Cocteau vs Disney

Rating: Null/10 (26 June 2010)

"The Beauty and the Beast" fable has been around for a long time, present in various forms in various different cultures under various different names. For example, in the 1600s there existed a similar Germanic folk-tale, often titled "The Beast" or "The Wolf Prince".
Regardless, the fable is similar in each version, and seems to have started out as a tale told to young women in order to prepare them for intercourse and future marriage. At its core, the story says that man is an animal, is bestial, until a young woman's love redeems him. Or rather: man is not a sexual animal at all, once the woman gets to know him properly.
So like most folk tales, this is a giant fantasy designed to placate (and probably even has evolutionary value). In the story the Beast loves the woman, lusts for her daily, though she does not love him. To keep the Beast's hormones at bay, the young woman promises to meet him at his castle, but because she is bound to her father and loves the old man dearly, forgets all about the Beast, who slowly dies of grief. The young woman, seeing the Beast dying, then suddenly realises that the Beast loves her and swiftly falls in love.
In a very archetypal sense, the fable symbolizes the union between a sexually developed man and a young, innocent female who views the man as beastly at first, but eventually grows to love him. This happens after she cuts all ties with her father, who up until that point had been the only male figure in her life. When she accepts the Beast, he literally becomes beautiful, his clothes and bestial figure vanishing such that he turns into a prince.
Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the beast" (1946), a film which retells this tale, keeps the same structure but treats it in a much more baroque fashion. It's still a tale filled with much primal, repressed sexuality, but Cocteau is such a master stylist that he imbues virtually every scene with wonderful visual flourishes. With its dancing candle holders, animated household objects and statues, the film is a triumph of art design.
Unsurprisingly, the Disney version of "Beauty and the Beast" waters things down further. In the Disney version, the young woman is an introvert and outcast (but gorgeous of course) who views the world differently to all the other young women around her.
Being different allows the young woman to see and empathise with the "goodness" at the heart of the Beast, and so the two outcasts join together, teaching us that it's ultimately "what's inside that counts". (if this is so, why does the Beast transform into a prince and why is the "beauty" always outwardly beautiful as well? Where are all the fairy tales about an ugly woman struggling to inseminate a Doberman?)
This kind of "march at the beat of your own drum" and "be different because you are better than everyone else" morality tale is common in Disney flicks, but there is also a slightly dark underside to this updated version of the tale.
Both the Disney and Cocteau version of the myth feature a "Gaston" character who is not found in the original, ancient folk tales. This character represents the "common mentality" or "the standard values". He's the "practical male figure" who the young woman should marry, and whom she is encouraged to marry by her friends and family, but whom she possesses no love for. This little addition updates the tale for a more enlightened society, by portraying "woman" as having a certain freedom: the ability to choose the "bad boy", the "beast", and indulging in her own carnal fantasies, regardless of what her parents say. Of course to make this fantasy palatable, the story has to romanticise the beast and ruthlessly villainize the "practical man".
In any case, all these re-tellings of "Beauty and the Beast" highlight how petty humans are. Incidentally, early art work from the 17th century featured the beast as a literal wolf or dog creature, often with an erect penis, the young woman on her ankles submissively before him. One recalls a line ironically spoken by Jack Nicholson in "The Shining": "Perfect for a child."
8/10 – Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"
7.5/10 – Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"
I suspect modern audiences are so familiar with this fairy tale that both Cocteau and Disney's "retelling" seem like old news. Still, Cocteau's film features wonderful art design (Cocteau mingled with many French surrealists), inventive camera work and is pleasantly fast paced. It's probably the best version of this story, though I wonder what use modern man has for these centuries old fables.
Worth one viewing.