Emma Watson and the Beast
By Nicole Ransick
The much anticipated live action version of Disney’s 1991 film “Beauty and the Beast” came out this week on March 17.
The opening scene was a bit different than what I expected with the Prince wearing some pretty decorative clothing and make-up. This was not the scene I remembered watching as a kid, but it helped to add to the backstory of the prince’s downfall and to the time period of which the story takes place.
In retrospect, the whole film excellently added to the story that I loved as a kid. Emma Watson’s character, Belle, was smarter in my opinion because she attempted to find a way out of the castle instead of accepting her status as a prisoner as she appeared to do in the original film. She also does not return the Beast’s affections until he sets her free.
Watson has been criticized by many who insist that she is not a feminist for making this film. This is because they claim her character, Belle, has Stockholm syndrome, in which a person falls in love with their captor which would be the Beast in this case. I do not agree with this claim because of how they added more of a back story to her character, and in addition, she seemed to fall in love with the man behind the beast and not the mean beast himself who made her his prisoner.
Many people are also unhappy with the fact that Disney made the decision to have two men dance together in the last scene of the movie. I read on Facebook that it has actually been banned from certain areas.
I personally was unaffected by this addition to the scene, as he seemed pretty flamboyant from the start, both in the original and in the live action film.
Overall, I loved this remake of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” The computer generated imagery was close to perfect, and the ballroom scene was beautiful. The added backstory of the beast and Belle’s life prior to Belle’s imprisonment gave insight into their motives to perform certain actions and behaviors.
