the hero's journey beauty and the beast

Hero's Journey

Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero With a Thousand Faces , in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does —follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

Belle's ordinary world is so bland she gets an entire song about it (and the first one out of the gate to boot). "Every morning just the same / since the morning that we came / to this poor provincial town," she informs us, and her brief guided tour of the local nitwits confirms it. This is not the place for a bright, imaginative girl to discover new things. This is the place where creative souls go to die.

Time to put on your boogie shoes, Belle.

Call to Adventure

The traditional call to adventure means a threat to the community as a whole. Belle doesn't belong to this community—she's just the weird girl they talk about behind her back. They never really encounter a threat. At least, nothing that they didn't bring upon themselves by listening to Gaston's chowderhead propaganda. And yet, there's still a community in need of help that launches her into her adventure: a community of one. Her father, who stumbled into the Beast's lair and now finds himself prisoner, needs his little girl to come bail him out. The price may just be the best thing that's ever happened to her…

Another possible community is the one at the castle: the Beast and his enchanted underlings who are getting pretty darn tired of life as talking knickknacks. They're the adventure she's setting out to as well as the home she's hoping to save. Holy role reversal, Batman.

Refusal of the Call

Refuse? Belle? Clearly you did not see the sheep she had to hang out with in the opening number (and not just the four-footed ones). Show this girl a magical castle, and she can't get there fast enough. The only other concern for her is her father, and in this case, refusing the call would mean refusing to help him. So off she goes, jumping in with both feet and ready to sign up for a permanent playdate with the WolfLion of Doom up in that castle.

Meeting the Mentor

Belle doesn't strictly have a mentor, not in the Gandalf/Dumbledore kind of way. Her "mentors" are more like her friends: the enchanted doodads in the castle, who give her the 411 on what it's all about in the Beast's high-end pad. She gets plenty of good advice from them, some of which she ignores like a good Campbellian hero does. Together, they more or less fulfill the same duties that a mentor does. They just do it from their positions as buddies, and even servants, rather than teachers or elders.

Crossing the Threshold

Technically, crossing the threshold comes with Belle's arrival at the castle, when she leaves the known world behind and enters the land of adventure. The irony is that the castle will ultimately be more of a home to her than the village ever was, though that's not apparent to her when she first enters the castle and agrees to become the Beast's prisoner. For her, the land of adventure is exactly where she wants to be, and crossing the threshold is the first part of understanding that.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

The tests in Beauty and the Beast are emotional tests. Belle and the Beast have to learn to trust each other, then respect each other, then like each other before they can love each other. Their trials are supposed to convey that. While some of those trials involve danger—the battle with the wolves in the woods, for instance—they're the garnish rather than the main course. Enemies are incidental at this stage; Gaston is saving his nasty surprise for the very end. But, our two heroes have plenty of allies in the enchanted castle to help them out as best they can.

Approach to the Inmost Cave

The inmost cave, in this case, is the Beast's realization that he loves Belle and vice versa, which neither can get to until the other one is in trouble. The approach is the big dance number in the ballroom, where they waltz to the dulcet tunes of Mrs. Potts before the Beast finally lets her go. They're aware of the presence of their feelings but not yet what those feelings will do in the movie's finale.

The ordeal in Beauty and the Beast actually encompasses a number of other steps. It starts with the Beast letting Belle go, and his sad realization that truly loving her means sending her away from him forever (or, at least, so he thinks). It ends with the curse being broken and the Beast transforming back to his natural human form of a golden-haired underwear model.

In between, of course, we get the ordeal, which here takes both a physical and emotional form. In physical terms, it's Gaston's attack on the castle, intended to kill the Beast and leave Belle without anyone else to turn to. But, it's also emotional, as the Beast realizes that letting Belle go means he'll never see her again and yet does it anyway. Belle, for her part, returns the favor by riding to the Beast just after the attack on the castle and blaming herself for the way the whole finale goes down.

Reward (Seizing the Sword)

Here's where things get tricky, as they usually do. Belle's reward is being reunited with her father, the last member of her circle left out in the cold (quite literally). But, it's also being reunited with the Beast, which is what provides the final step to lifting the curse from him. So, technically speaking, neither of them gets the reward until after the danger is past, and since that won't happen for another couple of steps, the reward itself is less important than the emotional connection that it gives Belle and the Beast.

The Road Back

Funny that the road back leads Belle away from the village—which isn't her home anymore and probably never was—and back to the castle, the place most in need of her help. The clock's ticking on that magic road, and the local yahoos are getting a little assertive about breaking the furniture. The road "back" seems to have led Belle exactly where she needed to go.

Resurrection

Resurrection, in this case, is something quite literal since the Beast does, in fact, die just before Belle confesses her love. Luckily, she gets in those three magic words just before the rose dies, too…and with those words, the Beast springs back to life as Hunky McGoldenhair. Love is requited, death is turned back, and that gloomy old castle is about to get a frilly white makeover.

Return With the Elixir

When the gravy train comes, everybody rides, and as Belle's love breaks the curse over the Beast, everyone in the castle morphs back into their human selves. (Without aging, either, since Chip is still a boy of 8 after 10 years spent as a tea cup.) The castle turns into a giant meringue pie, and even the rain shuffles off grumbling in favor of brilliant sunshine. We'd say Belle's pretty much done her job…and the community she saved turned out to be the one she never thought of as home.

Tired of ads?

Logging out…, logging out....

You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds...

W hy's T his F unny?

How the Hero's Journey Became the Guiding Force in Disney Animation

Many of you are likely aware of the book, The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. You might also be aware that it’s based on the writings of Joseph Campbell and it applies Campbell’s ideas on the Hero’s Journey to cinema in general and screenwriting specifically. Many of you may have even read Vogler’s book or Cambell’s writings, or both. But did you know that The Writer’s Journey started as an internal memo at Walt Disney Animation Studios while developing The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast ? It was meant as a guide for developing their stories into feature films, becoming required reading for Disney Feature’s creative executives, and was essentially their gospel for creating stories over the ensuing decade. The echoes of those principles ring just as loudly and clearly today across not only Disney but the entire animation storytelling landscape.

If you saw Alec Sokolow’s recent Stage 32 webinar on the Hero’s Journey , you would have learned that the journey is primarily about getting the character from one place to another, but not how you might initially think. Yes, in many movies, the character is going from one physical space to another, but the Hero’s Journey is most effective when it is an inner journey for the Hero. Whether that journey is taking the hero on an emotional journey or a journey of self-discovery, the most interesting Hero’s Journeys are the ones that change the character profoundly and noticeably.

Alec used his own experience in writing Toy Story (which netted him an Oscar nomination) as how that notion was effectively conveyed. Yes, both Woody and Buzz go on a physical journey in which they leave the Ordinary World of Andy’s bedroom and enter the Special World outside the house, including Pizza Planet and Syd’s house. In those places, they experience the stages of Tests, Allies and Enemies, The Approach, and The Supreme Ordeal. But in the second act, those stages do more than just advance the story. They also develop Woody and Buzz as characters, motivating each of them to grow and change by the end in a way that was satisfying to the audience. For more on how Alec specifically applied the Hero's Journey to Toy Story and other successful films, be sure to check out his webinar .

Anyone interested in writing and storytelling, be it live-action or animation, has been inundated with the idea of 3-act structure, where your first act is 25-30 pages, your second act is 50-60 pages, and your third act is 25-30 pages. The first act represents the exposition, the second act represents the conflict, and the third act represents the resolution. That’s can feel like a daunting number of pages and a rigid structure in which to fit your story. Sokolow even said in his webinar that he often struggles with the second act because it’s so long and so much has to happen.

But, if you were to think of your story in the 12 stages of the Hero’s Journey rather than in three full acts, it becomes more palatable, especially when you put the stages of the journey alongside where they go inside of the 3-act structure. This is especially true when writing an animated story that needs to be followed by audiences of all ages.

Using the Christopher Vogler version of the Hero's Journey from his book, The Writer’s Journey , it looks as follows:

Ordinary World Call to Adventure Refusal Meeting the Mentor Crossing the First Threshold

Tests, Allies, and Enemies Approach Supreme Ordeal Reward

The Road Back Resurrection Return with the Elixir

Now, let's see how we can apply these steps to an animated story...

Whenever I’m writing anything, I always start by using those stages as an outline. To borrow a phrase from animation, think of it as keyframing. Each of the steps in the Hero’s Journey is a keyframe, and then once you have those, all you need to do is the in-betweening, filling out the details that get you from one stage of the journey to the next. This way, the structure doesn’t seem so rigid, and the amount of writing is less daunting. In fact, the structure is assisting you in developing a cohesive and coherent story.

When I was studying animation at USC, one of my instructors had been a character animator and storyboard artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and he told us a story about the development of Beauty and the Beast . They were struggling with the story until Jeffrey Katzenberg told them they were approaching it from the wrong direction. The story team was developing the story from Belle’s point of view, and Katzenberg told them that it was the Beast’s point of view that was driving the story. It was the Beast who was the one who needed to change. He needed to go from “spoiled, selfish, and unkind” to someone who had “learned to love and could be loved in return.”

Beauty and the Beast is a story that does so many things well in creating drama. It gives us a character with a clear need who will struggle to meet that need because he starts out the story unwilling to change. It gives us a ticking clock for when that need must be met in the form of the petals falling from the rose. And it gives us a clear consequence if the need isn’t met in that he will remain a beast forever. The Hero’s Journey plays an integral role in progressing the story and in organically bringing about change in the Beast.

