by Mary Scifres
While escaping through the forest, Belle is attacked by a pack of wolves, only to be saved by Beast who has followed her into the woods—perhaps to observe, perhaps to protect. In saving Belle, Beast is wounded. With freedom before her, Belle chooses to save Beast’s life, returning him to his castle, where she gently dresses his wounds and courageously demands he control his temper. Amazingly, a friendship is formed, and the two begin dining, reading, talking, and playing together. The servants look on with wonder, awe, and hope. Perhaps Belle truly is the one who will teach the prince how to love and be loved, and thus break the spell.
Just as their love begins to blossom and they enjoy an enchanted evening of romantic dining and dancing, Beast offers Belle her freedom when she expresses grief at missing her father. Belle leaves the castle again, this time at Beast’s invitation, to return home to her father, who has been desperately trying to return to the castle to save her. Belle returns home to find Gaston awaiting her return, insisting she marry him if she wishes to save Maurice from being imprisoned in an insane asylum for raving about a beast in a castle.
This series of events quickly takes an unexpected turn of events when Belle tries to save her father by revealing Beast’s presence in a magic mirror. In trying to convince Gaston and her village that Maurice is neither fiction nor crazy, Belle infuriates Gaston, who stirs up the village’s fear with tales of a dangerous beast who will threaten their home and families. Locking up Belle and Maurice, Gaston and the villagers march to attack the castle.
Once Belle and her father escape, Belle rushes back to Beast and finds the castle under attack. While the servants bravely defend the castle against the invading villagers, Beast forlornly allows Gaston and the villagers to overtake him and his home, thinking Belle has decided not to return to him. When Belle witnesses Gaston’s attack and begs him for mercy, Beast regains hope and overcomes Gaston’s attack, even as his servants oust the villagers. In an act of mercy and kindness, Beast releases Gaston, commanding him to leave the castle and never return. Just as Beast and Belle reach out to joyously reunite in friendship, Gaston cowardly attacks Beast from behind, falling to his own death in the process, but not before mortally wounding Beast. As the last rose petal falls and Beast succumbs to death, Belle finally realizes her deep love for this unusual creature. Her love breaks the spell, resurrecting the dead Beast and transforming him back into a handsome prince. As the prince’s outer appearance changes to reflect the inwardly loving man he has become, the entire castle is also transformed to beauty, light, and human form. Well, except for a cute footstool, who becomes an even cuter shaggy dog, complete with happy barks and joyous bounces. In true Disney style, Belle and her now-handsome prince, surrounded by their loving community of castle servants and father Maurice, dance into their happily ever after, and their classic tale is ended with joy and love.
1.TRANSFORMATION: THE HEART OF THE STORY
The journey toward life-giving transformation calls to each of us. We are intrigued by those who reveal new paths and new possibilities—the growing child, the imaginative inventor, the creative artist, and the courageous explorer. When we yearn to be more, to do more, and to achieve more, we are hearing that call. When we yearn to love more deeply, live more fully, and think more expansively, the call is pulling us toward the transformation that will allow us to love, live, and think in beautiful new ways. And as we love, live, and think in beautiful new ways, these very acts of loving, living, and thinking transform us, spurring us to even greater transformation. Such is the story of Beauty and the Beast. Such is the story of the gospels. For they are stories that heed the call to life-giving change—stories that portray the power of transformation, and the paths toward life-giving transformation upon which we are meant to walk.
Foundational Stories
Stories that heed the call to life-giving change are the stories that give our lives orientation and meaning. These are the stories that support the spiritual houses of our very being—stories at the foundation of our lives, reaching deep into the darkness and mystery beneath consciousness. Such stories shape and arrange perceptions, revealing patterns and meaning. They change our perspective, inviting us to think differently or notice new things. They strengthen our hope and encourage our love, inviting us to nurture hope and love within others. Our foundational stories are like the pilings of the gabled houses on the canals in Amsterdam, which would have sunk long ago in the sand and mud if not for the pilings upon which they stand. Foundational stories make us capable of love and sacrifice, and illuminate the path to the kingdom of God within us and around us. Foundational stories, like Beauty and the Beast, reveal the power of and path toward personal and communal transformation, which is the power and path of the gospel.
Transformation lies at the heart of this fairy tale. From the story’s very beginning, when a mysterious enchantress changes a boy-prince without love in his heart into a hideous beast, to the story’s conclusion, when the beast is transformed back into human form after learning to give and receive love, transformation marks the milestones of this tale. Those who are tired of the old Disney formula—boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl overcome obstacles, boy and girl live happily ever after—will be pleasantly surprised by the complexity and depth of this tale. In one sense, this follows the traditional boy meets girl trope, yet our story begins in tragic fashion with the boy and his castle twisted by a terrible spell. The boy doesn’t seem to stand a chance, and likely wouldn’t, if the heart of this tale was about romantic love, rather than the type of love that leads to a transformation of the soul. Beauty and the Beast reveals that the key to unlocking hope, reclaiming joy, and attaining fulfillment on the journey of life is rooted in personal and communal transformation.
The Need for Transformation
The journey of life is a story in and of itself, and if the story of this journey is to form the pilings to support our spirit, it must be one of transformation. Every stage of growth invites us to yet another stage of growth. Conflicts and turmoil arise in need of resolution. Relationships emerge, fade, or change, offering additional opportunities for growth and transformation. We are never finished products. With each goal we achieve, we discover new goals ahead. With each turn of the path, we find another fork in the road that demands we choose our course. Will we take the well-worn path that countless others have walked before us, no matter how uninspiring it might be, or will we take the road less travelled?
Being transformed into a beast is certainly taking the road less travelled, but the prince’s journey was by another’s design, not his own. Sometimes the road we find ourselves walking is nothing like the road we would choose. In Beast’s case, it is the result of a seemingly tragic spell cast by a mysterious visitor. But what if this spell is more gift than curse? What if the mysterious visitor is bringing unexpected blessings or even an opportunity for transformation? Throughout history and across literary genres, angelic visitors and tragic situations have invited more than just despair. They symbolize the unknown, the mysterious, even the hero’s journey. They are just as likely to be connected to mysterious opportunity and cosmic purpose as they are to tragedy and disaster. In our tale’s opening narration, mysterious and tragic though it may be, something mysterious and mystical is clearly afoot, which just may bring something wonderful in its wake.
Jesus’ entry into the world is no less mysterious. It’s a tale filled with wonder and awe—a tale tinged with promise. His story starts off on a shaky note, with an unwed pregnancy and a long journey ending with no room at the inn. But then comes the magical night of his birth. Heralded by angels and shepherds, wise men and a guiding star, Jesus’ mystical entry into the world surely suggests a life of blessing and fortune to come. If any story is set up to have a happy ending, it is the story of Jesus. But no sooner is this divine child born than he and his family face danger and murderous intent. Events and outcomes are difficult to predict based upon their beginnings. And so it is with Beast. His luxuri
ous beginning as a young prince quickly takes a seemingly disastrous turn when he is changed into a beast. Even as the spell takes hold, we wonder what beautiful transformation might be in store if and when this cursed prince finally learns to love, and another learns to love him in return.
Jesus’ beginnings are plagued with every bit as much mystery, confusion, and peril. Jesus’ mother, Mary, is almost cast out by her fiancé, Joseph, when he finds his young bride-to-be pregnant. Even after an angelic messenger convinces Joseph that Mary’s child was conceived by God, the couple must surely have been looked upon with disdain and distrust for this unwed pregnancy. When traveling to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem, they are not invited to stay with family members, even though Mary is about to give birth. Left out in the cold, they turn to a busy inn, where the only shelter they can find to bear their child is in a stable, meant to stable beasts. Surrounded by animals and visited by dirty shepherds, the holy family begins their story in humiliating circumstances. Their story only grows more tragic when King Herod seeks to kill the boy, and his family is forced to flee to faraway Egypt.
From the very beginning, the story of Jesus is the story of a world in need of transformation. This is a world where families reject one another when rules are broken or reputations tarnished. This is a world where leaders harm the innocent and the powerless in order to protect their power, position, and wealth. This is a world where travelers and immigrants, even young mothers and children, are turned away with a closed door and a hardened heart, regardless of their peril. This is a world in need of transformation—a world very like our fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast.
The Transformative Power of Love
From the very beginning, Beast’s curse invites us onto a higher level of thought and spiritual inquiry. Beast is not just another handsome prince seeking true love with a beautiful princess. While no one will confuse Beast’s beginnings with great religious leaders like Jesus, and few would equate Beast’s journey with mythic heroes like Perseus, Beast’s beginnings and heroic quest are mysterious and magical, if not other-worldly. This is a special person, sought out by a mysterious visitor and put under a magical enchantment. This is a man-beast in need of transformation, a special child in search of the deepest spiritual lesson of all—the lesson of love. The 2017 film portrays a young prince who has been surrounded by a community in need of transformation: servants who enable his selfishness and depravity, while failing to protect him from ruination at the hands of his father; nobility within the castle who revel in the luxurious parties thrown at the expense of the poor peasants who are taxed unjustly.
Just as there are four gospel accounts in scripture of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, there are many versions of Beauty and the Beast. But at the heart of each of the Disney renditions lies this spiritual truth—to live a fully human life, one must see beyond appearances and one must extend love beyond oneself. We need to love generously and compassionately, and even give selflessly and sacrificially, if we are to embrace the life-giving transformation available to us through the power of love. This lesson lies at the heart of our story, for it is Beast’s only hope to transform into the man and prince he is meant to be. This lesson lies at the heart of the gospels as well, for they are stories of transformation that always begin with the power of love.
Jesus teaches and speaks often of love, naming love of God and love of neighbor as the first and greatest commandments. Indeed, Jesus says that those who do not love do not know God, for God is love.[3] Practicing what he preaches, Jesus himself always acts out of love: interrupting travel plans to stop and heal someone, calling to a man hiding in a tree and a woman touching his garment to end her suffering, feeding thousands after a long day of teaching and preaching, calming a storm when he most needs a nap, saving a beloved friend from the grave, and weeping over Jerusalem for rejecting God’s compassionate love. There are perhaps no more life-changing love stories ever told than the gospel stories of Jesus—stories of God’s incarnate love for the world. But all love stories have transformative power, even and especially when that power is woven into a child’s fairy tale.
Love stories change us. Whether they are romantic love stories, friendship love stories, family love stories, or faith community love stories, love stories tap into hidden longings that connect our souls with something larger and more beautiful—something richer and far deeper than our ordinary, everyday existence. The love story of Beauty and the Beast is no different. Watching the story of Beauty and the Beast unfold on screen changes how we define beauty and ugliness. We grow to love this monstrous looking creature named Beast, despite his appearance. We imagine Mrs. Potts to be a beloved teacher or mother figure, despite the cold, ceramic pottery that encases her nurturing spirit. We admire Belle’s spirit and her yearning to expand beyond the limitations of her provincial village. We see not just a beautiful Disney princess, we perceive a hero who can be the one who will learn to love a beast.
While the townsfolk praise and sing of Belle’s physical beauty, it is her inner beauty, her loving nature, that make her truly worthy of the name Belle. She is joyous and inquisitive, kind and polite, yet fearless in demanding the best from others. From her first appearance on screen, we see a young woman of friendliness and sweetness, as well as spunk and courage. We easily fall in love with Belle’s clever wit and beautiful compassion, not to mention her lovely appearance and lilting voice. She exemplifies the very heart and mind, attitude and behavior, that the enchantress found missing in the young prince. Belle is an easy character to admire and love. The prince? Not so much.
