osprey_archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
osprey_archer) wrote2020-08-24 07:29 pm
osprey_archer) wrote2020-08-24 07:29 pm
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Beauty and the Beast
I didn’t see Beauty and the Beast till I was grown up, but it’s become one of my favorite Disney movies. It just has so many fine qualities, among them:
The beautiful animation! I love the opening sequence, where they give us the Beast’s backstory through stained glass windows, and the amazing bonkers energy of the entire “Be Our Guest” sequence - a flashback to the wild and woolly world of the early days of Disney animation, when anything went.
The servants who have turned into furniture! I think my very favorite is actually the dog who is now a hassock, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Chip and Mrs. Potts too. And I like the final battle even more now that I’ve seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks, because this is the second movie in which Angela Lansbury (who voices Mrs. Potts) holds off invaders with the aid of usually-inanimate objects.
The music! Who among us hasn’t felt like racing through a field singing “I want much more than this provincial life”?
Which brings us, of course, to Belle, who is a delight, not only because she is a bookworm and I am also a bookworm, although that certainly contributes, but also because she’s indomitable. How many people could steadfastly refuse to have dinner with a terrifying Beast who just locked up her father, then took Belle in his place? And not many people would have the face to snap at the Beast after he roars while having his wound cleaned: “If you’d hold still, it wouldn’t hurt as much!”
(In The Queens in Animation, I learned that this detail was the brainchild of Brenda Chapman: she figured that if someone was roaring at her, she’d snap back.)
Another thing that struck me on this rewatch is that the Beast is a baby. Well, not literally, but the rose is set to wither on his twenty-first birthday, which means that he’s a twenty-year-old who has spent some indeterminate but lengthy amount of time trapped in this castle with no company but his servants. It makes his moodiness more understandable and more likely to change over time now that he has a companion who won’t put up with his bullshit.
At one point Lumiere tells Belle that the servants haven’t had any guests to attend to in ten years, which would mean that the Beast was cursed on his eleventh birthday… except we’ve got that portrait of the Beast as a man, and definitely not a ten-year-old boy… so after some discussion, Julie and I concluded that Lumiere was exaggerating and/or speaking impressionistically. One year in the Beast’s cursed castle probably feels like a decade, just like one month in 2020 feels like approximately forever.
The beautiful animation! I love the opening sequence, where they give us the Beast’s backstory through stained glass windows, and the amazing bonkers energy of the entire “Be Our Guest” sequence - a flashback to the wild and woolly world of the early days of Disney animation, when anything went.
The servants who have turned into furniture! I think my very favorite is actually the dog who is now a hassock, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Chip and Mrs. Potts too. And I like the final battle even more now that I’ve seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks, because this is the second movie in which Angela Lansbury (who voices Mrs. Potts) holds off invaders with the aid of usually-inanimate objects.
The music! Who among us hasn’t felt like racing through a field singing “I want much more than this provincial life”?
Which brings us, of course, to Belle, who is a delight, not only because she is a bookworm and I am also a bookworm, although that certainly contributes, but also because she’s indomitable. How many people could steadfastly refuse to have dinner with a terrifying Beast who just locked up her father, then took Belle in his place? And not many people would have the face to snap at the Beast after he roars while having his wound cleaned: “If you’d hold still, it wouldn’t hurt as much!”
(In The Queens in Animation, I learned that this detail was the brainchild of Brenda Chapman: she figured that if someone was roaring at her, she’d snap back.)
Another thing that struck me on this rewatch is that the Beast is a baby. Well, not literally, but the rose is set to wither on his twenty-first birthday, which means that he’s a twenty-year-old who has spent some indeterminate but lengthy amount of time trapped in this castle with no company but his servants. It makes his moodiness more understandable and more likely to change over time now that he has a companion who won’t put up with his bullshit.
At one point Lumiere tells Belle that the servants haven’t had any guests to attend to in ten years, which would mean that the Beast was cursed on his eleventh birthday… except we’ve got that portrait of the Beast as a man, and definitely not a ten-year-old boy… so after some discussion, Julie and I concluded that Lumiere was exaggerating and/or speaking impressionistically. One year in the Beast’s cursed castle probably feels like a decade, just like one month in 2020 feels like approximately forever.
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At one point Lumiere tells Belle that the servants haven’t had any guests to attend to in ten years
Or maybe, because the Beast/Prince was a such a jerk, they never had company, lol. Then the beggar woman cursed them and they REALLY didn't have company.
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We got the Beast (my brother) and Mrs. Potts (me) but, well, I was a senior and seniors got the best roles and they didn't really have that many options to cast as the Beast. It was the first time I had a solo in a musical! I was really surprised when people said I'd sounded good.
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Is there a character you'd like to be in Beauty and the Beast?
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I would adore having the Beast's household staff. Though if I had to choose just one I would take the wardrobe, after suggesting that she shift her aesthetic forwards a bit to Vionnet, Poiret, Callot Soeurs, Lucille and Issey Miyake...
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It's one of my absolute favourites too <3 Transformation! Changing for the better because you love someone and it teaches you how to be happier and better! <333 And like you said, it's just a gorgeous gorgeous movie with such good music.
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