Ordinary World – The Beast lives alone in an enchanted castle. Call to Adventure – Maurice arrives seeking help. Refusal – The Beast locks him in the tower. Meeting the Mentor – Belle arrives searching for Maurice. Crossing the First Threshold – Belle takes Maurice’s place as the Beast’s prisoner.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies – The Beast tells Belle she can go anywhere she wants except the West Wing; Belle refuses to eat dinner with him; he tells the servants that if she doesn’t eat with him, she doesn’t eat at all; the magic mirror shows him an image of Belle telling one of the enchanted servants that she doesn’t want anything to do with him. Approach – Belle wanders into the West Wing. The Beast catches her there and flies into a rage, causing Belle to run away and leave the castle. Supreme Ordeal – Belle is attacked by wolves, and the Beast rescues her but is injured, and Belle uses her horse to carry him back to the castle. Reward – Belle nurses the Beast back to health; the Beast shows Belle (a book lover) his massive library; they start to eat together. Belle says she’s happy, but she wishes she could see her father again.

The Road Back – The Beast shows Belle the magic mirror that shows Maurice searching for Belle in the woods, sick and possibly dying. The Beast, now able to love, allows Belle to go to him. She takes Maurice home, but the jealous Gaston finds out about the Beast and rallies the villagers to go kill him. Resurrection – The villagers attack the castle. The Beast won’t fight, but the enchanted servants repel the attack. Only Gaston gets to the Beast’s lair and is about to kill him until the Beast sees Belle has returned. He fights off Gaston, and it seems as though Belle and the Beast will be reunited until Gaston stabs the Beast before falling to his death. Belle professes her love for the Beast as he draws his last breath and the last petal falls from the rose. Having learned to love and earned the love of another, the Beast is resurrected and transforms back into a human. Return with the Elixir – Belle and the (now human) Beast dance in the ballroom, seemingly to live happily ever after.

It's clear in Beauty and the Beast that the Hero’s Journey not only moved the story forward but it motivated the change that the Beast had to go through. That’s one of the many things that the Hero’s Journey does for the writer. It allows for the story progression and character development to happen in tandem with each other. All of the pieces work together to create a dramatic arc that makes this film so successful.

That is one of the reasons that the Hero’s Journey works so well in animated features. The best-animated features are about characters and how those characters need to change. Whether it’s the Beast needing to learn to love; Hiccup ( How to Train Your Dragon ) needing to prove to himself that brains are as important as brawn; or whether it’s about Mirabel needing to find value in what makes her different ( Encanto ); or it’s about Woody and Buzz accepting that their places in the world are not what they thought they were ( Toy Story ); or whether it’s Rick accepting his daughter for who she is ( The Mitchells vs. The Machines ), animation is at its best when its heroes are flawed characters who learn and grow. The Hero’s Journey is the best way to make that happen.

Do you have a favorite example of how the Hero’s Journey worked in an animated feature? I would love it if you shared it in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Emily at [email protected] and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32, Twitter @stage32, Facebook @stage32, and LinkedIn @stage-32.

About the Author

Brian Smith

Production Manager, Screenwriter, Script Consultant

Brian has been a professional screenplay reader since 2006, and has written coverage for over 1,000 scripts and books for companies such as Walden Media and Scott Free Films. Scripts and books that Brian has read and covered include Twilight, Touristas, Nim’s Island, Hotel for Dogs, and Inkheart. Br...

More in Featured

Celebrate The April 2024 Stage 32 Community's Successes

11 Tips For Bringing Your Animated Characters To Life

The 9 Levels Of Story- Part 2: Creative, Project, & Story

More in Trending

A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fairy Tale

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Perhaps such an august fairy tale of such fine vintage deserves closer analysis, since it’s clearly spoken to many cultures across a vast time span. What makes ‘Beauty and the Beast’ so intellectually satisfying (to borrow the Opies’ phrase), and why has it endured?

Plot summary

Well, first, here’s a quick reminder or summary of the plot of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. A wealthy merchant has three daughters, the youngest of which is admired widely for her beauty, and comes to be known simply as ‘Beauty’.

Her older sisters are far prouder than she is, and let it be known that they will only marry an earl or duke. When their father loses his fortune, the two older sisters find it difficult to adjust to a life of penury, but the loyal and modest Beauty sets about finding ways to help out her father around the house.

After a year of this, their merchant-father receives a letter telling him that a ship containing some of his property has arrived in port, so he sets off to meet it.

He asks his daughters what gifts they would like him to bring back for them: the two eldest daughters ask for expensive gowns and jewels, but Beauty requests a simple rose. Their father sets off, but after the legal hearing concerning the ship’s property, he leaves with nothing, and begins the despondent journey home.

On his way, he gets lost in the woods, and comes upon a house where he takes refuge. This great house appears to be empty, and the merchant falls asleep in it, and wakes to find that breakfast has been prepared for him. Going out into the garden, he remembers his promise to Beauty, and so plucks a single rose from the bush – at which point, a fearsome Beast appears, declaring that he is the owner of the house and that the merchant has insulted his hospitality by stealing a rose like this.

The Beast says he will kill the merchant, but the merchant begs for his life, and the Beast says he will allow the merchant to live, as long as he returns home and brings back one of his daughters to be killed in his stead. Failing that, in three months’ time the merchant must return and face his fate.

The merchant, seizing the opportunity to see his daughters again, agrees, and the Beast gives him a bag full of coins to be on his way home. When he arrives home, the merchant keeps the money a secret, but tells his children about his promise to the Beast.

When Beauty hears about it, she says she will follow her father back to the Beast’s palace, since she won’t allow him to be killed for her (it was because he plucked a rose for Beauty that the Beast sentenced him to death).

At the palace, the Beast sees that both Beauty and her father have arrived, and so he dismisses the father, who reluctantly and despondently returns home, convinced that the Beast will eat up his daughter at the palace.

But the Beast treats Beauty well, who in turn is kind to the Beast: she admits that she finds him physically ugly, but she sees that he has a good heart underneath. He asks her to marry him, and she says no. Not content with this, the Beast continues to ask Beauty every night if she will marry him, but each night she says no.

Beauty, learning that her older sisters have married and her father is all alone at home, asks the Beast if she might go and visit him. The Beast agrees, since he cannot bear to see Beauty unhappy, but as long as she agrees to return after a week.

Beauty agrees to this, but when she is at home with her father, her sisters – jealous of their sister, who has been given the finest clothes by the Beast, while they have married horrible husbands – return home and conspire to use emotional blackmail to make Beauty stay away from the Beast for longer than a week. They hope that by doing so, the Beast will be enraged and will come and devour Beauty!

But after she has been at home for ten nights, Beauty grows ill at ease. Why did she refuse to marry Beast, just because he is ugly? He is kind and caring and worships her, and wants to make her happy. She would be happier with him than her sisters are with their selfish and cruel husbands. So she resolves to return to the palace.

But when she gets there, she finds the Beast on the floor, unconscious; bringing him round, he reveals that when she didn’t return as promised, he resolved to starve himself. Now she has returned, he can die happy. But Beauty says she will marry him, and longs for him to live.

No sooner has Beauty said this than the Beast disappears, and is replaced by a handsome young prince, who tells her that an evil fairy cast a spell over him, transforming him into a hideous creature; he would only be freed from the spell when a young woman agreed to marry him. Beauty has freed him from the wicked spell.

A beautiful fairy appears, and uses magic to transport Beauty’s father and her sisters to the palace. The fairy turns Beauty’s two older sisters into statues, so that they must forever look on their younger sister’s happiness: this is the punishment for their malice. Beauty and the Prince Formerly Known as Beast get married and live happily ever after.

Stockholm Syndrome: this has made the tale of Beauty and the Beast unpalatable in some circles. Beauty only comes to love the Beast because she is placed under house arrest at his home; she initially doesn’t want to be there.

And the moral of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ seems to be all over the place. Beauty’s reward for prizing virtue above physical good looks is … an attractive husband. It’s not that there’s no way of interpreting or analysing this so that it makes sense, just that the story’s moral is not as straightforward as it is in some other fairy tales.

Why did ‘Beauty and the Beast’ become popular when it did? This is difficult to pinpoint for sure, and any analysis of the fairy tale’s popularity must be based partly on conjecture, but it’s possible to see it as a tale promoting the idea of marriage to someone you might not necessarily find attractive: it is significant that Beauty’s father is a merchant, and his daughters either want to marry wealthy and aristocratic men or else it is expected that they will.

Arranged marriages were common in France at the time: was ‘Beauty and the Beast’, in the last analysis, a sort of ‘handbook’ for young brides entering into marriages with hideous older men, all hair and bad breath but with a good kind heart underneath (if they were lucky)?

Different versions

‘Beauty and the Beast’ appeared in Madame Leprince de Beaumont’s Magasin des enfans, ou dialogues entre une sage Gouvernante et plusieurs de ses Élèves in 1756. But in fact, as already noted, the basic plot of the story dates back far earlier. There was a 1740 version (much longer) also published in French, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, and this is the first version of the tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as we now know it.

Before that, Madame d’Aulnoy, French queen of the fairy tale (and originator of the term), had written ‘Mouton’, or ‘The Royal Ram’, which appeared in an English translation in 1721, and shares some similarities with ‘Beauty and the Beast’. But there is also a similar tale in the Pentamerone from the 1630s, involving a monster marrying a beautiful princess.

The Opies mention a popular non-western version in which ‘a crocodile changes into a fine man when his bride consents to lick his face.’ Even The Golden Ass , from the 2 nd century AD, we get a version of the story involving Cupid and Psyche. In short, we’ve been fascinated by this idea of hideous beasts marrying beautiful women for a long while. Perhaps what that tells us about marriage and the sexes is best left unexplored.

Continue to explore the world of fairy tales with these classic Victorian fairy stories , our discussion of the Bluebeard myth , and our analysis of the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ fairy tale .

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Type your email…

4 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fairy Tale”

Could it be men see themselves as beasts wanting to desecrate beauty of women?

