Tuesday, February 8, 2011

This Bothers Me

How come when the 'Beast' becomes a human again, he is always a handsome human? Can't he just be some ordinary 'shlub'? So ordinary, in fact, that Belle would want him to go back to being a hideous beast again because in comparison she liked that monster look more? And wouldn't that be the REAL lesson of the fairy tale - that it doesn't matter WHAT you look like if it's true love?? Beast or Shlub, love conquers all.

Yea, right.

3 comments:

Michael May said...

It's one of my favorite fairy tales, but yeah, it's flawed. He has to be handsome because it was his selfish vanity that caused him to be cursed in the first place. If he'd started out ugly, the story wouldn't work.

But you're right that it sort of doesn't anyway. By making him handsome again at the end, the story subverts its own point. "Appearances don't matter! But they sure are nice!"

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Shlubs of the world, unite! That's what made Shrek 1 so great -- Fiona's curse was when she was conventionally beautiful and her freedom from the curse was when she was an ogre. Just the opposite of what we're usually taught. Good stuff.

Michael May said...

I agree. As much as I don't like a lot about Shrek, Fiona's story is very cool.