Monday, November 26, 2018

A Tale As Old As Time- A Critical Analyzation of Beauty And The Beast

Hello and welcome to my first AP in my Elective Humanities course, Ollywood.
Ollywood is a film class that teaches us to critically analyze movies as well as looking at the pre-production, production, and post-production elements of a film. In this unit, we looked at the screenplay of Jaws and acted as storyboarders creating a storyboard before even seeing the film. After this, we went real-world location scouting going to Wacker drive and getting pictures to storyboard an Indy teen film. In this action project, you will be reading my critique of Disney's Beauty and the Beast 2017.

Captured from the Film "favorite scene" 2017
Beauty and the Beast is a Disney favorite where we follow a fable with a moral when stripped down to its bones. The movie is set in France around 1740 and the majority of the movie takes place in the Beast's fantastic castle. This movie teaches to look at a person from the inside out as we see the main character, Belle, do many times. The movie is sweet and when looking at it from a perspective you can even see some political or societal messages, such as the townspeople blindly following Gaston. The movie is extremely immersive with its use of 16th-century clothing and architecture. Overall the movie has some serious moments but has a feminist message and sweet, lovely overtones.

Belle (portrayed by Emma Watson) finds her way into the Beast's world when her father's horse leads her to the castle where she takes her father’s place in the dungeon. The other occupants of the house are other people who were turned into pieces of furniture and other household accessories when the witch hexed the beast.
They are very kind and take a liking to Belle because she could have the power to lift the curse and turn them all human again. So, they let her out of the dungeon and give her a suite as well as invite her to a dinner. Even though the household items treat her so well, Belle is too frightened by the beast and tries to run away.

When the Beast runs after her he sees her being attacked by wolves, which he fights off for her. Of course, he is injured but Belle tends to his wounds and they end up bonding over their mutual love for books and Shakespeare. The two slowly fall in love. Meanwhile, her father has tried to get the townspeople to help him find Belle but they laugh and turn him away due to his old age and poverty they called him “ Crazy old Maurice.”
But a man named Gaston (Portrayed by Luke Evans) decides to go with him because he thought that if he saved her she would fall for him even though she has said multiple times that she is disgusted by him and his narcissism. They tie Maurice up to a tree when they think that he has led them on a wild goose chase and tell the townspeople that he is insane and a liar.

This movie is inspired by a French-fairytale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in the 1700s. Which brings me to the believability of the set dressings and the costumes. The beginning of the movie is set in Belle’s small town. It is full of well, townhouses that appear very old and natural for the time. There are horses being used as transportation for the people of wealth who are highlighted by gold buttons and embellishments on their coats. Most notably Gaston who has a high bumped ponytail as well as a clean-cut classic looking red coat with those embellishments. The poor people of the town had dirty clothes that hung from their bodies and messy uncared for hair. In my opinion, both the stage dressing and costumes were incredibly believable and allowed me to be immersed in the film even more.

Our protagonist is Belle, is a very loving and kind-hearted character, as well as one of the only literate people in her village. Because of this, she has become a very strong woman who isn’t easily persuaded by anyone. Belle will do the best for herself and her loved ones. A quote from the film that perfectly describes Belle is “There must be more to this provincial life” I chose this quote because, this shows that Belle wanted more, and she always fought and looked for more in her life.

Our antagonist is Gaston, is a narcissistic and one track minded character. After feeling tired of the ladies that threw themselves at him he became attracted to Belle. Gaston is looked highly upon by most of the villagers because of his looks and “heroism.” He is extremely manipulative of the townspeople. A quote from the movie that perfectly depicts Gaston is “You are the most beautiful thing alive, nobody deserves you” He was speaking to himself. Gaston is favored in this town and held so highly because he is the closest thing that the town has to a prince. The townspeople feel a need for some powerful figure to look to since the majority of the town is so poor. The women of the town want to be able to marry rich so that they can (temporarily) escape their problems.

To conclude, one of my favorite scenes and that is the ending scene where everything is resolved. In this scene the dialogue is simplistic and almost a monologue since Belle is just talking to an unconscious Beast. Belle cries and pleads that the beast doesn’t leave her and that she loves him. Once she says those words the screen is overcome with bright yellow streaks of light while we see the transformation of the beast into a handsome man. Emma Watson does a fantastic job of keeping love in her eyes the whole time showing that no matter what he looked like, Belle would always love the beast.

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