Shows that a father is wiling to sacrifice his child to save his own life. Men, including the christian god do things like that all the time. Children are goods to be given away or traded for something. It again shows how evil sisters, step or otherwise, are to each other. Bitter competition or jealousy over men who can care for them, since women are never allowed to take care of themselves and are always forced into dependency. Shows how beauty, in women is not appreciated by other women but seen as something to hate and envy, so no sisterhood there either. Women turning on women, hating, ganging up on the pretty one, Cinderella, etc., always women hating. Women sent to die. Boys/princes are never motherless, jus the girls/princesses. Dead women are the best women in a lot of fairy tales and the dead ones are usually the nice mothers. So this is just one more tale about horrible fathers who care more about themselves then they do their daughters. Men getting what they want and females hating each other. Sigh. Blah.

Hmm, I just reviewed this very story when Theatre By The Lake produced it over the Christmas period. As usual, I researched it before writing my review and I have to say I was left disquieted. I was taken aback by the final ‘message’ of the play that ‘a beautiful innocent can marry a monster and change him into a prince’.

Given the history of the publication(s) – namely to prepare well-to-do French girls for arranged marriages – the implications are clear. It is selling a myth that if you are pious and virtuous, well-behaved and do all that is expected of you, you can turn your monster of a husband into something decent. By implication then, if your husband remains a monster, you must be getting it wrong and need to work harder.

For me, I find this somewhat unpalatable and feel Beauty and the Beast needs to be consigned to the realm of ‘stories we don’t like to talk about any more’. Especially noting the continued popularity of both film versions. Young girls are still getting the message in a rather covert but definite way. My own experience is that my own daughter remains a fan even in adult life now and she’s far from alone in the area where we live. We storytellers have to careful with the messages we bring….

Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ | Interesting Literature

Comments are closed.

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Lesson Plans
Teacher's Guides
Media Resources

Tale as Old as Time: Archetypes in Beauty and the Beast

Illustration for Beauty and the Beast . London: George Routledge and Sons, 1874.

Wikimedia Commons

"There is a certain typical hero sequence of actions, which can be detected in stories from all over the world, and from many, many periods of history." —Joseph Campbell, in The Power of Myth

The idea of the hero’s journey suggests that the adventures heroes and heroines undertake in many of our beloved stories follow a similar pattern. By broadly outlining these stories, you can see they contain characters and plot elements also found in fairy tales and legends from different cultures.

These characters can be fit into molds known as archetypes, a concept which psychologist Carl Jung laid out in a framework and Joseph Campbell popularized. Archetypes are template or stock characters you see reappearing in various cultures and across time, such as the hero, the villain, the goofy sidekick, or the wise elder.

This Student Activity explores how a classic and well-loved fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” can be distilled into archetypes of character and plot. It offers you a guide to recognize and analyze these archetypes when they appear in other stories and mediums.

Student Activity Details

Read this 18th-century version of “Beauty of the Beast ” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont, which was published in The Young Misses Magazine in France in 1756. Respond to the following:

Who are the primary characters in this story? Describe each character with a couple of words or phrases. What are their defining characteristics?
Write a brief summary of the main character’s journey in this story.
Go back to the summary you just wrote and replace all of the specific details with more general terms (for example, you would substitute general terms such as “a girl” or “the protagonist” for “Beauty”). Normally, in writing we aim for precision; this is your chance to break the rules and purposefully be vague!

Read one of the following versions of the “Beauty and the Beast” archetypal tale from another cultural tradition. These stories and others like them are available in the Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts repository, edited and/or translated by D.L. Ashliman at the University of Pittsburgh.

" Cupid and Psyche ,” by Lucius Apuleius (Latin)
" The Fairy Serpent ,” (Chinese)
" East of the Sun and West of the Moon ,” Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe (Norwegian)

What revisions would you need to make to your answers from Activity 1 in order to accurately reflect the fairy tale you just read? Do that now.

Here are some questions to consider after reading:

Compare and contrast the characters in this story with those in the French version. How are they similar? In what ways are they different?
In your opinion, which of these similarities and differences are most noticeable or significant? Be ready to point to specific places in the text that support your answer.

The archetypal story of “Beauty and the Beast” was transformed into an animated feature film by Disney in 1991.

Watch the clip of the 1991 film trailer
Beauty and the Beast : 25th Anniversary Edition. Walt Disney Studios: September 20, 2016; Run Time: 92 minutes

Compare what you see in the 1991 Disney animated feature film with the LePrince de Beaumont version of the tale you originally read in Activity 1. Here are some questions to guide your comparison:

Pay attention to how the trailer sets up the contrast between Belle and the Beast as “opposites.” How would you describe Beauty in this story? What about the Beast?
What particular moments in the clip give you that impression?
How do these descriptions differ from the ones you recorded in Activity 1?
Who would you identify as the antagonist in this version of the fairytale?
Thinking of what you saw in the trailer, what adjective or phrase would you use to label the tone of this film? How does that tone measure up to the tone of the story by Madame de Beaumont from the first activity?

The full script of the film is available, if you would like to access the text version.

If you would like to more deeply investigate criticisms of the Disney film and discuss how the archetypes in the story have been modified to better suit the societal values of the time, complete the extension activity linked below: Belle as a "new kind of Disney heroine ."

The archetypes of the beautiful, good-hearted girl and the wild, monstrous man reappear in a variety of forms in art and entertainment today (including the live-action remake of the Disney film, starring Harry Potter actress Emma Watson as Belle). List the aspects of the “Beauty and the Beast” tale you recognize in the following examples. What traits of the archetypal “the beauty” and “the beast” characters are emphasized, and what has been left out? Why might those choices have been made by the writer, composer, or director?

French film La Belle et la Bête (“Beauty and the Beast”) 2014, film trailer.
The Twilight film series, New Moon 2009, film trailer.

Live Performance/Music

" The Phantom of the Opera ,” musical starring Norm Lewis and Sierra Boggess.
Wuthering Heights , novel by Emily Brontë: “He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast being goaded to death with knives and spears.”

If time allows, find your own representations of “the beauty” and “the beast” archetypes in contemporary art, advertisements, television, etc., and use them to consider the same questions. What helped you recognize the archetypes in these works?

Belle as a “ new kind of Disney heroine ”—In this article from Time , Beauty and the Beast screenwriter Linda Woolverton discusses her efforts to make Belle a “new kind of Disney heroine” who would be a role model for young girls, in contrast to Disney princesses like Snow White, who embodied the gender roles of the 1930s . Look at the linked video and article, then write a paragraph to answer each of the subsequent questions. How does the original French story reflect the expectations of women at the time? In what ways could Belle be considered a “feminist upgrade”? Would you say Belle is a good or problematic role model for girls today?

In the director’s chair—You are acting as a director in charge of a remake of a theatrical or film production of Beauty and the Beast . Think about how the archetypes of “the beauty” and “the beast” fit into modern life. Outline how you would update the Beauty and the Beast story for today’s world. Then, elaborate on this plan. Feel free to be creative as you like in your response–you can choose to sketch a storyboard, write verses to a song you’d want in your film, write an essay, act out a scene, choreograph a dance, etc.!

Related on EDSITEment

A literary glossary for literature and language arts, fairy tales around the world, hans christian andersen's fairy tales.

Read Scratchboard Magazine!
Use the Youtube icon to listen to the HHS morning announcements.
Follow us on Instagram @hhs_soaring_eagle
Close Menu Search
School & Community
Health & Wellness

The Student News Site of Hauppauge High School

HHS Soaring Eagle

A Hero’s Journey: Beauty and the Beast

Michele Romito , Editor | April 15, 2021

Many films include a character that portrays heroic characteristics that lead them to a hero’s journey. A hero’s journey must include a birth, a destiny, help from a wise character, villains, romance, the final battle, and the journey home. In the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon, the main protagonist, Belle, has a hero’s journey by saving the Beast from remaining a beast forever and has many heroic characteristics such as helpful, caring, intelligent, and selflessness.

Along the way, Belle gets help and advice from Mrs. Potts. Mrs. Potts introduces Belle to the castle and greets her to the other characters like Chip, Lumiere, and Cogsworth. One helpful action Mrs. Potts did was she had a special dinner made for Belle, even though the Beast said Mrs. Potts wasn’t allowed to when she first exited her room. This was to make Belle feel comfortable in the new castle where she was being held captive by, at the time, a scary Beast. Secondly, Mrs. Potts helped the Beast and Belle fall in love which is a major factor in Belle’s destiny. Mrs. Potts isn’t afraid to go against the Beasts orders and instills that in Belle. Specifically, when the Beast was attacked by wolves Belle kept cleaning his wounds even though he told her to stop.

The final battle of Beauty and the Beast was between Gaston and the Beast. Once Gaston, the villain, found out that the Beast was close with Belle, he wanted to kill the Beast. When Gaston arrived at the castle, the Beast was almost out of time and was starting to fade away. Gaston and the Beast both wound each other as Belle is trying to stop their fight. When both Gaston and the Beast are right at the edge of the castle, Gaston stabs the Beast one last time but falls to his death. Belle saves the Beast by helping him get onto the balcony safely. The journey home was Belle deciding to live with the Beast after she confessed her love for him in the last moments of his life. She turns the Beast back into his human form along with all his servants. The spell on the castle is finally broken.

All in all, Belle completes her heroic journey. Belle completes her destiny which was to save the Beast and his servants from remaining in their enchanted forms forever. Belle is aided through her hero’s journey by Mrs. Potts who gives her advice on how to handle and fall in love with the Beast. She and the Beast defeat Gaston, the villain, and end up falling in love. This film and Hero’s Journey both end with a happily ever after.

Sofia Corcione- Author

Bodies Bodies Bodies: Whodunit Horror With a Comedic Twist

Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande

Are these popular shoes worth it?

