Fairy Tales: Thoughts on Disney's Beauty and the Beast

Hello, Mythical Creatures!

Today, I just wanted to share my thoughts on Beauty and the Beast, the Disney movie. I know there is quite a bit of controversy over this, but these are just my views. You don't have to agree with me. :)

First of all, Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite Disney movie.

I want to share my thoughts on why this movie was revolutionary and brilliant for its time.

I love that Belle doesn't fit in, is a reader, smart, and won't just marry some guy because he's cute.

Thankfully, this movie goes against many stereotypes, like women can't be smart, and can't or shouldn't read. Belle loves to read, and isn't a typical princess in need of rescuing. In fact, she does the rescuing: she rescues her father. That is brilliant, and upends so many stereotypes already.

Also, she's practical, and will stand up for herself. She will not marry Gaston, no matter what the town thinks of her, and no matter what he threatens. She wants to marry someone who is smart and caring, and she's not afraid to make that known. Gaston comes to propose to her, and she slyly throws him out.

Another thing that resonates with Belle for me is she doesn't quite fit in. She's not like the other girls in town, and no one really knows what to make of her. However, she doesn't give up her dreams, hobbies, or character in order to fit in. Despite all this, she is still a hero and celebrated as a Disney princess, which overturns stereotypes all over the place.

• Gaston, who's supposed to be the hero, is the villain, and the Beast, who is supposed to be the villain, is the hero.

Although this storyline seems familiar or common, it went against the stereotype of the handsome prince coming and saving the day, by killing the hideous creature. Although this storyline is extremely old as well, for whatever reason, in American society, it is less prominent. If you are interested in different versions of and stories related to Beauty and the Beast, I posted a couple posts on it. Here are the links: Part One, and Part Two.

In any case, the amazing thing about Beauty and the Beast is the Beast did not start out as a good character. He treated Belle terribly, had a horrible temper, and although he wanted to find love, it could be argued his main reason for wanting to fall in love (at least, at the beginning) was so he could have his human body back, because he hated his beast form. However, slowly, he grew to care for Belle, partially because Belle was honest with him. For example, she refused to come to dinner, and yelled at him to control his temper. By the end of the movie, the Beast transformed, physically, but also emotionally. He was able to care for someone else, learned to work through his problems instead of run away from them, and learned what the Enchantress wanted him to learn. In short, his heart changed.

Beauty and the Beast teaches the Beast, but also the children/people watching, in the Enchantress's words, that “Beauty lies within.” Truly. Beauty and the Beast accomplishes this so well by making the handsome man be the villain, and the horrific Beast be the hero.

In any case, these are some of my thoughts on Beauty and the Beast. However, I just wanted to mention one more thing. The Beast did not treat Belle well at all when she first arrived at his castle. I love this movie because the Beast's heart changed, not because he treated her so terribly.

Those are just a few of my thoughts, and why I love Beauty and the Beast so much! What's your favorite Disney princess movie? Why?

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: 

https://pixabay.com/en/nature-roses-romantic-nice-love-3061486/

https://pixabay.com/en/library-education-wisdom-3115371/ 

Books: Fairy Tales: Hans My Hedgehog, or the Compilation of Tales Based on and Similar to the Greek Tale of Cupid and Psyche Part Two

Hello, Friends.

Today, we are continuing with our plot chart of Cupid and Psyche and similar stories. Dragomir named it, obviously, and helped a little with the first half, but it got too late for Dragomir to do one or two of the stories, like he originally was supposed to do. What with the emailing back and forth and all, it's fairly complicated.

If you missed the first half, here it is: http://onthebreathofadragonswing.blogspot.com/2016/08/books-fairy-tales-hans-my-hedgehog-or.html

Climax:


3) Cupid and Psyche: Psyche lights a candle to see who is in her bed, but then Cupid wakes up, and because she did not trust him, suffers many wounds. He leaves.


3) Hans My Hedgehog: (Anthony Minghella Version) Hans's wife throws his hedgehog skin into the fire, which burns him. He tells her he is under a curse, and if she had waited three days, he would have been freed. The curse makes him fly out the window.

3) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: The girl lights a candle, but drips wax on the man, who was cursed to be  a polar bear by day. He then explains he now has to go marry and extremely ugly princess, but if she had waited one year, they both would be free. She wakes up in a patch of grass.


Falling Action: (two parts)


4a) Cupid and Psyche: Psyche travels far and wide to find him, and eventually learns that he is staying with his mother, Aphrodite.


4a) Hans My Hedgehog: (Anthony Minghella version) Hans's wife travels far and wide to find him. Eventually, she has a dream of a small house. Although she does not know it, the house is Hans's childhood house. Both his parents died. She wakes up in the house.


4a) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: The girl goes to search for him, and meets three old ladies, who each give her a gold item. They direct her to the East Wind, who takes her to the West Wind, who takes her to the South Wind, who takes her to the North Wind, who knows where the castle east of the sun and west of the moon is. He takes her there.

4b) Cupid and Psyche: Aphrodite sets Psyche three impossible tasks, which Cupid secretly helps her with.


4b) Hans My Hedgehog: Hans's wife finds Hans there and rushes to him. He turns into many different types of animals to try to get away, but she holds on tight.


