Beauty and the Beast: Liberal Humanism

“Beauty and the Beast” (1991) is a beloved classic Disney fairy tale enjoyed by both the children and the adults through generations. It is a romance between a beautiful young woman and a beast-like creature who used to be a prince but cursed by a sorceress. In this research, this treasured piece of literary text will be analyzed from the perspectives of two literary theories: Liberal Humanism and Deconstruction (Post-Structuralism).  

To read the text as it is – is the essential factor of the Liberal Humanist Approach. The founding rules the Liberal Humanist criticism was laid by F.D. Maurice in 1840 and later, the theory was much worked on by F. R. Leavis. According to this theory, any literary text has to be analyzed without any form of personal or historical influences. The intentions of the story are to be found from the text irrespective of any external influences or any underlying unspoken meaning. Even though, the definition of Liberal Humanism is much more complex than simply reading the text as it is, for the sake of understanding, this central idea will be used to decipher the text in question her, which is the classic Disney film, “Beauty and the Beast.”

The premise of the story is to teach the viewers that outward appearance cannot be the only measure of judgment of a person’s character or that person’s sense of morality. Near the beginning of the film, the Beast was shown to dehumanize an elderly lady simply because he was repulsed by her appearance. Soon afterwards it was found that the elderly lady was in fact a beautiful sorceress in disguise who came there to test the prince. Due to his crass behavior and lack of empathy, the prince along with all the other members of the castle were cursed to become either an animal or an inanimate object. In order to break free of the curse, the Beast will have to let go of his pride and learn to love along with receiving love from another person who would look beyond his appearance. All of these have to done before he reaches the age of twenty-one.

Character Depiction and Symbolism

The Beast, here, symbolizes as the evil nature of human beings. It represents pride, anger, lack of empathy and every other characteristics of a human which makes him or her unlikable. To simply explain, the Beast represented the evil the prince had in his heart before he encountered the sorceress. He can only gain back his human-like appearance once he could achieve the traditional human-like qualities. According to the theme of this story, a human is only human when he or she is kind and lovable, which the Beast lacked in his former state.

Meanwhile, the story also speaks about another character called Gaston. It acts as a foil to the character of the Beast as well as the villain of the film. Gaston was intentionally made to appear as the handsome and powerful man with all the traditional masculine qualities – physically strong, square jawline, interest in women and hunting. At the same time, he poses as the ultimate villain of the narration to play along with the message of the story which is “do not judge a person by his or her appearance.” There is more to a person than his or her looks. Not everything beautiful is good and not everything hideous is evil.

Thirdly, the supposed heroine of the film is a girl named Belle, who lived on the outskirts of a small town in France (found from the lyrics “They can sing…They can dance…After all, Miss, this is France” of the song “Be our guest” as well as the first song of the film broadly termed as “Belle”). Belle is portrayed to be a smart young lady who is different from the other girls of her town, who are more interested in materialistic possessions. The book she reads in the beginning of the movie, her active visits to the local library and her fascination with the enormous library in the castle of the Beast symbolize that unlike the women of her time, Belle is more interested in gaining knowledge and learn about literature. The women in her town calls her “…strange, without question” meaning that, she does not follow the traditional rules of that time period during which it has been more common for women to look for a husband and be dependent on him instead of being independent and self-sufficient. In the song about Gaston, the typical standard women were shown to be like these beautiful women who took care of their looks and swooned over handsome men like Gaston being blind to his brute and discourteous personality.

In addition to that, Belle is also shown to be a caring and brave daughter. For example, she gave up her freedom and falls a victim to the Beast’s demand in order to rescue her father from the captivity of the Beast. She is also shown to be brave enough to flee the castle in order to gain freedom. Later on in the film, after she has accumulated feelings for the Beast, she is shown to come to his rescue when the townsfolk went to attack the Beast. From all of these incidents, it can be learned that even though Belle appears to be dainty and pretty, she is not like the other women portrayed as “damsels in distress”. When needed, she can take matters into her own hands.

Application of some of the Ten Tenets

All in all, the premise of the film is sincere (“sincerity” is one of the ten tenets of liberal humanism) from a liberal humanist perspective in the sense that throughout the entire film, the core message about the dichotomy of good and evil on the basis of appearance is prominent. There are characters who appeared literally as a beast, yet he turned out to be one of the most humble and respected character by the end. Then there is this handsome man by the name of Gaston. Generally in fairy tale-like stories, it is the handsome and courageous man who poses as the main lovable protagonist. Yet in this case, it is the complete opposite since Gaston became the main antagonist of the whole film. Lastly, there is the heroine of the film – Belle – who despite her feminine and beautiful features is portrayed to be a strong and responsible individual instead of becoming the heroines who are always in need of a man in every sphere of her life.

Another of the ten tenets of liberal humanism is that the text should be able to enhance life and propagate humane values which is successfully done by the literary text in question. The message of not to judge a person by his or her outward appearance was prominent throughout the film and it showed the pros and cons of doing so. The film propagates its message fruitfully. Furthermore, the imagery and symbolism used in the film are quite coherent and transparent. The message depicted in the film can be understood as it is, without the intervention of any historical background or authorial intentions. In addition to that, the film managed to demonstrate its message rather than telling the viewers about it. The message of film can be studied in isolation.