The Inheritance Games

The Lovely Bones

Entertainment

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; Spoiler Free Review

The Crown: Series Review

The Truman Show: Reality Isn’t What It Seems

The Book of Broken Rules by: K.L. Walther

Book Review: My Fault by Mercedes Ron

The Student News Site of Hauppauge High School

Sundiata and Kirikou: Treatment of the Villians
Arthurian Myths and Modern Audience
Japanese Heroes
Monsters make a hero
Should Americans “take a page” from Gilgamesh?
The Faithful Wife: Penelope as a Hero

The Hero’s Journey and Archetype Analysis of Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast- The Hero’s Journey

The Call to Adventure –

The merchant father, upon returning home from the Beast’s castle, tells his daughter Belle about his encounter with the hideous Beast. She must willingly go in place for her father as promised.

The Crossing of the First Threshold –

Belle arrives at the castle and is greeted by the monster known as the Beast. She leaves behind her home and family.

Initiation:

The Road of Trials-

She lives at the Beast’s castle. She returns home for what is supposed to be a short time however she is persuaded by her jealous sisters to remain with her family. She discovers soon after she breaks her promise to return that the Beast is heartbroken and almost dead. She quickly returns to him to profess her love.

The Ultimate Boon:

The Beast turns into a handsome Prince now that the curse has been broken.

Freedom to Live :

Belle marries the Prince and they live happily ever after.

Prince/Beast- Maiden

Belle- the Hero

Witch- Shadow

What is the hero’s journey in Beauty and the Beast?

November 17, 2022

What are the 12 steps of the heroes journey?

The Ordinary World. This is where we meet the hero and identify with him or her.
The Call to Adventure. A challenge or quest is proposed.
Refusal of the Call.
Meeting the Mentor.
Crossing the Threshold.
Tests, Allies, Enemies.
Approach to the Innermost Cave.
The Ordeal.

What Disney movie has the hero’s journey?

Star Wars is not the only films that follows the Hero’s Journey. Many of Disney’s Films also use this plot structure in their animated feature films: Finding Nemo, Mulan, The Lion King, The Incredibles, and Moana . Additional movies include Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda.

What are the 7 stages of the hero’s journey?

The Ordinary World.
The Call to Adventure.
The Refusal of the Call.
Meeting with the Mentor.
Tests, Allies, and Enemies.
The Supreme Ordeal.

What is the hero’s journey in Beauty and the Beast? – Related Questions

What are the 5 Elements of the hero’s Journey?

What Is the Hero’s Journey?

The departure. The hero leaves the familiar world behind.
The initiation. The hero learns to navigate the unfamiliar world.
The return. The hero returns to the familiar world.

Who created the 12 stages of the hero’s journey?

Hollywood development executive and screenwriter Christopher Vogler took Campbell’s storytelling theories and created the 12-stages of the Hero’s Journey, which he later used as a story and character development directive for story departments and screenwriters.

What are the 8 archetypes of hero’s journey?

Hero. A hero willingly sacrifices their needs for others.
Mentor. A teacher or trainer who aids the hero by teaching and protecting them.
Threshold Guardian. A character who serves to keep the unworthy from entering.
Shapeshifter.

What is step 8 of the hero’s journey?

The Return (To the known world) 8. The Return Final stage of journey Essence of the return is to begin contributing to one’s society In mythology, the initiate may return as a great hero because he/she has saved or renewed his/her community in some way. Others return to create a city, nation, or religion.

What is the most important stage of the hero’s Journey?

Atonement With the Father – One of the major turning points of the story where the hero faces the ultimate reason for the journey. The hero might face a villain or even their own doubt.

What is hero’s Journey structure?

In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero’s journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed .

How do I write my own hero’s journey?

Departure. The hero leaves the ordinary world behind.
Initiation. The hero ventures into the unknown (“the Special World”) and overcomes various obstacles and challenges.
Return. The hero returns in triumph to the familiar world.

How do you write a short story in The hero’s Journey?

The Departure (Separation) The hero is compelled to leave her ordinary world.
Initiation. The hero crosses into the other world, where she faces obstacles.
Return. The hero crosses the threshold back into her ordinary world, which looks different now.

What stories use the hero’s Journey?

The Hero’s Journey Examples in Popular Fiction

Interview with a Vampire.
The Hunger Games.
Interstellar.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

How is Moana an example of the hero’s journey?

The adventurous teenager, Moana, sails out on an important and life-changing mission to save her people . While attempting to restore the stolen heart of Te Fiti to regain the prosperity of her island, Moana meets the once-mighty demigod and heart thief, Maui, who guides her in her quest to become a master way-finder.

Is every story a hero’s journey?

The Hero’s Journey is a skeletal framework that describes how a character moves throughout their journey within a plot. While every story does not contain the Hero’s Journey , many stories are outlined by it.

What characters fit the hero’s journey?

Hero. The hero is the audience’s personal tour guide on the adventure that is the story.

Who is the hero in the hero’s journey?

According to acclaimed literary critic Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself .” This simple yet profound definition is the gateway to his famous breakdown of The Hero’s Journey, as found in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

What are the 7 types of heroes?

The Perfect Hero. A paragon of virtue, this hero embodies everything good about humanity.
The Misfit. For whatever reason, this unlikely hero isn’t like everyone else.
The Grizzled Old-Timer.
The Everyman.
The Anti-Hero.
The Prodigy.
The Un-Hero.

Does Moana follow the hero’s journey?

Moana is a young teenager who sets out on a journey to save her family, with the help of a large and funny demigod, Maui. Her story is along with the hero’s journey theory by Joseph Campbell.

Is Encanto a hero’s journey?

So far from being some mythic quest or hero’s journey , it is about a young girl trying to find her place in her family. The twist, however, is that so are her sisters.

Heroes Wiki

-Welcome to the Hero/Protagonist wiki! If you can help us with this wiki please sign up and help us! Thanks! -M-NUva

Cartoon Heroes
Movie Heroes
Sensational Six Heroes
Kingdom Hearts Heroes
Theatrical Heroes
Animal Kindness
Protector of Innocence
Sophisticated
Control Freaks
Predecessor
Fantasy Heroes
Aristocrats
Love Rivals
Extravagant
Localized Protection
Master of a Villain
False Antagonist
TV Show Heroes
Philanthropists
Live Action Heroes
Crossover Heroes
Book Heroes
One-Man Army
Virtually Resourceful
Failure-Intolerant
Disciplinarians
Redeemed Villains
Pawn of the Villain
Spoiled Sweet
Descendants Heroes
Determinators
Benevolent Rulers
Sofia the First Heroes
Bond Protectors
Bond Creators
Reluctant Heroes

Beast (Disney)

View history

Prince Adam , better known as the Beast , is the titular male protagonist of the Beauty and the Beast franchise. He was never actually named in the film, but his name is later revealed to be Adam.

In the original film, he was introduced as a villainous protagonist similar to Emperor Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove , however, this is just a plot to reveal that Gaston is the true main villain later on, as the Beast of the movie version was never a villain.

In all of his animated and video game appearances, he was voiced by Robby Benson , who also voiced Drake in Dragonheart . In the live action film, he was portrayed by Dan Stevens .

1.1 Beauty and the Beast
2 Appearance
3 Personality
4 Powers and Abilities
5.1 Roar of the Beast
5.2 Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure
5.3 Kinect Disneyland Adventures
5.4 Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
5.5.1 Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
5.5.2 Mickey's House of Villains
5.6.1 Kingdom Hearts
5.6.2 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
5.6.3 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
5.6.4 Kingdom Hearts II
5.7 Once Upon a Time
5.8 Mickey Mouse (2016)
5.9 Descendants
5.10 Disney Emoji Blitz
5.11 Disney As Told By Emoji
8 External Links
9 Navigation

History [ ]

Beauty and the beast [ ].

A handsome young prince lives in a luxurious castle in France. Although he has everything he ever wanted, he is spoiled, selfish, and unkind. One night, his kindness is put to the test when a beggar woman comes to the castle and asks for shelter from the freezing cold, with a single rose as payment. When he shuns the beggar for her repulsive appearance, she warns him not to be deceived by appearances as beauty is found within. When he dismisses her again, she then reveals her true form as a beautiful enchantress . Seeing her beauty and realizing her power, the Prince tries to apologize but she transforms him into a terrifying beast-like creature for his behavior.

She also casts a curse on the entire castle, transforming it into a dark, foreboding place, its lush green grounds into dangerous immortal wolf-infested woods, and the good-natured servants into anthropomorphic household objects to reflect their different personalities. Ashamed of his new appearance, the Beast conceals himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world, and an enchanted rose that would act as the curse's timer which would bloom until he turns 21. If the Beast could learn to love a woman and earn her love in return before the final petal fell off the rose, the curse would be broken, but if he failed, he would remain a beast forever. The Beast falls into despair as the years pass by, with little hope of achieving this. And along with his predicament his temper grows increasingly fouler.

One fateful night as the enchanted rose reaches late bloom and slowly wilts, the first outsider is an old man named Maurice who accidentally stumbles upon the castle, being allowed inside by the servants-turned-objects for shelter (minus his majordomo/mantel clock as he knows they'll all get in trouble). However, the Beast detains Maurice in the tower as a prisoner for trespassing and stealing a rose after a brief but brutish interrogation. Maurice's horse Philippe returns back to the village, and then takes Maurice's daughter Belle back to the castle. In the tower Belle confronts Beast and pleads with him to let her father go, only to fall on Beast's deaf ears - until Belle offers herself as a prisoner instead, to which the Beast agrees in return for her promise never to leave.

Being prodded by his servants into believing that she is the key to breaking the curse, the Beast shows flashes of compassion for the first time despite his overall gruff and demanding attitude, such as when he lets her stay in a furnished room rather than the tower dungeon. But years of psychological affliction due to curse that caused him to become bitter and angry was not something that could be easily healed, and inevitably tempers between the two flared. Although his servants attempted to elevate Belle's mood as best as she could, when she enters the castle's forbidden west wing and nearly touches the rose, he frightens her into fleeing the castle via the woods, which he regrets upon realizing that he lost his temper, then he saves her from being killed by wild wolves. She brings him back to the castle and tends to his wounds and the Beast and Belle come to appreciate each other - albeit through shouting match over each other's contradicting dispositions before Belle first relented. He strikes up a friendship with her, by giving her the castle library and learns kindness and manners from her. Eventually, Beast falls in love with Belle, and placing her happiness before his own, he releases her to tend to her sick father after she sees him in a magic mirror that Beast showed her.