4b) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: The girl goes to the castle, and plays with her golden things. The ugly princess wants to buy them, but the girl will only exchange one for a night with the prince. However, when she sees him, he is drugged and will not wake. This happens the first two nights, but then some kind people living in the castle tell the prince that a girl had been in his room crying for the past two nights. Then, the prince pretends to drink the sleeping potion, but doesn't. The third night, they make a plan. The day of the wedding, they carry out their plan.


Resolution:


5) Cupid and Psyche: Psyche accomplishes the tasks with help from Cupid, then Cupid appeals to Zeus, asking if he can make Psyche a goddess. Zeus has favor on them, and grants Cupid's wish. Cupid and Psyche live happily ever after.

5) Hans My Hedgehog: (Anthony Minghella version) Finally, Hans turns into a human, the spell is broken, and they live happily ever after.


5) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: Their plan works, they defeat the ugly princess, and they live happily ever after.


This is how it would look on a plot chart:

Did you like these stories? Did you think it was interesting to line up the different plot points of these stories in this way?

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: 

https://pixabay.com/en/switzerland-castle-estate-buildings-77104/

https://pixabay.com/en/fire-fireplace-censer-burn-443928/

https://pixabay.com/en/cupid-eros-greek-love-myth-psyche-1295027/

Books: Fairy Tales: Hans My Hedgehog, or the Compilation of Tales Based on and Similar to the Greek Tale of Cupid and Psyche Part One

Hi, everybody. I should not have let Dragomir name it. I promised him he could, though. Also, sorry this post is late. I got too busy to do it last night. :(

Greetings, Readers,
The purpose of today's plot chart is to engage the minds of our readers and ponder the similarities and dissimilarities of these texts. Prior to us beginning, you must harbor adequate knowledge of the Greek Tale of Cupid and Psyche, or, one of its many similar narratives. 

Dragomir's basically saying you have to know the basic story. If any of you have watched the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, you should be pretty well off, although there are minor differences throughout the stories.

If you would prefer to acquaint yourself with the original tales, here are the entire texts of each edition.
Hans My Hedgehog (Grimm): http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm108.html
 Jim Henson's "The Storyteller," by Anthony Minghella, seems to give a  moderately dissimilar account. This is taken into consideration in our plot chart.
Cupid and Psyche (Greek Myth): http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cupid.html
East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Norwegian Fairy Tale): http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/norway034.html
Numerous present-day novels revolve around this fairy tale. Spruce has read one entitled Sun, Moon, Ice, and Snow, by Jessica Day George.
Beauty and the Beast: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html

Exposition

1) Cupid and Psyche: Aphrodite hates Psyche because everyone says she is more beautiful that Aphrodite, and she must get sacrificed to a monster

1) Hans My Hedgehog: Hans is born, part hedgehog and part human, and his father doesn't like him

1) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: A girl is very poor, and a bear offers her family riches if she will go with him
(I'm not including Beauty and the Beast because you already know a version of that story.)

Rising Action

2a) Cupid and Psyche: Cupid falls in love with Psyche, saves her, and takes her to a palace where she has everything she wants. However, she does not know who saved her, but every night, a man gets into her bed.

2a) Hans My Hedgehog: Hans leaves on a rooster, and goes into the forest. In one version, he sits in a tree, in another, he has a palace. A king gets lost, and Hans promises to show him the way out if the king promises to give him the first thing that greets him when he gets home. The king promises. The first thing to greet him turns out  to be his daughter. A year later, Hans comes to collect her. She becomes his wife (to her disgust).

2a) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: The girl is taken to an ice palace, where she has everything she wants. At night, however, a man gets into her bed.

2b) Cupid and Psyche: Conflict: Psyche gets homesick, so Cupid sends her home. Her sisters see how many riches she has and become jealous. When she reveals to them that a man is sleeping in her bed, they trick her into agreeing to light a candle to see who he is.

2b) Hans My Hedgehog: Conflict: (Anthony Minghella version) Hans's wife discovers that by night, Hans is a normal man. He makes her promise not to tell, but she tells her mother, who says she needs to through his hedgehog skin into the fire the next night.

2b) East of the Sun, West of the Moon: The girl gets homesick, and the bear brings her home. At home, her mother makes her tell the whole story. Then, she tells her daughter to shine a candle on the man in her bed.

This is how it would look on a plot chart:

Ignore the climax to the end part. We will cover that in our next fairy tale post. Also, we have some questions for you.
Which story do you like the best so far? Why?
What are some similarities you notice? What about differences?

Sorry about the title, and Dragomir didn't explain much. . . we ran out of time for Dragomir to explain one or two of the stories like we originally thought. With all the emailing back and forth, it is kind of a pain. I should just make Dragomir a contributor. I hope you enjoyed our fairy tales, though! We will continue with this post next month!

Dragomir Volkov

Spruce Nogard

Attributions:
https://pixabay.com/en/bear-polar-bear-zoo-animals-1141015/
https://pixabay.com/en/animal-world-nature-hedgehog-garden-79823/ 
https://pixabay.com/en/beautiful-beast-characters-963893/