Musical Mondays-Week 4-Beauty and the Beast

[Cameron H. 23786]

In a special Friday Edition!

 

 

It's a tale as old as time: an emotionally abusive monster man learns the value of inner beauty by imprisoning the first beautiful woman that happens by his house. We saw:

 

 

 

(Am I allowed to use Paul's intro for these or can I expect to hear from his lawyers?}

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Omg I don't even know what to talk about first!

 

How about this fun anecdote from my birthday in December! I literally didn't remember this until the next day (because alcohol) but at one point my best friend and I started singing Belle for our entire friend group literally from start to finish at the bar and I'm only slightly embarrassed about this fact.

 

Also! I was in a production of this in high school and this song plus the Mob Song were my favorites to perform (yeah even more so than Be Our Guest). I'll never forget the exact tempo to "Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!" because of how our director had to fire that into the guy who had that line lol.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovhdfa1sUoM

[Cameron H. 23786]

I know this was brought up in Taylor Anne's Buzzfeed article, but not only is the Bookseller running his story in a town full of illiterates, but he is also just giving away merchandise to his only customer!

 

This guy is minutes away from getting tossed into Debtor's Prison...

 

BTW--I haven't had a chance to rewatch this yet, but plan to do so soon. I do love it though!

[tomspanks 9039]

One thing that the buzzfeed article didn't cover. Did the servants get turned into NEW household objects and appliances? for example, when Mrs Potts turned into a teapot, did they then have to throw away the old teapot? And when they returned to their human forms, was the castle empty of furniture, appliances, etc? I mean, they literally had 100 enchanted mops. After they returned to their human form, how did anyone mop the floor?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Seriously though, my #1 questions is this - Did Mrs. Potts have Chip as a teapot? Like that kid looks to be around 10 which is exactly how long they've been under the curse so I have so many questions about this kid's life.

 

Does the aging process stop for them and he was cursed as a 10 year old and then never aged? Like should he actually be the same age as Belle and Beast and was cursed to remain a child as a cup? Was he cursed as an infant and aged as the cup and literally has NO memory of being a child? Did Mrs. Potts actually give birth to a gd cup!?!?!?

[tomspanks 9039]

Other things. Who is this enchantress anyway? Does she go around knocking on doors turning unsuspecting children into Beasts?

 

Do the servants age too? We know Beast was about 10 when he was turned and it's near his 21st bday in the movie. So Chip - he looks like he's barely 10. Was he even born when the castle was enchanted?

ETA: lol Taylor Anne - teapot totally gave birth.

 

If I were Beast/prince, I would have kept the gargoyles on his castle.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Kind of live Tweeting this...

 

But how, in ten short years, did the nearby village forget about the King, Queen, and Prince that used to rule them? Belle's father is like, "Where the fuck did this castle come from?"

[tomspanks 9039]

Maybe it has to do with where I am in life right now, but I would kill for Belle's provincial life. A charming cottage in the countryside, leisure reading, farmers market daily - sign me up for that life.

 

Btw, Gaston says Belle is the most beautiful woman in the village, but weren't those blond triplets/sisters also beautiful? Give the middle sister a brunette dye job and she's basically Belle.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Okay y'all. I didn't finish my rewatch the other night, but I saw this movie in the theater with my mom and my sister when I was 10. We immediately bought it on VHS when it came out, and I'm really surprised my sister and I didn't wear out the tape because we both loved it.

 

I played trombone in band in middle school, and I remember buying the music book so I could play the songs from it (I also had the one for Aladdin, which I loved almost as much). I hadn't seen this movie in at least 10 years and still remembered all the words to the songs. This movie is just completely magical for me.

 

A large part of that is what Quasar Sniffer talked about in his post in the other thread. It's such a beautiful blend of traditional and CG animation. The hand-painted backgrounds for Belle's village are still beautiful, and I love that animation from 25 years ago holds up so well today (see also: Miyazaki).

 

All of that said, there is an elephant in the room, which I think we should acknowledge and then move past. The Beast is kind of horrible, and the idea that he imprisons a woman using her father as emotional leverage and that he is rewarded for this with her love is problematic.

 

BUT, those are things that are by and large inherited from the fairy tale. Working within that construct, this version of the story largely subverts many of the even more problematic areas of the original French story (I highly recommend reading that synopsis if you aren't familiar with the original story; this movie comes out looking like a feminist dream compared to the shit in that). In that version, her defining characteristics are her beauty and her kindness. But while the film maintains these aspects, it gives her two more characteristics that stand out even more. She's smart, and she's bold. And that's what I really like about Belle. The first time we see her really interact with Beast is when he rescues her from the pack of wolves (yes, yes, damsel in distress...blergh), but later, when she's cleaning his wounds, she's basically like, "Quit being a little bitch" to him. And it's the fact that she challenges him in a way that no one else has that creates the first crack in the beast's cold persona.

 

So it's not just that he needs to make her fall in love with him. He has to genuinely fall in love with her as well. It's not a given that he's into her because she's beautiful. He has to love her as a person the same way that she has to love him as one (in the original story, he starts asking her to marry him at dinner every night from the moment she comes to the castle).