Back in Belle's Village, due to Maurice's claims of Belle being held prisoner by beast, an egotistical hunter and rival suitor named Gaston bribes the owner of the insane asylum into having Maurice committed unless Belle agrees to marry Gaston. His plan comes into motion when Belle and Maurice return. Gaston says to Belle he clear it up if she marries him. A horrified Belle refuses and proves the Beast does exist, courtesy of the Mirror which he gave to her to remember him by and she says that he is her friend. A jealous Gaston tells Belle "If I didn't know better I'd think you had feelings for this monster.", but Belle retorts with "He's no monster, Gaston. You Are.". Gaston snaps, and decides to gather a band of villagers to kill the Beast, playing off their fears that the Beast might wreak havoc on their village and locks Belle and her father in their cellar. When the mob arrives, the Beast is too disheartened from Belle's departure to try to stop them. While Gaston looks for Beast, The Castle Servants and objects successfully fight the mob off. Gaston eventually finds the Beast and issues a challenge, but Beast is too miserable to retaliate as without Belle he has lost the will to live. Gaston prepares to kill Beast, but Belle returns to the castle with her father (having been freed by the son of the castle's head of the kitchen who stowed away with Belle in her satchel). Seeing that Belle came back for him, the Beast fights back and overpowers Gaston. Soon the Beast holds Gaston over a ledge intending to drop him until the hunter pathetically begs him not to. The Beast nearly drops Gaston, but then he realizes he's sinking to Gaston's level (not to mention that despite how much she despises Gaston, Belle would never allow him to take his life), so the Beast decides to show mercy and spare Gaston on the condition that he immediately leave the castle. Belle then shows up on the balcony and the Beast climbs up to meet her; however Gaston refuses to accept defeat and stabs the Beast from behind. Gaston loses his balance and falls from the castle roof to his death, but Belle manages to grab the Beast and pull him up. The Beast, knowing he is mortally wounded, expresses his appreciation to Belle for returning and being able to see her one last time, before dying of his injuries. Belle is heartbroken, but is able to tell the Beast that she loves him before the final petal falls. Then, Belle's love for the Beast breaks the curse and transforms him back into the prince. The castle and it's surrounding environment are restored to their former glory and the servants regain their humanity. Afterward, the prince and Belle share a romantic dance and lived happily ever after.

Unlike Belle, the Beast doesn't appear in Once Upon a Time , instead Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold serves as "the Beast" and as Belle's love interest and eventual husband in the series.

Appearance [ ]

The Beast is depicted as a large, muscular, fierce-looking, chimeric creature combining aspects of various animals such as the head structure of a bison, the arms and body structure of a grizzly bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf. His appearance bares a strong resemblance to that of mythical monsters such as the Minotaur or a werewolf while his size is said to be close to 10 feet (3.05 meters).

The Beast is often shirtless and wearing a torn cape and dark blue breeches. When dressed up, he ties his hair back with a blue bow, and wears a blue and yellow jacket, an orange vest, and black pants. He is mostly shown hunched, except when he is in his formal dress. When in his human form, the Prince has shoulder-length red hair. He dons the same formal suit he wore as the Beast, tailored to fit him; he also wears brown boots. The only striking similarity between the Prince and his beastly alter ego is his blue eyes.

Personality [ ]

When the Beast appeared in the first place, he appeared to be very illogical, embittered, pitiless, demanding, ill-tempered, obstinate and unfriendly, especially to his own servants. The last thing Beast wants is someone talking back to him. He also found himself in conflict with his hideous exterior, making him an insecure person in nature as he felt ashamed of his actions against the Enchantress and that no one would love him for who he is on the inside, even despising his abusive father for raising him to become a prideful ruler.

Despite his unfriendly nature, the Beast appears to have a kind and imaginative side, as he was prepared to care for others, especially for Belle and the servants. He is also capable of remorse, as he felt guilty in frightening Belle out of the West Wing and letting her father Maurice go without letting her say goodbye to him. As his servants pointed out, the Beast often lashes out in fury only to regret later. He is also empathetic, as he sympathized with Belle over her treatment as a village outcast and the loss of her mother (who died succumbing to a plague), similar to how his mother died succumbing to an illness. He is also shown to be lion-hearted, as he brutally fought against a pack of wolves to save Belle’s life, even stopping Maestro Forte from crumbling the castle down with his music by eliminating his keyboard and defeating Gaston LeGume in combat following Belle's return.

After saving Belle’s life from the wolves, he changes himself for the better, becoming a more courteous and relaxed person in nature. He even let Belle go free so that she can save Maurice from freezing to death, even though he feared he might never see her again and remain a beast forever. Once the curse is eventually broken following Gaston's demise, the Beast (turned back into the handsome Prince he was) retains his peaceful nature, even reuniting with several of his servants (who have turned back to normal as well) with an enormous hug.

Powers and Abilities [ ]

Superhuman Strength : Possessing immense strength, the Beast is able to pick up and carry full-grown men like Maurice and Gaston, even more capable of fighting against a wolf pack in spite of being outnumbered. He is also capable of ramming down or lifting up hard objects with ease, as he managed to destroy the dungeon door and Forte's keyboard to stop Forte from destroying the castle. His strength allows him to overpower Gaston during a fierce fight, despite the hunter's own strength.
Superhuman Mobility : The Beast is extremely fast, agile and athletic, capable of moving faster than ordinary humans while also capable of climbing and jumping from greater distances. This was shown when he jumped from one floor to the next while confronting Belle for her refusal to come over to dinner and the time when he was able to climb to the balcony following his fight against Gaston. At one point, the Beast is even shown to run and sometimes walk on all fours in a quadrupedal manner.
Superhuman Durability : The Beast is shown to be durable as he has extremely thick fur which makes him tough and resilient, capable of withstanding attacks such as the wolf attacks, Forte's magic and Gaston's arrows, despite feeling great pain at these times.
Accelerated Healing Factor : Despite his body's resistance, the Beast can sustain physical injury. If he is injured, his metabolism enables him to rapidly regenerate damaged bodily tissue much faster, depending on how serious his wounds are. He was able to recuperate from his fight with the wolves within a few days and withstand Forte's magical energy. However, he succumbed to his fatal injuries inflicted by Gaston before the latter died, though the Beast would later be revived after the spell was broken thanks to Belle expressing her love for him.
Superhuman Senses : Due to his senses being enhanced, the Beast was capable of tracking down Belle in the woods when she was in danger by scent and listening in on conversations from several feet away from other people.
Claws and Fangs : The Beast possessed razor-sharp claws and fangs which he could use to either rip, smash or bite through soft objects (such as thick rugs, curtains, portraits and books).
Stealth : The Beast was shown to be adept at stealth as he was capable of keeping himself hidden without anyone spotting him. This was shown when he witnessed both Belle and Maurice entering his castle without catching their attention, even at the time when he spotted Belle going into the West Wing against his orders, as well as surprising the wolves when coming to rescue Belle, and posing as a gargoyle in order to successfully sneak on Gaston.

Other Appearances [ ]

Roar of the beast [ ].

In this video game, the Beast must travel through various stages and fight off wolves and angry villagers to save Belle from Gaston.

Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure [ ]

The video board game details the events of the film in an interactive board game setting and story.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures [ ]

The Beast cameos as a meet-and-greet character.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion [ ]

The Beast appears as the first character saved from Mizrabel by Mickey.

House of Mouse [ ]

The Beast makes a few appearances as a guest in House of Mouse , most notably, hiding when an angry mob performs the song " Let's Slay the Beast " during Open-Mic night in the episode "Everybody Loves Mickey". He also appears helping out Mickey Mouse and friends in other episodes.

Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse [ ]

The Beast appears with Belle as everyone is snowed in at the club and unable to go home. They make the best out of their situation and try to celebrate Christmas anyway.

Mickey's House of Villains [ ]

The Beast makes an appearance entering the club on Halloween night, and Donald Duck tries to scare him. This annoys the Beast, causing him to roar loudly and chase Donald away. He is later captured by the villains, but escapes after Mickey defeats Jafar.

Kingdom Hearts franchise [ ]

Kingdom hearts [ ].

Beast in Kingdom Hearts .

In the first Kingdom Hearts game and its remasters, remixes and manga adaptation, the Beast appears as a hero and ally to Sora in the "Hollow Bastion" world. His world was overtaken and eliminated by the Heartless, with the Council of Disney Villains kidnapping Belle and taking her to Hollow Bastion. Beast followed them there, and soon he met up with Sora, who just would have been betrayed and left alone by Riku . The two of them team up, with Beast protecting Sora until he regained the Keyblade, freeing the six of the captured Seven Princesses of Heart, and reuniting with Belle afterwards, while he is helping Sora take down Maleficent as well.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories [ ]

The Beast appears as an illusion in Castle Oblivion , crafted from Sora's memories. He helps Sora and must win back Belle's heart by defeating the illusion of Maleficent again.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days [ ]

The Beast appears back in his homeworld, but he constantly fights Heartless to protect Belle and his servants. Soon, he’s contacted by Xaldin of Organization XIII, who starts to manipulate him back to being wicked.

Kingdom Hearts II [ ]

In the first Kingdom Hearts game and its remasters, remixes and manga adaptation, the Beast appears as antagonistic at first. In the world "Beast's Castle", Sora learns that the Beast has reverted back to his old ways and has become bitter, aggressive, and short-tempered, even going so far as to imprison his servants in the dungeon for displeasing him. Sora digs deeper to find out that the Beast had was being lied to and manipulated by Xaldin, turning him back to evil. Sora, Donald, and Goofy confront Beast and even battle him before knocking him back to his senses and returning him to good. Xaldin planned to turn Beast into a Heartless and a Nobody to use him for Organization XIII's own means, but it failed. Beast fights back and drives Xaldin away, but he kidnaps Belle and steals the enchanted rose. Sora, Beast, and the others defeat Xaldin, and Beast returns with Belle, fully redeemed.

