Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as The Prince / Beast bond with a dance together.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Film Review by Marlene Ardoin
Gay images are included in this children’s fairy tale to the credit of Disney Pictures. The film very clearly illustrates that love and respect can be developed in spite of physical appearance.
I think that the power of this film deals with all kinds of diversity. It reinforces that kindness and shared values are what matter, not physical appearance.
Being gay could be switched out with being Black, Chinese, Russian, disabled, homeless or any other non-dominant segment of society.
The beautiful Belle, played by Emma Watson, is raised by a loving, but aging father (Kevin Kline as Maurice). Ageism is another theme.
Belle’s brutish suitor, Gaston (Luke Evans), has no compassion for her father or respect for his age, just like the Prince is repulsed by the appearance of the old woman, who offers him a beautiful rose in return for shelter.
I looked at the animated version of this story, which is exactly the same, except, when the dresser fights off the townsman by dressing him like a woman, in this live version, the man is delighted, in the animated version, he is embarrassed.
This is probably not how gays want to be depicted or remembered by the masses. It is a poor stereotype at best.
I’m going to have to look at the animated version again, but I don’t think the Beast shows her what happened to her mother in Paris, either.
This film also drives home the point that women are not successfully wooed by fear.
This is a form of abuse, not love. In fact, any form of entrapment, does not allow free will in a love relationship. This is an important shift in male and female relationships.
Fortunately, there are many examples of this new paradigm. Belle’s love for the Beast, Maurice’s love for his wife and daughter, and vice versa.
I found the live version of “Beauty and the Beast” more touching and heart opening, if not as light-hearted.
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4/11/2017 # Beauty and the Beast