 

Also, the introduction of Gaston is a brilliant move. He almost feels like a deconstruction of the normal Disney prince. If you look at, say, Cinderella, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty, the prince is pretty much characterized by just being handsome and heroic. He rescues the princess, so she immediately falls in love with him. We know absolutely nothing of his personality. Maybe he is a fucking monster of a human being, but at least he's good-looking! So when we're introduced to Gaston, the first thing we see is what a piece of shit he is. We know he's not going to be the heroic prince early on (obviously, since the real prince's name is in the title), but he's built on the usual prince archetype.

 

Then he also serves as a foil to the Beast. Obviously, he's beautiful outside and hideous inside, and the beast is hideous outside and beautiful within. But Beast starts out being a shitheel to Belle, and again, it's only once he starts to care for her that we start to see his personality transform. As I mentioned before, he has to learn to love Belle, but he also has to become someone worthy of love.

 

I could go on and on about this movie, but this post is already long enough, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more to say once I finish my rewatch.

[tomspanks 9039]

What is Beast's human name???

[Cameron H. 23786]

What is Beast's human name???

 

Sabastian.

 

Is it weird that I would love to have a LeFou in my life?

[Cameron H. 23786]

Lumiere and the Feather Duster are making out...were they always attracted to inanimate objects or was this a fetish that developed over time? Once they're human again, do they retain this kink?

 

 

[tomspanks 9039]

In the Be Our Guest scene, Lumiere says:

 

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious

Don't believe me? Ask the dishes

 

There's no way grey goop can be delicious. I'm not trusting the dishes either, since they have no olfactory senses or taste buds.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

In the Be Our Guest scene, Lumiere says:

 

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious

Don't believe me? Ask the dishes

 

There's no way grey goop can be delicious. I'm not trusting the dishes either, since they have no olfactory senses or taste buds.

 

Yeah, like, they're sentient, and have opinions, but they also have a job to do, so let's fill them up with delicious grey goop DON'T WORRY THEY LIKE IT JUST ASK THEM

[tomspanks 9039]

Omg I don't even know what to talk about first!

 

How about this fun anecdote from my birthday in December! I literally didn't remember this until the next day (because alcohol) but at one point my best friend and I started singing Belle for our entire friend group literally from start to finish at the bar and I'm only slightly embarrassed about this fact.

 

Also! I was in a production of this in high school and this song plus the Mob Song were my favorites to perform (yeah even more so than Be Our Guest). I'll never forget the exact tempo to "Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!" because of how our director had to fire that into the guy who had that line lol.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovhdfa1sUoM

 

Happy belated birthday!

 

I never noticed this before, but in the song, there's a split second where you see these 2 kids playing with a....turtle?

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

But, like, the dishes and shit have to eat, right? The story is that they are all people that were turned into sentient dinnerware, so they would require some sort of sustenance, one would suppose. I find it very concerning that they don't have faces. Like, Lumiere and fucking Cogsworth get to have faces and shit, but with the plates, they're just like, "Nope. You're just a fuckin' plate."

 

What was the hierarchy in deciding who got turned into what?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

But, like, the dishes and shit have to eat, right? The story is that they are all people that were turned into sentient dinnerware, so they would require some sort of sustenance, one would suppose. I find it very concerning that they don't have faces. Like, Lumiere and fucking Cogsworth get to have faces and shit, but with the plates, they're just like, "Nope. You're just a fuckin' plate."

 

What was the hierarchy in deciding who got turned into what?

Is there a class system going on here? Is this a commentary on the struggle of the faceless proletariat? It seems to me that the servants of a certain class are given a voice, but the serfs who shovel coal and clean out the stables become plates. They have no mouth, but they must scream.

[Cameron H. 23786]

What The Fuck is LeFou doing to that feather duster?

[tomspanks 9039]

What The Fuck is LeFou doing to that feather duster?

 

You're gonna have to be more specific.

[tomspanks 9039]

OH - checked the imdb page and the 3 blondes are just called Bimbette. WHY.

The voice of the dog/footstool was Frank Welker, who was also the voice of Nibbler and Santa's Little Helper.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

You're gonna have to be more specific.

 

When the mob attacks the castle, he is holding her upside down while roughly pulling out her feathers as he cackles insanely. It's extremely upsetting.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

OH - checked the imdb page and the 3 blondes are just called Bimbette. WHY.

The voice of the dog/footstool was Frank Welker, who was also the voice of Nibbler and Santa's Little Helper.

Yeah, if there's any VO work in a movie or cartoon, Welker was probably involved. He does basically everything.

[tomspanks 9039]

When the mob attacks the castle, he is holding her upside down while roughly pulling out her feathers as he cackles insanely. It's extremely upsetting.

 

Is it weird that I would love to have a LeFou in my life?

 

I think you just answered your own question, champ.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

 

 

I think you just answered your own question, champ.

 

Hey, how was I supposed to know that was coming up?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

What is Beast's human name???

Sabastian.

 

 

This article here seems to suggest his name is Adam.

http://www.cosmopoli...you-didnt-know/

 

But, is your reference to the thing I read somewhere that his look was based on Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach?

 

Also, I love knowing Jackie Chan is our Chinese Beast.

 

Also, I loved Tom's use of the term 'champ' just up there. Well played.