Once Upon a Time [ ]

Mickey mouse (2016) [ ].

The Beast makes a minor appearance in the episode "The Adorable Couple". Mickey and Minnie want to make Donald and Daisy brighten up their relationship, so they take them out dancing. However, Donald fumbles and bumps into the Beast (who is dancing with Belle) by accident, infuriating the latter and causing him to attack and beat Donald up before he throws him out.

Descendants [ ]

In the Descendants franchise, the Beast (in his human form as Adam) served as the King of Auradon with Belle by his side as the Queen, and they are the parents of Prince Ben, one of the recurring protagonists of the series. In the first film, he is discomforted by Ben's approach to turn Mal and her villain friends into the light, but soon warms up to the idea per Belle's suggestion. In the end following Maleficent's defeat, he and Belle proudly crown Ben as the new King of Auradon.

In this version, he is portrayed by Dan Payne.

Disney Emoji Blitz [ ]

The Beast appears as a piece in Disney Emoji Blitz .

Disney As Told By Emoji [ ]

The Beast appears in "Beauty and the Beast As Told By Emoji", which recounts the events of the film in a quick, comical fashion.

Beast is the first male character in a Disney fairy tale to have a role that is equally as significant as the female protagonist.
Beast's design in the film is a combination of animals: the head structure of a buffalo or bison, the horns of a bull, the arms, fur, size, claws and body structure of a grizzly bear, the brow and hands of a gorilla, the jaws and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs, teeth and tail of a wolf or a dog.
Beast made a cameo as one of the Sultan's toys from the Disney film, Aladdin .
To make his voice sound Beast-like, Robby Benson's recordings were mixed with the growls of lions, tigers, and panthers.
Beast is played by Dan Stevens in the 2017 live-action remake.
His real name, Adam, was confirmed by both Paige O'Hara, Belle's original voice actress, and Dan Steven, who portrayed him in the 2017 remake.

External Links [ ]

Beast on the Disney Wiki
Beast on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki
Beast on the Love Interest Wiki
Beast on the Villains Wiki
Beast on the Near Pure Good Wiki

Navigation [ ]

1 King Baldwin IV
2 Yoshi Toranaga
3 Charlie Morningstar

Hero's Journey:Beauty & the Beast Sophia Diaz

Beauty and the Beast is the story of a farm girl named Belle who wishes for more in life, and the story of a prince who was transformed into a beast to teach him a lesson about arrogance, Belles father is taken prisoner in the Beasts castle and she takes his place, and Belles Heroes Journey begins....

Early Childhood

Belle: no mother & an unusual father

Beast: Turned from a handsome Prince to an ugly beast until he finds real true love because of his arrogance and selfishness when he was repulsed by an ugly old witch.

Call To Adventure

Belle's father gets lost in the woods and wanders into Beasts palace and is taken prisoner. Belle goes to find him.

Crossing the threshold:

Belle decides to take her fathers place as Beasts prisoner and promises to stay there forever. All she has ever known is behind her, and she does not know what lies ahead.

Initiation:

Challenges:

Magical helpers:

Temptations:

Belle is tempted to leave the castle even though she promised Beast she would stay there forever.

Transformation:

Belle and Beast dance together and they fall in love. Beast transforms into a Prince and the spell on him is broken when Belle truly falls in love with him and kisses him.

Mastery of two worlds: Belle goes from being a poor farm girl to living in the castle as a princess, and Beast goes from being a bad mannered, and scary Beast to being a proper and caring Prince.

Belle stays with the recently transformed Beast in the castle and all the magical helpers in the castle turn back into people and they lived...

Happily Ever After

Made with Adobe Slate

Make your words and images move.

Your report has been submitted.

There was a problem submitting your report. Please contact Adobe Support .

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use , you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

Trademark Infringement
Offensive Content
Racist or Hate Content
Sexually Explicit Content
Please provide a description of your concern.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use .

Beauty and the Beast, The West Wing Episode: Beast’s Hero’s Journey

Aug 11, 2017 | Beauty and the Beastly Minute

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Beast's Hero's Journey

In this special episode Sally the Researcher and Carri, from the LDS Dating podcast, talk about Beast as he goes through “the Hero’s Journey”

The Smithsonian Documentary about The Real Beauty and the Beast
The Hero’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Cambell, a Wikipedia Summary

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Disney 100 Songs Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Disney Lead Sheets: Melody line, lyrics and chord symbols Hardcover

Series: Lead Sheets: Melody line, lyrics and chord symbols

Format: Hardcover
Composer: Various

What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney than with 100 magical songs in a beautiful, collectible hardcover edition? Beginning with a foreword by composer and Disney legend Alan Menken, and a preface by Walt Disney Records Supervising Producer and Music Historian Randy Thornton, and featuring colorful art throughout, Disney 100 Songs will take you on a century-long musical journey through 60 feature films, theme park attractions, and television shows. Each song is presented with melody, lyrics, and chords so everyone will be able to sing and play these beloved favorites. Songs include: Baby Mine • Be Our Guest • Beauty and the Beast • Bella Notte • Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (The Magic Song) • Breaking Free • Can You Feel the Love Tonight • Chim Chim Cher-ee • Do You Want to Build a Snowman? • For the First Time in Forever • Friend like Me • Hakuna Matata • How Far I'll Go • I've Got No Strings • The Incredits • Into the Unknown • Lava • Let It Go • The Place Where Lost Things Go • Reflection • Remember Me (Ernesto de la Cruz) • Seize the Day • Speechless • A Spoonful of Sugar • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious • That's How You Know • Under the Sea • We Don't Talk About Bruno • We're All in This Together • Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? • Wild Uncharted Waters • Winnie the Pooh • You'll Be in My Heart (Pop Version)* • You've Got a Friend in Me • and more!

Alice In Wonderland (from ALICE IN WONDERLAND)
Almost There (from THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG)
Baby Mine (from DUMBO)
The Ballad Of The Lonesome Cowboy (from TOY STORY 4)
The Bare Necessities (from THE JUNGLE BOOK)
Be Our Guest (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
Beauty And The Beast (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
Bella Notte (from LADY AND THE TRAMP)
Belle (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
Best Of Friends (from THE FOX AND THE HOUND)
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (The Magic Song) (from CINDERELLA)
Breaking Free (from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL)
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (from THE LION KING)
Candle On The Water (from PETE'S DRAGON)
Chim Chim Cher-ee (from MARY POPPINS)
Circle Of Life (from THE LION KING)
Colors Of The Wind (from POCAHONTAS)
Cruella De Vil (from 101 DALMATIANS)
Do You Want To Build A Snowman? (from FROZEN)
Dos Oruguitas (from ENCANTO)
A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from CINDERELLA)
Evermore (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
For The First Time In Forever (from FROZEN)
Friend Like Me (from ALADDIN)
Give A Little Whistle (from PINOCCHIO)
Go The Distance (from HERCULES)
God Help The Outcasts (from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME)
Hakuna Matata (from THE LION KING)
Happy Working Song (from ENCHANTED)
Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (from LILO & STITCH)
He's A Pirate (from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL)
He's A Tramp (from LADY AND THE TRAMP)
Heigh-Ho (The Dwarfs' Marching Song from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS)
Home (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL)
How Does A Moment Last Forever (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
How Far I'll Go (from MOANA)
I See The Light (from TANGLED)
I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) (from THE JUNGLE BOOK)
I'll Make A Man Out Of You (from MULAN)
I'm Late (from ALICE IN WONDERLAND)
I've Got No Strings (from PINOCCHIO)
If I Didn't Have You (from MONSTERS, INC.)
If I Never Knew You (End Title) (from POCAHONTAS)
The Incredits (from THE INCREDIBLES)
Into The Unknown (from FROZEN 2)
It's A Small World (from Disney Parks' "It's A Small World" attraction)
Kiss The Girl (from THE LITTLE MERMAID)
Lava (from LAVA)
Le Festin (from RATATOUILLE)
Lead The Way (from RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON)
Let It Go (from FROZEN)
Let's Get Together (from THE PARENT TRAP)
Little April Shower (from BAMBI)
Love Power (from DISENCHANTED)
Mickey Mouse March (from THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB)
My Funny Friend And Me (from THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE)
Nobody Like U (from TURNING RED)
On My Way (from BROTHER BEAR)
Once Upon A Dream (from SLEEPING BEAUTY)
Part Of Your World (from THE LITTLE MERMAID)
The Place Where Lost Things Go (from MARY POPPINS RETURNS)
Reflection (from MULAN)
Remember Me (Ernesto de la Cruz) (from COCO)
Santa Fe (from NEWSIES)
The Second Star To The Right (from PETER PAN)
Seize The Day (from NEWSIES)
Show Yourself (from FROZEN 2)
So This Is Love (from CINDERELLA)
Some Day My Prince Will Come (from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS)
Someday (from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME)
Speechless (from ALADDIN (2019))
Spirit (from THE LION KING 2019)
A Spoonful Of Sugar (from MARY POPPINS)
Strangers Like Me(R) (from TARZAN (R))
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (from MARY POPPINS)
Surface Pressure (from ENCANTO)
That's How You Know (from ENCHANTED)
Touch The Sky (from BRAVE)
Toyland March (from BABES IN TOYLAND)
True Love's Kiss (from ENCHANTED)
Try Everything (from ZOOTOPIA)
Un Poco Loco (from COCO)
Under The Sea (from THE LITTLE MERMAID)
We Don't Talk About Bruno (from ENCANTO)
We're All In This Together (from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL)
When She Loved Me (from TOY STORY 2)
When Will My Life Begin? (from TANGLED)
When You Wish Upon A Star (from PINOCCHIO)
Whistle While You Work (from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS)
Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? (from THREE LITTLE PIGS)
A Whole New World (from ALADDIN)
Wild Uncharted Waters (from THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023))
Winnie The Pooh (from THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH)
The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (from THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH)
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me) (from Disney Parks' Pirates of the Caribbean attraction)
You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly! (from PETER PAN)
You'll Be In My Heart (Pop Version)* (from TARZAN (R))
You're Welcome (from MOANA)
You've Got A Friend In Me (from TOY STORY)
Zero To Hero (from HERCULES)

Download the Digital Sheet Music for Disney 100 Songs.

