First, I was very surprised by the way Disney portrayed Belle's father. In de Beaumont's version of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty's father is a simple merchant who had an unfortunate loss of his wealth. The main theme drawn upon this father figure is that he cares for his family above all else. This father is I think represented very well in Cocteau's version. The father cares for each of his children, even the terrible sisters, and hates to ever see them upset or bickering. In contrast, however, Disney completely changes this. Yes, Belle's father obviously still cares for her above all else, but there are no other siblings, the father is not at all rich, and he is in fact portrayed as being slightly looney (even Belle is considered to be "odd" by the village). This seems like a very bizarre thing for two reasons: 1) why would you include the threat of an asylum into a children's film? For the adult watchers? and 2) what was the real purpose of this? I don't see how it functioned to improve the film.
Second, I was completely appalled by the behavior of the father in Tiger's Bride. The fact that any father would care more about his gambling than about his daughter shocks me greatly. I don't care how comfortable you are with your poker hand; that is a seriously risky bet. It also surprises me how well the daughter takes it. Obviously she's not too pleased, but she seems to give her father a lot more credit than he deserves, and the tiger not enough credit. After all, although the tiger's request was perhaps a little strange, he did not try to touch her, and once they revealed their naked selves to each other, he let her go. The daughter must have recognized some kindness in the tiger as she now willingly goes to him naked, but she still holds on to this belief that her father truly loved her more than gambling. In this case, I can't tell which character appears to be more weak/stupid: the gambling, poor father or the naive/ignorant daughter.
I didn't really delve into particular variations of Beauty and the Beast but I'm glad that you did because it is important to critically analyze and question these elements of the story. Disney's depiction of the father is rather bizarre and that ruse was clearly not the best way for Gaston to try to obtain Beauty as his wife. As far as the Tiger's Bride, I was very quickly turned off to the story after the gambling scene, I mean, that's just sick. Ultimately, whether we like the decisions or not, care who the story is for or not, the father helps to move the story along.
ReplyDeleteI think you make an excellent point that it is very odd how Belle's father in the Disney version is portrayed as looney, and even Belle does not fit in. I had never thought about this before, and now that you mention it, I want to expand on it. First, I wonder if they added the whole asylum bit to show how bad Gaston's personality really is. Maybe Disney wanted to make sure that the children knew that he is bad because he does something bad to Belle's father who we have established is really nice. I feel as if children understand enemies better than they understand that somebody is just a bad person. So, to portray a bad person, make him the enemy. He is not really the enemy until he poses a threat to Belle and her father. Secondly, I wonder if Disney made Belle and her father different because only different people could like the Beast and fall in love with something so ugly. Then, there is a happily ever after, so we find out that it is okay to be different. You will still get your rewards, but still, you are not normal to love a beast. And Belle has to get her oddity from somewhere, so they made the father even crazier than she is. In this way, Belle has an excuse to being different. She is not odd for no reason, so it is not really her fault anyway. Blame it on the parents!
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