Originally published on November 21, 2016
The first full-length trailer for Disney’s live-action
Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens dropped this week,
and, as expected, the Internet freaked out – mostly in a good way. I saw it up and
down my newsfeed, people were talking about it, a couple videos dedicated to
dissecting it showed up in my subscriptions. When I had a chance I watched it,
and I enjoyed it – they played the music, so you can imagine my pleasure there.
Most of the comments I read on the first day the trailer was
released were negative in some way, calling Emma Watson not pretty enough to
play Belle or criticizing Disney for not casting French actors to play
originally French characters in a French story (though after several days most
of those have disappeared and have been replaced with general hype). True, they
might have just been petty trolls who like saying mean things for the sake of
it. That’s nothing new on the Internet. There were also a few points that I
found thought-provoking.
First, it may seem like Disney is just reusing old concepts
to make more money. That is true, but they keep doing it because they are
received so well. They have many more live-action movies planned over the
coming years. I can see it as a way to introduce Disney (be it Classic, Golden
Age, or Renaissance) to this current generation, the ones who didn’t grow up
with these movies. And yes, it’s to make money as well, but Disney knows its
audience and the power of nostalgia. It’s actually pretty smart.
Second, there is the underlying issue of Beauty and the
Beast being about an unhealthy, possessive, borderline bestial relationship,
and what may have flown under the radar in the 90’s (or even when the story was
first written down in France) is not so easily ignored today. I am hoping that
some small details about the story change and the story is more appropriate for this day. And for anyone who still
thinks it’s still not for children, I urge you to read the fairy tales these
Disney movies were based off of. Just saying.
Finally, the idea of using British and American actors using
British accents to portray a French story seems to fire a lot of people up. I
fail to see why this is a big deal, just because the original movie used
American accents and there are many other movies out there who use British
accents to portray older times or Europe in general. For example, Les Mis is
supposed to be French but the musical is in English and the recent movie used
British accents. If Disney had demanded they use French accents, how accurate
or understandable would they be? What sort of criticism would they receive from
French people for that? Would it really have been worth it? I am all for
accuracy and diversity, but in this case, my answer is no.
While it may be true that (as of yet) I haven’t seen any of
the Disney live-action remakes, I will be seeing Beauty and the Beast when it
comes out. Kindergarten-me would be absolutely thrilled (she was a little obsessed).
It does have a place in my heart as one of the first musicals I learned most of
the words to and one of my favorite Disney movies. I feel like I’ve been using
this phrase a lot lately, but when it comes to the actual movie, I am remaining
“cautiously optimistic”. I don’t know if it will be amazing or worth all the
hype, but I doubt it will be bad.
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