Beauty and the Beast – What Can We Learn?

I went to the movie “Beauty and the Beast” last week with my daughter and husband. It is the live action adaptation of the classic Disney animated fairytale, starring Harry Potter’s Emma Watson as the Beauty. It was fabulous to say the least. The music, acting, costume design, set design and true to animation adaptation were all on point. Absolutely a must see!

However, as I sat watching the movie, one thought kept rising to the surface; what a wonderful lesson about acceptance and love. It truly teaches us that love is not found in what someone looks like but by what is in their heart. If one is kind, considerate, thoughtful and selfless, others will find that person to be deserving and worthy of all those characteristics in return. What you look like does not determine nor should it be the definition of who you are. The Beast in all his outwardly unattractiveness managed to capture the attention and love of a young woman simply because he was kind to her. She enjoyed his humour, his intellect and stimulating conversation and in those characteristics, she found someone worthy of her love. His ultimate selflessness sealed her love and saved his friends from eternal lives as inanimate objects. In that moment his true beauty shone through his beast like exterior, leaving us wonder, who really is the beast in this story? Perhaps it is Gagnon, the man hoping to be Beauty’s husband that is the beast. His actions would certainly confirm that. He was vain, mean, boastful, revengeful and just plain, not nice. That my friends, is not the kind of person worthy of love, despite his rugged good looks on the outside.

ls this too deep for a “kids” movie? Perhaps, but remember many children’s stories have elements for the adults to enjoy too. Being involved in the body positive movement, this message of love and acceptance based on someone’s interior rather than their exterior is what clearly jumped out at me while I enjoyed everything else that made this movie a definite win for me. Keep what Pretty, Plus and Proud is all about close to heart while you sit in the theatre enjoying this classic tale of devotion and true love.