MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

“Beauty and the Beast” provided a popular template for writers of gothic romances, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Jane Eyre. These nineteenth century takes on the fairy tale introduced two representational trends that carry over into contemporary romance narratives that likewise draw on elements of “Beauty and the Beast” to structure their plots. The first of these is the linking of the “beastly” nature of the Beast to a character flaw—most often a moral failing—such that his redemption becomes contingent upon him becoming a better man by adopting culturally-dominant codes of morality, as well as modelling hegemonic masculinity. The second is the terms of the curse to which the Beast is subject, and through which his inner flaw is given outward physical manifestation. While in eighteenth century versions of the fairy tale the curse transforms the Beast into a monster, in nineteenth century gothic romances it is disfigurement or disability that the Beast is cursed with and that renders him “monstrous” to look upon.

This presentation examines the way in which these representational trends are incorporated into three recent media texts that purport to provide twenty-first century retellings of “Beauty and the Beast”: the film Beastly, the ABC television series Once Upon a Time, and The CW television series Beauty and the Beast. It analyses the ways in which they attempt to update the gender politics of the story by making the reform of the Beast character via his transformation into a “better man” contingent upon him rejecting toxic masculinity. It also looks at the ways in which they reproduce stereotypical representations of disabled bodies as “monstrous” bodies and life with a disability as a “cursed” existence by making the Beast’s reward for becoming a better man not just winning Beauty’s love, but also being cured of disability.