Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast (1991) is a fairy tale movie produced by Don Hahn along with several production companies including; the Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Silver Screen Partners
A beautiful, but self-absorbed prince has the chance to help an old lady but he treats her poorly. The lady turns out to have magical skills and she throws the prince into a spell of ugliness, loneliness and his staff are transformed into objects that correspond to their profession. The prince receives a magical mirror to watch the world in his isolation. He needs to learn to love a person for who they are, and get them to love him as well, all before the magical rose he was given loses its petals.
In the village a beautiful young girl named Belle feels lonely and misunderstood. Her father is a "nutty professor." He goes off to compete at an inventors' fair but gets lost in the woods and ends up a prisoner at the Beast's castle. Belle goes to look for him and finds him at the Beast's castle. She pleads him to let her father go if she stays there with the Beast. Belle ends us trapped in the castle with the beast and his staff. She reads books and eventually falls in love with the Beast. In the village the ignorant and manly Gaston is upset that Belle isn't interested in him. When her father claims she is trapped in the castle, Gaston arrives with a lynch mob and unless Belle agrees to marry Gaston, the manager of the local madhouse will lock her father up. Belle proves her father sane by showing them the Beast with the magic mirror. Gaston leads the mob to the castle to kill the Beast. While the servants and the mob battle for control of the castle, Gaston wanders off on his own and attacks the Beast. After winning a heated battle, the Beast spares Gaston's life and climbs up to a balcony where Belle is waiting. Gaston secretly followed the Beast and stabs him from behind, the Beast losses his footing and falls off the balcony. As he lies on the ground, Belle sadly whispers that she loves him. Just as the final petal from the rose falls off, breaking the spell. Belle watches as the Beast is revived and turned human again. Belle studies him carefully and sees that he still has the same eyes. The two kiss, turning the servants human and transforming the castle back into its original elegance. Belle and the prince dance in the ballroom as her father and the servants happily watch them. |
Movie Trailer
Audience |
Purpose and messages |
Beauty and the Beast appeals to pretty much all audiences, no matter their age or gender. Many Disney films appeal primarily to children, as that is their target audience. However, for Beauty and the Beast the target audience is mainly children but it appeals to teens and adults as well. In my opinion, having enjoyable characters helps add to the variety of people who enjoy the movie. Other Disney movies such as Frozen have this same audience. The movie contains many characters that the audience instantly falls in love with and therefore can relate to. There are other aspects that appeal to older audiences - such as discreet sexual references. The movie successfully balances the entertainment aimed for children with references and technical details to excite the adults, leveling each other.
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Beauty and the Beast serves many purposes in what the movie is meant to inform its audience about through several different messages.
Beauty and the Beast is an incredibly entertaining movie while it gets across important messages and persuasion as well. The messages this movie is attempting to get across were extremely effective in my childhood and they remain to be effective now. Beauty and the Beast has taught so many people, along with my self, many important life lessons that defiantly shape us to be who we are. |
Values and Form
According to Business Dictionary, values are important. They are lasting beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable. Values have major influences on ones behaviour. They are communicated through media texts such as movies in many different ways. Film is a language, according to Edutopia, and a cultural document through which we can explore the values and social issues of the past and present. Beauty and the Beast is a movie and therefore has the ability to easily shape many people along with myself. Since Beauty and the Beast is a film, it is easily accessible and very entertaining. This results in many people watching the movie over and over again and therefore ensuring that the values, purposes and messages meant to be delivered are successfully done so. The fact that Beauty and the Beast is a movie appeals to me greatly. This is because generally movies are very fun, entertaining and easy to watch. When i was a kid i defiantly really enjoyed watching Beauty and the Beast whenever i had the chance since movies were always very appealing to me due to the fact that they are so accessible and entertaining.
An interesting value portrayed in Beauty and the Beast is stereotypes. This movie is quite different than the traditional Disney movie in regards to the value that is put on stereotypes. The two male leads break traditional gender stereotypes. Gaston is described as tall, dark, strong and handsome. He is loved by all the residents of the town and has many female admirers. However, he turns out to be the "bad guy”. On the other hand, the Beast is repulsively ugly and turns out to be the “Prince Charming.” For the first time in a Disney movie, the value that what’s inside is more important than appearances is enforced. Gaston is rude, insensitive, and disrespectful towards Belle’s father. He does not care about Belle's feelings, or what she really wants and is rejected by Belle. The Beast is sensitive, caring and loves Belle so much he lets her go. He ends up marrying her.
An interesting value portrayed in Beauty and the Beast is stereotypes. This movie is quite different than the traditional Disney movie in regards to the value that is put on stereotypes. The two male leads break traditional gender stereotypes. Gaston is described as tall, dark, strong and handsome. He is loved by all the residents of the town and has many female admirers. However, he turns out to be the "bad guy”. On the other hand, the Beast is repulsively ugly and turns out to be the “Prince Charming.” For the first time in a Disney movie, the value that what’s inside is more important than appearances is enforced. Gaston is rude, insensitive, and disrespectful towards Belle’s father. He does not care about Belle's feelings, or what she really wants and is rejected by Belle. The Beast is sensitive, caring and loves Belle so much he lets her go. He ends up marrying her.
Codes and Conventions"According to Kohner, Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. There are two categories – technical and symbolic. Technical codes are the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film. Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling. Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre – it is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is conventionally used in a genre. For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres.
In the fantasy genre (the genre of Beauty and the Beast), backlighting is used at many times in order to get the sense of "fantasy" to its audience. Other conventions such as the involvement of an evil being (Gaston) and having impossible powers associated throughout the film are also apparent throughout this movie. The fantasy genre appeals to me for many different reason, the main one being that it gives insight into different worlds that do not exist to us. Fantasy genres open up our minds to see things we have never seen before and that is why this genre is defiantly the one that appeals to me the most and has had the most affect on me since i was a kid. |
Media Business
Disney owns the rights to the version most of us know (the 1991 version). However, there have been other versions dating back to the 1700's. This movie was advertised using trailers, posters and other forms of advertising. There was also a television series in the 1980s, a comic book version and a stage show.
The Disney version first released in 1991 has earned the following:
The Disney version first released in 1991 has earned the following:
- Theatrical Performances: $451,421,625
- Video Sales: $178,773,135
- Total: $630,194,760