Instrumentation.

All Instruments

Product Details

Inventory: #HL 01224313
ISBN: 9781705196380
UPC: 196288143338
Width: 9.0"
Length: 12.0"
Page Count: 226 Pages

Prices and availability subject to change without notice.

Publisher: Hal Leonard
Format: Digital Book

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney with 100 magical songs in this digital songbook! Beginning with a foreword by composer and Disney legend, Alan Menken, and a preface by Walt Disney Records Supervising Producer and Music Historian, Randy Thornton, and featuring colorful art throughout, Disney 100 Songs will take you on a century-long musical journey through 60 feature films, theme park attractions, and television shows. Each song is presented with melody, lyrics, and chords so everyone will be able to sing and play these beloved favorites. Songs include: Baby Mine • Be Our Guest • Beauty and the Beast • Bella Notte • Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (The Magic Song) • Breaking Free • Can You Feel the Love Tonight • Chim Chim Cher-ee • Do You Want to Build a Snowman? • For the First Time in Forever • Friend like Me • Hakuna Matata • How Far I'll Go • I've Got No Strings • The Incredits • Into the Unknown • Lava • Let It Go • The Place Where Lost Things Go • Reflection • Remember Me (Ernesto de la Cruz) • Seize the Day • Speechless • A Spoonful of Sugar • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious • That's How You Know • Under the Sea • We Don't Talk About Bruno • We're All in This Together • Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? • Wild Uncharted Waters • Winnie the Pooh • You'll Be in My Heart (Pop Version)* • You've Got a Friend in Me • and more!

Hal Leonard Digital Books are cloud-based publications, which are streaming and require internet access. Upon purchase, you will be provided with an access code and a link to Hal Leonard's MyLibrary site, where you can view your digital book along with supplemental audio or video where applicable.

Fast loading desktop and mobile experience
Auto-resume across devices
Quick search, note taking and bookmarking for easy reference
Responsive book design, so things look great on mobile too
New books being added regularly... check back often at https://www.halleonard.com/digitalbook/ !

Also Recommended:

Disney 100 Songs has been added to your cart

Unable to add to Wish List

Toggle sidebar, for fast, easy shipping in the eu, please visit musicroom.com, we're sorry, disney 100 songs, celebrating the 100th anniversary of disney.

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Performing Arts

Pop Culture

You know it when you see it: here are some movies that got sex scenes right.

Linda Holmes

It is a happy coincidence that our "What makes a good sex scene?" episode came out in the same week as Challengers, a film about a romance triangle in the tennis world starring Josh O'Connor, Zendaya and (not pictured) Mike Faist. Niko Tavernise/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures hide caption

What makes a good sex scene? It can be easier spot bad sex, but Aisha Harris, Christina Tucker, Ronald Young, Jr. and I tried to focus on the good this week on Pop Culture Happy Hour. You can listen to our full conversation here. (We didn't originally plan for this episode to run the same week as our episode about Challengers , which is out in theaters now, but it's a happy coincidence, since that film has gotten a lot of attention — probably too much, relative to its other merits — for the sex scenes involving its three leads. It's really very good .)

Movie Reviews

Watch a tense romantic triangle play out on the tennis court in 'challengers'.

It's often very obvious when a sex scene is bad, just like when a sex scene in a book is bad. It can get so uncomfortable to watch that you have to leave the room (and not in a way that feels true to the story). One of my personal tells for a bad sex scene is when all I can think about is how hard the actors are trying to persuade me that the characters are having a good time. For example, there has been much good discussion in recent years about Showgirls being a more interesting and competent project than it originally got credit for, but in that one pool scene (if you know it, you know it), all I can see is the effort.

Lauren Bacall And The 'Sex? What Sex?' Kind Of Movie Sex

It's not always as clear which scenes are good . That's partly because they serve so many different functions, all of which look different, and all of which can be effective. Furthermore, you don't want to confuse whether a sex scene is used well in a film with whether it's hot to you personally, despite the fact that there is overlap between those considerations.

In the 'Last Dance,' Magic Mike leaves his thong-and-dance routine behind

Here's what I mean: When Aisha talks about the sequence near the beginning of Magic Mike's Last Dance , it's not irrelevant that the scene is, to her (and to me), hot. But it also makes sense in the context of the film and the franchise, partly because of the way it sets up the power dynamic between Mike (Channing Tatum) and Max (Salma Hayek Pinault). Mike is older now, he knows more, and the way he approaches a lap dance is actually different than in earlier movies.

And not all good sex scenes are hot in the same ways. The one I mentioned in the episode, from the romantic drama Love & Basketball , is sexy, yes. But it's also a scene between young adults (the talented basketball players Monica and Quincy, played by Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps), and as such, it incorporates a tentativeness that's not present in Magic Mike's Last Dance , to say the least. As Ronald pointed out during our discussion, that sex scene is quite different from one that takes place later in Monica and Quincy's relationship, when they're older and know each other better. That certainly feels true to real life, but it's not always reflected in Hollywood films, where I would tentatively estimate that 90% of on-screen sex is more idealized and thus less intimate than real-life sex, in part because it isn't allowed to change over the course of a relationship.

Movie Interviews

'like it or not, we live in oppenheimer's world,' says director christopher nolan.

Even further from the hotness of the lap dance scene is Ronald's pick: the imagination of Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) running wild in Oppenheimer. While her husband (Cillian Murphy) is being interrogated, she pictures him having sex with his mistress, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). It goes by quickly enough that it might seem like a Christopher Nolan flourish for flourish's sake, but it serves the purpose of letting you feel her pain over her husband's affair. Her relationship with Robert doesn't look especially romantic in the film, let alone sexually charged; she finds herself consumed by the idea that he was having hot sex with this other woman, and she locks eyes with her vision of a naked Tatlock and finds herself tormented. It's not really the intent of the scene to titillate the audience, just to give specificity to the shape of Kitty's preoccupation with the affair.

What makes a good sex scene?

Christina raised another really important point, which is that sex scenes also collide with viewers at very specific moments. Her example from Bound , and the scenes between Violet (Jennifer Tilly) and Corky (Gina Gershon), touches on (among other things) her own history. It's an underappreciated aspect of the sex-in-movies discourse: representation matters in these scenes as much as anywhere else. I always wish I saw more sex scenes in movies that featured a broader variety of body types; it's still really rare to see ones that feature anybody who is even average sized. This is one of the reasons I'm curious about the upcoming season of Bridgerton , which places its focus on the gorgeous and curvaceous Penelope (Nicola Coughlan).

Looking for 'nomance': Study finds teens want less sex in their TV and movies

Good sex scenes are like any other kind of good filmmaking, honestly: it comes down to execution with purpose and care, done relative to whatever the function of the scene might be.

Whether that's spiciness or conflict or relationship growth or (as in the case of Bound ) setting up a steamy neo-noir story that wouldn't be the same if it weren't hot as heck, form follows function, ideally.

This piece also appeared in NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what's making us happy.

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify .

an image, when javascript is unavailable

How Dan Stevens Became Hollywood’s Go-To Guy for, Well, Anything

The actor is currently battling himself at the box office with lead roles in both 'Abigail' and 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire'

By Alex Ritman

Alex Ritman

Kevin Spacey Fires Back at New Doc About Alleged Abuse: ‘I Will Not Sit Back and Be Attacked’ by a ‘Desperate Attempt for Ratings’ 9 hours ago
Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Clifton Collins Jr. Join Black Bear’s Denis Johnson Adaptation ‘Train Dreams’ (EXCLUSIVE) 10 hours ago
Kristen Stewart, Oscar Isaac Teaming for Hedonistic ’80s Vampire Thriller ‘Flesh of the Gods’ From ‘Mandy’ Director Panos Cosmatos 11 hours ago

It’s been less than 12 years since Dan Stevens raised a middle finger to the British aristocracy (OK, the Crawleys), quitting “Downton Abbey” as the show neared its Emmy-amassing zenith and setting sail for America with his family. As he admits, he had “absolutely no idea” what was going to happen to him.

“There was no roadmap,” the 41-year-old actor explains with frank honestly about a decision that, at the time, was considered by many to be sheer lunacy. “I left ‘Downton’ with a blank slate. It was just, ‘I think I want to do other things.’ But I didn’t know what that looked like.”

Popular on Variety

“Yeah, they’re a little different,” Stevens says with a smile, speaking from his home in L.A. “But that’s part of the fun. It’s been an ambition of mine for a while to be able to do something where you can see one movie in one theater and literally walk down the block and see another movie in another theater and not even recognize the same person. I love that.”

In fairness, Stevens has been doing that for the last decade.

And it’s been no different, although less frequent, on TV, where Stevens made a name for himself playing the schizophrenic mutant son of X-Men’s Charles Xavier in the Marvel/FX spin-off series “Legion,” and, more recently, as Richard Nixon’s real-life White House Counsel John Dean in Starz’ Watergate political thriller “Gaslit.”

But with major back-to-back roles in “Godzilla x Kong” and “Abigail,” there’s a sense that Stevens has now steered himself — in typically eclectic fashion — toward the very top of studio call sheets.

“I feel like he’s been waiting in the wings to be a major movie star leading man for as long as anyone,” says “Godzilla x Kong” director Adam Wingard, who cast Stevens in “The Guest” and then reunited with him 10 years later. “He’s proven himself. It’s really just a matter of the studios and producers catching up to that. But I do think we’re there.”

For Wingard, who alongside his writing partner Simon Barrett created the “Godzilla x Kong” role with Stevens in mind, the actor’s “secret sauce” is a singular ability to make every character trustworthy. “No matter whether they’re a villain or a hero, there’s something about the charisma of Dan Stevens that makes everybody, young or old, like him,” he adds. “And of all the actors I’ve worked with, he’s the one that most casual filmgoers are familiar with, I think because he’s done so many different types of things.”

It was Stevens’ growing “appetite” to do different types of things that first saw him head to the U.S. aged 29. Prior to “Downton,” he’d appeared in Jane Austen and Henry James adaptations, and he suggests, although he loved this work, there was a danger of being pigeonholed had he stayed on home soil.

“I think it’s maybe more a British attitude to say, ‘I’ve never seen you do this, I don’t think you can do this,’” he says. “Whereas the attitude I was met with over here early on was, ‘I’ve never seen you do this, I’d love to see you try.’” Shortly after arriving in the U.S., he was told almost exactly these words by Scott Frank, who then cast him as a revenge-seeking heroin trafficker in his 2014 neo-noir action thriller “A Walk Among the Tombstones” alongside Liam Neeson.

“And as a young actor, that’s all you want to hear. It’s the most encouraging thing,” he says. “So I’ve had a bit of that in the back of my mind ever since, just like ‘I’ve never seen myself do that, I’d love to try it.’ And I think increasingly, I like surprising people so they’re like, ‘Oh, he’s a Russian pop star now? OK.’”

But that’s not to say he still can’t raise eyebrows, as he did in 2021 with Maria Schrader’s sci-fi romance “I’m Your Man.” Stevens’ role as a humanoid male “companion” robot may have felt perfectly within his oeuvre, but the surprise factor was that he played the part speaking fluent German, having learned the language in high school.

“The German is a lovely thing that’s very personal to me,” he says. “We spend a lot of our careers jostling alongside other actors and doing similar stuff, like, ‘Oh, he’s done a biopic’ or ‘he’s done an action movie.’ We’re all sort of doing our thing, but I get to occasionally go over and do a strange little film in German… and sometimes that strange little film finds its audience.”

As he notes, the film ended up getting its world premiere at the Berlinale and was later submitted by Germany as its Oscar submission, making the shortlist. It also dominated the German film awards, where Stevens was nominated for best actor.

The German was recently dusted off again for “ Cuckoo ,” Tilman Singer’s feature debut and an unsettlingly weird psychological horror in which Stevens plays an eccentric villain heading up a nightmarish breeding program. Like “I’m Your Man,” the film premiered in Berlinale (Neon is releasing it August 2), although Singer clearly missed his performance in Schrader’s drama three years earlier and was “completely floored” when the actor kicked off their first conversation in German.

Singer — who Stevens initially connected with after seeing his “hugely inventive” 2018 graduation short “Luz” — has now joined a growing assortment of collaborators the actor hopes to keep working with, filmmakers that have either approached him directly or whose work he discovered at festivals or through recommendations. And, naturally, he’s happy to do pretty much anything with them, but ideally with an emphasis on projects that are a “fun ride.”

“Abigail,” he claims, is a perfect example. “It’s a beautiful film with a rich classic tone, yet what’s happening on screen is deeply absurd,” he says. “That contradiction does something to your brain in way where you’re thinking, ‘This looks and feels gorgeous, yet there’s 5,000 liters of blood coming out of this man’s mouth… what’s going on?’”

A potential new collaborator — or just someone he’s admiring from afar — is Zelda Williams, having loved her recent directorial debut, Focus Features’ comedy horror “Lisa Frankenstein.”

“It’s terrific, and for a first film, absolutely extraordinary,” he says. “It may not be the perfect movie, but it doesn’t need to be. What it does is absolutely demonstrate the hallmarks of somebody with style and taste and a sense of humor.”

“And if you know you’re going to be in a great looking shot with a great sounding tune, then most of the work has been done for you and it’s yours to fuck up,” he notes. “And Zelda has that in spades. So I’m excited to see what she does next.”

Whether Stevens has time to work with Williams is another thing.

He’s just finishing off shoots for Netflix political conspiracy thriller series “Zero Day” as part of an ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Lizzie Caplan and Jesse Plemons, while Wingard — currently riding high off the soon-to-top $500 million box office success of “Godzilla x Kong” — says he’s got another “juicy role” in a script he’s been working on with Barrett. Stevens is also talking about new projects with Singer, someone he’s “really keen to champion.”

And although Stevens seems to bring his own set of ideas to many projects (he originally wanted to play his “Godzilla” role with a South African accent), he’s currently “figuring out” a move behind the camera to start working much closer with writers and begin producing, having been given the confidence to do so by filmmaker friends. “That’s an exciting new chapter,” he says, adding that there are a “few things on the stove.”

Meanwhile, he’s only too happy to see whichever random direction the creative relationships he’s already forged take him next, with Stevens pointing to the actor-director partnership enjoyed by Rutger Hauer and Paul Verhoeven as a source of inspiration he’s had for many years.

“You could see them go, ‘Oh, we’re going to do a medieval epic now, or we’re going to do an intense domestic drama now… it was just point a stick and go, ‘Let’s make one of those,’” he says.

“So if Adam Wingard or Tilman Singer or Radio Silence or Gareth Evans came to me and said, ‘Actually, I just want to do a rom-com,’ I’d be like, ‘Absolutely, fucking sign me up,'” Stevens adds. “I don’t care what they’re doing next, I just want to be a part of it.”

More From Our Brands

Mariah the scientist arrested after alleged altercation in atlanta club, meet the ferrari 12cilindri, the new 819 hp gt with a roaring v-12, jessi miley-dyer named world surf league commissioner, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, young sheldon’s georgie and mandy spinoff gets a surprising title — will new show undo big bang lore, verify it's you, please log in.

IMAGES

12 Hero's Journey Stages Explained (Free Templates)
Hero's Journey in Beauty and the Beast by Mahmoud MUhieddine
Belle of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast, The West Wing Episode: Beast’s Hero’s Journey
Beauty and the Beast the Hero's Journey by Rachel Ginn on Prezi
Beauty and the Beast; Hero's Journey by Lauren Burbacher on Prezi

VIDEO

Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories: Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Stages Theatre presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR
Stages Theatre Company presents Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR • Now thru Dec 27, 2023
Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Quest / Красавица и чудовище: Приключение Бель
The Beauty and the Beast // Classic Bedtime Reading Stories for Children English
Beauty and the Beast

COMMENTS

Beauty and the Beast the Hero's Journey by Rachel Ginn on Prezi
By Rachel Ginn. While there is not a specific mentor, there are people who encouraged Belle to become more open to the Beast and therefore become a hero. The two meetings with the mentors are almost consecutive. One of the mentors is Mrs. Potts, whom Belle meets right before she refuses to eat with the Beast. Mrs.
Beauty and the Beast: Hero's Journey
The tests in Beauty and the Beast are emotional tests. Belle and the Beast have to learn to trust each other, then respect each other, then like each other before they can love each other. Their trials are supposed to convey that. While some of those trials involve danger—the battle with the wolves in the woods, for instance—they're the ...
How the Hero's Journey Became the Guiding Force in Disney Animation
The Hero's Journey plays an integral role in progressing the story and in organically bringing about change in the Beast. Act 1. Ordinary World - The Beast lives alone in an enchanted castle. Call to Adventure - Maurice arrives seeking help. Refusal - The Beast locks him in the tower.
The Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast Flashcards
The Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast. The Ordinary World. Click the card to flip 👆. Belle is a beautiful young woman. She loves to read, and she dreams of living a more adventurous life. Click the card to flip 👆. 1 / 11.
A Summary and Analysis of the 'Beauty and the Beast' Fairy Tale
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Iona and Peter Opie, in their The Classic Fairy Tales, call 'Beauty and the Beast' the most symbolic fairy tale after Cinderella, and 'the most intellectually satisfying'.It's also one of the oldest: we can trace the archetypal versions of 'Beauty and the Beast' back some 4,000 years, making it over 1,000 years older than Homer.
Tale as Old as Time: Archetypes in Beauty and the Beast
Archetypes are template or stock characters you see reappearing in various cultures and across time, such as the hero, the villain, the goofy sidekick, or the wise elder. This Student Activity explores how a classic and well-loved fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" can be distilled into archetypes of character and plot.
The Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast Flashcards
The Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast. Flashcards. Learn. Test. Match. Flashcards. Learn. Test. Match. Created by. Kathleen_Kearney5. Terms in this set (11) The Ordinary World. Belle is a beautiful young woman. She loves to read, and she dreams of living a more adventurous life. Refusal of the Call.
A Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast
In the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon, the main protagonist, Belle, has a hero's journey by saving the Beast from remaining a beast forever and has many heroic characteristics such as helpful, caring, intelligent, and selflessness. Belle was born in Conques, France. She lives with her father Maurice in a small town ...
The Hero's Journey and Archetype Analysis of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast- The Hero's Journey Departure: The Call to Adventure- The merchant father, upon returning home from the Beast's castle, tells his daughter Belle about his encounter with the hideous Beast. She must willingly go in place for her father as promised. The Crossing of the First Threshold- Belle arrives at the castle…
The Hero's Journey: Beauty and the Beast
For my Hero's Journey project, I used the classical cartoon of Beauty and the Beast. In this presentation, I have outlined Belle's journey through the Hero's Journey outline. From her ...
My Hero's Journey- Beauty and the Beast
Group 5 My Hero's Journey Beauty and the Beast. By: Group 5, Period 5. Zoe Zborowski, Veronica Zinytche, Xiao Yan Wen, Katherine Fava, