “Can’t you give Gerda something to drink that will make her more powerful than the Snow Queen?”  The Lapp woman replies:

I can’t give her more power than she already has. Don’t you see how much she 
possesses?  Haven’t you noticed how man and beast alike want to help her? Look
 how far she’s come in this wide world on those bare feet!  But we mustn’t tell her
 about her power. Her strength lies deep in her heart, for she is a sweet 
innocent child (Andersen, 57-59).

    Finally, Gerda makes it to the Snow Queen’s Castle, but once again she has lost her shoes, her mittens, everything that protects her from the cold.  She gets attacked, vulnerable, by a storm of living snowflakes, guards which the Snow Queen has around her fortress.  Gerda then begins to say prayers and the breath from her words turn into angels that repel the attack allowing her to continue.  The storm winds also die and she enters, only to find that Kai has “grown blue from the cold—in fact he had almost turned black . . . and looked like someone who had frozen to death” (Andersen, 62-63).  Gerda embraces her friend, weeping, her tears falling onto him thus melting the ice in his eyes and heart.  In that moment she sings the Christ Child hymn to him once more, the one that connected them with the roses.   Kai also cries, washing away the last of the shards.  They embrace.  Gerda kisses his cheek, eyes, hands, feet and he becomes whole.  Tatar here notes that kisses mean “compassion, romance, and redemption” (Andersen, 67).  The children leave together “hand in hand” and speak of the rosebushes.   The reindeer carries them away and they are given supplies by the wise women.  They arrive home where the church bells are ringing and the land has turned to Spring.  They go to Grandmother’s and upon entering they see that they have been turned into adults.  Moreover, they are surrounded by roses.

As grown-ups they sit in their childhood chairs.  The Snow Queen and the evil they had faced was “a bad dream” to them now.  The story ends with Grandmother “sitting in God’s bright sunshine and reading out loud from the Bible:

‘Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of God.‘ And 
Kai and Gerda looked into each other’s eyes, and suddenly they understood the 
old hymn ‘Down in the valley, where roses grow wild/There we can speak with 
our dearest Christ Child!’  There they sat, and they were grown-ups and children 
at the same time, children at heart. And it was summer— warm, wonderful 
summer (Andersen, 68).

     It is not that the cold did not bother them, but in the end, it didn’t bother them enough, for they were able to defeat what threatened them.

     “The Snow Queen”, like other Andersen tales, is frighteningly adult and decidedly different than Frozen in the characters and plot, but not as altered in themes as one might think.  Elsa, loosely corresponding to Kai, has been afflicted with something, that much is clear.  Her powers didn’t come from the Easter Bunny though, and Anna, corresponding to Gerda, does not share that affliction.  It is not genetic.  With Kai, however, it was his soul that was damaged.  He was not given any powers.  He was attacked and abducted by an evil force, a minion of the Devil, who hurts goodness out of mockery and spite.  That was the goal until itself.  Elsa, in contrast, was given a “frozen” power, but retains her purity of soul.  It is how others react to her power that causes her grief and self-inflicted estrangement from her sister Anna.  Elsa chooses to leave the kingdom out of fear for what she can do, she is not kidnapped.  Anna however, like Gerda, is an innocent soul full of love, so she will not let her sister just leave.  She seeks her out because she loves her.  She is her sister, as Kai is Gerda’s brother in friendship.   Anna’s journey includes assistance from a reindeer, a snowman, as well as a pure soul, Kristoff.   The evil character, Hans, is one who, like the snowflakes in the fairy tale, looks pleasing at first, but is cold, out to take away what was good in the royal family—motivated by power and, like the Devil, a usurper.

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     In her exile, Elsa builds her castle in a moment of liberation where she sings “Let it Go,” but all is not truly let go.  Though she slams the door singing, “the cold never bothered me anyway,” the lie in that is illustrated by her great sorrow when Anna finds her.  This is the moment in which Elsa is closest to  Andersen’ s Snow Queen as she afflicts Anna’s heart, but not out of spite or jealousy.  It is by accident.  Later, her love and tears, like Gerda’s, free her dearest one from the curse of the ice-cold heart.  The triumph of Elsa, the beauty of her ability and the healing within, is shown as the movie ends when she happily creates an ice-rink that all her subjects enjoy.

There has been a lot of speculation about for what Elsa’s plight is a metaphor, but Elsa’s plight is universal enough that it can stand for the stigmatisms that all experience at least once is their lives.  Everyone is Elsa.  What the stigmatism is and the degree of the price paid for being who one is varies with the ever shifting, malleable winds of popular opinion which dictate “acceptable” prejudices and the unacceptable.  The “devil” indeed laughs his way through the hurt inflicted on the Elsas.  No ideology is immune to these traps.  Targeting, isolating, shaming and other bully tactics are epidemic and shockingly acceptable in popular culture if the “correct” person is doing it.  And it hurts.  The cold bothers.  Sometimes a shard stings, sometimes just dulls after years, and sometimes it returns again and again and again and again bringing death in its wake.

Yet there is always a light in darkness, and that is the point which Frozen accomplishes.  As long as light is there, somewhere, sometime, there is always a hope that the hatred and death heaped upon the Elsas will turn into the glorious beauty she is surrounded with at the movie’s conclusion.

As it was with Gerda.  The thorns bring the roses.  It has always been thus, and always will be.

     The cold does bother.

Yet even when the rose petals are gone, there is hope because Spring will come.

And then as both “children and grown-ups together” within reach will be Andersen’s “warm, wonderful summer.”

If you have but the courage to believe in it.

*Originally Published in 2014 in “Once Upon A Fan
Updated for onKULTURE

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TV and Film

DNQFE Ep. 46 “Mayor McCheese” Recap

by Pixel Traitor
written by Pixel Traitor

Hidden in the shadow of larger streams on Thursday nights, a scrappy group of illustrators square off in a battle of talent and wit that often leads to the best 2+ hours of free entertainment many have yet to discover. In its 46-episode run (so far) Drawn & Quartered: Fan Edition has proven to be a platform to showcase new and exciting talent as well as a source of hilarious and raucous amusement;  last night was no exception.

 

What is DNQFE?

A Brilliant tribute to Peter Mayhew by Jim O’Riley

Drawn & Quartered: Fan Edition (DNQFE) is a live drawing competition that airs every Thursday night at 7pm PST on the FanSpeak YouTube channel. Artists are given 2 hours to create their best rendition of the night’s topic. The best part? Winners get to move on to the “Pro Edition” and face off against a group of professional artists the following week.

Previous episodes have included super heroes, anime characters and even homages to recently deceased entertainers;  the Peter Mayhew tribute was surprisingly heartfelt.

The only rules to the competition are that the final artwork must be presented in black and white (grayscale)  and the content must be a spicy PG-13 or below. During an early episode there was a heated debate as to whether “cool gray” or “warm gray” were considered colors; it was later decided that the tones were too colorful and wouldn’t be accepted in future episodes.

Cool, but why Mayor McCheese?

The good Mayor

DNQFE is the “Fan Edition” of Drawn & Quartered (DNQ), the show that inspired it. That show is hosted on the YouTube channel of Mike S. Miller every Wednesday at the same time slot.

Mayor McCheese is the name of a guest that regularly sits in the main show’s chat and taunts participants. His most recent mission was to have DNQ regular Gary Shipman “Sent to the Fan Edition”. Everyone agreed and soon afterward last night’s episode came to fruition. Not to be left out of the fun, former DNQFE winner, and regular on DNQ, Matthew Weldon requested he also be a part of the show.

What happened next was YouTube gold.

We have a winner!

art by Zack Bradley

For the better part of two and a half hours the crew of 10 covered a ton of topics, much of which involved various fast food stories, preference for chicken restaurants and even a brief history lesson of mascots long forgotten. Sound odd? Absolutely! But the chat was engaged the entire evening, the artists were producing amazing work and the laughs rolled throughout.

In the end though, there can be only 1 winner and the night’s votes were extremely close. Newcomer Zach Bradley took the win and will appear on Wednesday night’s “Pro Edition” to represent the fan show.

Catch last night’s episode on the FanSpeak.live channel. Or just check out some of the amazing pieces in the show’s dropbox gallery.

What’s next?

The next episode of DNQFE will air Thursday, August 15th at 7pm PST / 10pm EST and will feature BOMBSHELL, a character created by J. Ishiro Finney.

 

Pixel's Disclaimer
Now would probably be a good time to disclose that I created the show last year and may be a little bias in my feelings about it. However it doesn’t change the fact that the program regularly pulls a couple hundred views and has high participation from fans posting along with the show on Twitter. Let me know what you think!
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EditorialFeaturedTV and Film

Buddy’s Notes – Hobbs and Shaw is ‘frostier’ than you think ((Spoilers))

by Buddy Lord
written by Buddy Lord

At first glance,

Hobbs and Shaw starring Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham seems like a call-back to action movies of the 80’s and 90’s. It’s absolute adrenaline infused action meant to keep you on the edge of your seat. The fighting scenes make you question what a human body is capable of, and the special effects border on being unintentionally comical. It’s a ‘Superhero movie’, and unlike the rest of the ‘Fast and the Furious’  franchise, these guys don’t need cars to show how super they are.

But is that it?

There are both subtle and unsubtle undertones drafted throughout the movie, that I haven’t seen brought to light, and me being who I am, want to wax poetic about them. To do that, let’s first talk about conflict.

No, not that kind of conflict.

Conflict is a dramatic or literary term meaning the engine that drives the story forward. Protagonists all have a ‘want’, and antagonists oppose that ‘want’; within this basic structure we create the forces that oppose our heroes in any given story. So what are the forces that oppose Hobbs and Shaw? Well, it’s more than just a wannabe Illuminati.

In literature there are 7 basic conflicts.

  • Person vs. Person
  • Person vs. Self
  • Person vs. Fate/God(s)
  • Person vs. Nature
  • Person vs. Society
  • Person vs. the Unknown/Extraterrestrial
  • Person vs. Technology/Machinery

Of the seven: Hobbs and Shaw face each other, themselves, nature, society, and machine.

Why do I care?

Because you’re smart, or you want to be, so pay attention and get a lesson in Frosty film-making.

Most of these conflicts are external and easy to see, but Hobbs and Shaw imposes by its nature an external conflict to the audience, not only themselves. That being Person vs society.

Let’s see how the movie sets that up.

Unlike some other franchises that try to hide their female heroines in masculine-looking malaise, Hobbs and Shaw shows the beauty and grace in their titular new female character right away.

Hattie Shaw, portrayed by Vanessa Kirby, bursts onto the scene as a graceful and powerful combatant. She doesn’t need a narrator to tell us how much of a hero she is, the story does that for her. In a moment of loss, she sacrifices her own body for the good and service of everyone. Because that’s what a hero does, right?

She’s beautiful, agile, and cunning, but she’s also soft and emotional. When her physical ability isn’t enough, she often uses her guile and charm. More than that, she’s not afraid to love or be affectionate with those she calls family.

Hobbs and Shaw are the epitome of masculine mythos and some would call them examples of ‘toxic male’ behavior’. They’re both strong, capable combatants whose abilities go far beyond how well they can fight.

Hobbs is an excellent tracker, and despite his huge stature, also a bit of a creme-puff. No, not in the way that he would let someone sleep with his wife, but in the fashion of having a high emotional understanding of those around him. That’s part of what makes him a great tracker, he can get into people’s heads.

He has a daughter which grounds him, and because of his job and selfless obligation to everyone else’s family, has lost his own family.

 

 

Shaw is logical, methodical, and surgical. His means of dealing with any given situation is to have a plan in place and a contingency for that plan. He doesn’t think one move ahead, he’s thinking an entire game ahead, but despite his pride, he still holds a special place in his heart for humankind and their capacity to both love and evolve.

Shaw’s character has seemingly always been for himself, but has shown himself to have heart, and to never go too far. In this installment of the franchise we see just how deep his love goes, and to what depths he was willing to be forgotten, even in the eyes of his family, to do the right thing.

That’s a character trait too many heroes go without, now a days.

The villain of the movie is Brixton, played by Idris Elba. He single handedly takes out six MI-6 operatives without breaking a sweat, and puts a dent in the back of a steel door. He’s ridiculously powerful and incredibly driven, but he also has a flaw that becomes the keystone for his demise.

Brixton once worked with Shaw as an operative for the government, both of them were recruited by the wannabe Illuminati. Shaw refused and Brixton caved. In exchange for capitulation, Brixton was given a body that is more machine than man, turned into, in his own words, a ‘Black Superman’. The wannabe Illuminati believe that technology and not people are the way to move forward. That manipulation and control, not love or understanding is the only way to speak to people. They want to control all the media and the mankind in the world, to feed them whatever message they want. Beginning to sound familiar now?