How Can One Love a Beast?
How then do we also fall in love with Beast? He is clunky and frightening, overgrown and strange. But thanks to the gift of great storytelling, we also know that inside is a young man yearning to find himself again—a man longing to awaken the human spirit within, a man hoping to transform into the princely ruler he was created to be. Perhaps we see a truth of our own lives in Beast—that we are all both beautiful and ugly inside. Perhaps we recognize that we too experience times of great awareness and expansive understanding, but also times when we sleepwalk through life or neglect opportunities to grow. We too have tasted the life-giving power of loving fully and freely, but also the destructive force of selfishness, jealousy and anger. We are never just one or the other, all Beauty or all Beast. There is always room for growth, always need for additional transformation. For even at our most beautifully loving moments, we are not perfect, and we know that less elevated moments may soon follow. The prince-turned-beast is not all that different than we are at our worst. It is perhaps this awareness that draws us to him.
Beast’s deep yearning drives both his hope and his despair. Even when he explodes in anger, he yearns for his better self. I have known this deep yearning in my own life. It is when my thoughts or actions turn ugly that I most yearn to be beautiful. It is when I become hateful that I most ache to be loving. It is when I am stuck inside a hideous pattern of cruelty, self-destruction, or self-absorption that I most deeply long to forge new paths of compassion, abundant life, and selfless love. Beast tugs at my heartstrings because I too have turned away strangers in need of care; I too have mistreated people based on appearances; I too have passed judgment, rather than offering acceptance and love. The truth of the human story is that we are complex creatures with the potential for both love and hate, kindness and cruelty. Yet, beauty always lies within. Within each one of us, a light strives to burst forth with the transformative power of love—a light that strengthens us and awakens us to the beauty seeking to flow freely and fully within us.
Under the enchantress’ spell, Beast’s beauty lies dormant, and his estate lies trapped in endless winter. The glistening snow and ice, with their beautiful fractals of shimmering light, misdirect us from a terrible truth—endless winter hardens the soil and the heart, choking off the potential for growth and new life. In the original fairy tales, this is more clearly explained. In those stories, Beast�
�s rose bush, a cruel reminder of his rejection of the enchantress’ gift, is the only living thing in a castle frozen in silence. Beast surely knows that until his frozen heart thaws, his estate will remain in its wintery prison, on a slow journey towards death. And yet, Beast yearns for life—human life and even love—more passionately with each passing day as his friendship with Belle begins to thaw the heart he has locked away.
In the 2017 film, Belle seems to perceive this truth, as she reads a poem during their stroll along the glistening winter lake:
But in that solemn silence
is heard the whisper
of every sleeping thing
Look, look at me!
Come, wake me up!
For still here I be.[4]
As we behold the prince within Beast whispering to be heard, we grow to love both Belle and her prince-beast friend. As our perception is transformed by a story that captures and captivates us, we too start to hear the whisper of our better selves, lying within. Hearing this whisper, we are invited to a further transformation of perspective, attitude, and behavior. We join Belle and Beast on their journeys to look beyond appearances.
Though our eyes tell us it is Beast’s physical form that is in need of transformation, a deeper look reveals that the enchantress has merely made the prince’s outer visage reflect his inner cruelty. It is his heart that must be transformed for the castle’s current tragedy to become future comedy, for today’s sorrow to become tomorrow’s joy, and for hope to overcome despair. From the 2017 film, we discover that this beastly man was once an innocent child who loved his mother and imagined a future of love and laughter, not the nightmare he currently endures. Unlike The Princess and the Frog, no kiss from a beautiful princess can turn Beast back into a handsome prince so they can live happily ever after. As the child-prince and castle servants sing the poignant ensemble, “Days in the Sun,” we know that this prince and his castle must be transformed from within if anyone’s “ever after” has a chance of being happy. In their song of yearning, we hear the voices of hope and love, reminding us that transformation is always possible.