So Hobbs and both Shaws are examples of the iconic female and masculine form in both physicality and spirituality. This paradigm rails against what Hollywood has been pushing for the past decade, and especially recently.

While Brixton is someone who didn’t want to be alone, sacrificed everything he was including being human, and in the end paid the price because he couldn’t do what his masters wanted of him. Kind of like how certain factions of people often ‘eat’ their own.

The main mcguffin of the movie is the ‘Snowflake’ virus, which is the biggest key to understanding the societal conflict. Snowflake is a fairly common colloquial phrase for an over emotional person who can’t handle life, who is so unique and thus like a snowflake, that living in every day regular existence is vexing. So what does the snowflake virus do in the movie? It kills the ‘weak’ and leaves the strong to survive, the strong being those who the wannabe Illuminati chooses. So what does this sound like? Well they say it without pointing to it, the Snowflake Virus is viral media, and it’s specifically designed to kill anyone who opposes wannabe Illuminati. By suffocating or strangling their market exposure, and leaving them to linger in the anguish of being forgotten.

Capitulate or die. Sounds like some Social media platforms I’ve seen around lately.

 

Diagnosis?

As cool as the other side of the pillow – Check out this movie.

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EditorialTV and FilmUncategorized

Beauty

by Teresa Martin
written by Teresa Martin

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BEAUTY

by Teresa Martin

One of the most familiar expressions about beauty is that it is “more than skin deep.” This refers to the belief that it is the soul which determines whether a person is truly beautiful.  However, there is great deal of difficulty in expressing this notion since the nature of beauty is often subjective.  Yet there has been a gift to the world which explores and explains this attribute better than any other love story has: that of “Beauty and the Beast.”  This story succeeds because the tale’s protagonist is arguably the greatest character in fairy tale fiction, and also the very namesake of this quality.  Modern audiences outside of France are more apt to use her French name, Belle, due to Disney’s 1991 cartoon.  This story is able to provoke strong emotional reactions because it succeeds in uniting two very seemingly different characters in a convincing manner since neither Belle nor the Beast is perfect and, as they get to know each other, they journey together through a transformative process which leads to true love.  This is symbolized by the persistent symbol of resurrection through the use of light and a rose.  While there are many versions of this story, three particularly illustrate these symbols and themes: the original French story, the classic Disney cartoon, and the version in the fantasy tv show Once Upon a Time.  The last incarnation is worthy of note since it explicitly recognizes the theme of the story by its title, and in doing so, ingeniously takes a twist on its definition.  All three however, though written years apart and for different audiences, utilize the key symbols to show that the process of transformation is wrought with sorrow and pain, but also yields the inexplicable ecstasy of true love.

The first major written version of “Beauty and the Beast” was authored by Madame de Villeneuve in 1740 and published in a ladies magazine.  Villeneuve presents a fascinating portrait of Belle as a character.  She is the youngest daughter of a wealthy merchant with six brothers and five sisters.  When her father’s business fails due to misfortune, the family is uprooted and forced to live as peasants in the countryside, performing the grueling work that accompanies this lifestyle.  After the move, Belle is introduced into the story.  She too experienced the disappointment of losing their comfortable lifestyle, but in contrast to her sisters who remained bitter and spiteful, Belle responded with “perseverance . . . .“firmness,” and a “strength of mind beyond her years . . . . [she] made up her mind to the position she was placed in . . . .‘’ and decided “not to long for their old life. . . .” (Villeneuve, 227 ).”  Villeneuve’s final description of Belle mentions that she is beautiful.  This is nearly a passing reference, clearly indicating that it is not her physical appearance that gives Belle her beauty, but rather the aforementioned qualities.

Another definable characteristic that separates Belle from other fairy tale heroines is that the author emphasizes Belle’s superior intelligence, having received along with her sisters a formal education.  She is especially talented in music.  Belle uses these skills to adapt to her new circumstances.  Because she chooses to be happy, rather than wallow in misery, her sisters feel that she is flawed.  The writer points out that this stems from jealousy and that “every intelligent person” sees Belle for who she is and prefers her to the others (Villenueve, 228).”  This implies that those who mock her spiritual strengths are quite the opposite.

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Once Belle is established as having the strength of character to overcome adversity, she begins her journey to romantic love when she asks her father to bring her a rose.  In symbolism the rose equates beauty with the pain present in its thorns.  Hence the rose foreshadows the trials and sufferings which the characters face.   A rose is also connected with passionate love, especially when it is red.  Belle’s request to her father unwitting puts in motion her transformation from a young lady who is passionately good, to one who passionately falls in love.  True to his promise, her father, having stumbled upon the Beast’s castle to take shelter, picks one rose from the garden.  Then the Beast appears to accuse him of stealing and threatens to put him to death.  Belle’s father pleads for his life, mentioning his family.  The Beast agrees to the father’s safety in exchange for one of his daughters.  The only stipulation is that she must come of her own free will.  Of what the father and the reader are unaware is that this is a situation set up by the Beast’s very own fairy.  The Beast is not being cruel to the father, nor is he inclined to kidnap young ladies.  However, he had been cursed by a jealous fairy that was refused by the Beast.  In revenge she made him into a monster unable to express his intellect.  The only way he could be restored was to have a woman agree to marry him of her free will.   The Beast was advised to make this ultimatum on Belle’s father because the good fairy had herself picked Belle as the woman who would be suited to break the curse.

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Belle does succeed, but not without a great deal of personal and spiritual trials.   Upon arriving at the Beast’s castle and finding that she was to be left alone all day, she recognizes that she is in danger of suffering from melancholy.  Hence she chooses to stave that off by looking to improve her intelligence and talents.  The only time she meets with the Beast is at dinner where the conversation is dull and always ends with an awkward proposal from him.  This is disconcerting for Belle because he is so sad, but pity is not enough to compel her to marry a Beast.  Every night however, Belle has happy dreams where a handsome prince comes to her and with whom she finds stimulating and intelligent conversation.  She begins to fall in love with this dream-prince and always looks forward to bedtime so that she can be with him.  As pleasant as their time spent together is, now and then the Prince chastises her for refusing to look beyond what she sees physically.  He is pointing out that Belle, though nearly perfect in every way, still has a certain snobbery which prevents her from perceiving the beauty in the Beast’s soul.  This is due to the fact that she is focused on his looks and poor intellect.   The reader guesses at once that the Prince is the Beast visiting Belle in his true form through the venue of a dream, often the means of spiritual communication in myth.  Partly due to interactions with her nighttime lover, Belle becomes more sympathetic and fond of the Beast, gradually seeing the good qualities in him.

When the Beast allows Belle to make a visit home, she is late returning and finds the Beast near death.   Seeing him in this state, and the thought of losing him, reveals to her that she loves him.  She agrees to become his wife, and the Beast abruptly leaves her.  Belle, used to this routine, is not concerned and merely retires to bed.  Here she dreams that her handsome prince is lying as though dead.  She then wakes up to the brightest morning she has ever experienced at the castle and is startled to see her prince lying beside her, albeit on a couch.  She realizes that this is the Beast transformed, having gone through death and resurrection in the dream.   Because this occurs when they are actually sleeping together, it is revealed in a discreet manner that Belle and her Prince are not only in love, but also passionate lovers.  After he wakes up, they marry.  It does not take a great amount of imagination to know what happens next.  The rose, which began the journey, has completed its purpose.

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A rose plays a different role in the 1991 cartoon, though it retains its meaning of romantic love.  The Beast has a limited time to find someone to love and earn her love, or he can never break the curse. The rose serves as a time-keeper.  As each petal falls, the Beast’s hope for true love is depleted.  Belle is introduced in the movie as the woman who will save him.  However, unlike the Villenueve character, she is not admired for her intelligence by those in her village, but is considered strange and an object of gossip.  Because she feels she does not fit in and that nobody understands her, she constantly wishes for more than her “provincial life” and dreams of adventures with somebody to share it.   Belle receives a rude awakening from this fantasy when her father is captured by the Beast and she trades her life for his.  She reconsiders her dismissive attitude towards her former life explicitly in the expanded stage version.  After she is locked up in her room she laments: “What I’d give to return to the life that I knew lately/And to think I complained of that dull provincial town!”  Belle has learned that that there are worse fates than living comfortably in the countryside.

As Belle begins to have a more mature view of life, the Beast also journeys away from his childish behaviors.  He begins a transformation away from his beastly identity as he, through his friendship with Belle, matures and ceases to have temper tantrums whenever he does not get his way.  As the two characters open up to each other, they realize that they have a great deal in common and fall in love.  Two scenes are particularly endearing and illustrate this.  One shows Belle and the Beast having a snowball fight where they clearly are not inhibited in their enjoyment of each other’s company. The other, in the stage and extended version of the movie, is a charming scene in which they read together, showing that the Beast shares her love of books.  Following this is the iconic “Beauty and the Beast” number which sweeps the audience along with the main characters into high romance as they dance the night away in the ballroom.  When Belle declares her love for the Beast, his curse is broken and he goes through a physical transformation in great beams of light.  The Beast, now in his true human form, moves to Belle, and they have a first kiss that is anything but mildly chaste.  The last image the movie presents is the happy couple dancing with the fully restored red rose between them, signifying their romantic and passionate love for each other.

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These internal spiritual journeys are not made by Belle in the Once Upon a Time episode “Skin Deep.”  Once Upon A Timewas a fantasy tv show where af airy tale and literary characters have been transported to modern-day America. They constantly switched between their fairy tale home, The Enchanted Forest, and Maine. It is here that the story of Beauty and the Beast was presented in a unique way. Belle is completely herself, but the “beast” is the fairy tale character Rumplestilskin. Belle makes a deal to go with Rumplestiltskin “forever”  in exchange for him using magic to save her kingdom from a terrible war. When Belle first appears she is already a mature woman who decides her own destiny.   While she is frightened of Rumplestiltskin at first, this evaporates rapidly and she is quickly her playful self with him.  If there was a transformation for her, it does not occur onscreen.  Rather, the focus is on Rumplestiltskin’s journey as he takes her in, not to break a curse, but to have a housekeeper.  Slowly she endears herself to him, and he begins to change, especially when she falls from a ladder into his arms and light floods the room.  He blinks, showing that this is something new to him.   His acceptance of this new light is explicit since he tells Belle to leave the blinds as they are.   The scene is not merely exceptional because it is a moment of transformation for the Beast, but like the Villanueva version, it is full of sexual imagery.   As Belle is held by Rumplestiltksin, sweat is visible upon him and she breathes heavily.  He drops her as one who has been burned, and he likewise shakes out his hand. Later he formally expresses his feelings when he presents her with a single red rose.  This is not just a flattering gift.  A single red rose signifies both romantic and carnal love.

Because it is Once Upon a Time’s signature style to have an original take on a fairy tale, the struggle in “Skin Deep” has as its center not Belle’s change to see the good behind the Beast– this she achieves rather easily–but rather the Beast’s battle to see the good inside him.  Rumplestiltskin is the one who must learn that beauty is more than “Skin Deep” and that his outward ugliness does not match his inner soul.  Belle presents this to him when they kiss.  His inability to handle the revelation is shown by his terrifying rage.   All of his love for her, and his feelings of betrayal lead to the violence he inflicts on his possessions.  He is venting more than anger.  His destruction has all the energy of a man in the throes of passionate love.  The fact that this results in destroying precious objects also illustrates that he is trying to destroy the rapture within him which nearly succeeded in breaking his curse.  When Belle reminds of him of this, he screams at her to “shut the hell up.”  He refuses to listen because it would mean that his outward self really did not reflect his inner one.   If he acknowledges that he is more than he appears to be, he would not be capable of doing the terrible deeds he commits.  When he meets with Belle the following morning, significantly the sun is shining through the windows.  Bathed in this light he tells her to go.  He is not just rejecting her, but also his transformation.  In the season one finale, Rumplestiltskin accurately sums up his time with Belle as “a brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness.”  The good news is…not spoiled here! But be assured, if you persevere to the finale of the series, you will not be disappointed in their “happily ever after”.

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All iterations of “Beauty and the Beast” focus on the necessity and achievement of transformation. This is why the story of “Beauty and the Beast” has enthralled people for hundreds of years.  When reading the story, or seeing the cartoon and Once Upon A Time, it is nearly impossible not to be drawn into the characters’ lives and even to reflect on one’s own choices. That is why the “Tale as Old as Time” lives on. Adaptations vary, but the unifying symbol for all the Belles and Beasts is that single, red rose. It is their signature, and it proclaims to all that love is always present throughout the tribulations, and ultimately, the Beauty, of life.

Work Cited

Madame de Villeneuve. “The Story of the Beauty and the Beast.”  Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from those of Perrault and Other Popular Writers.  Public Domain.

*First Published August 2012 on the fansite “Once Upon A Fan”
Updated for “onKULTURE Magazine”

 

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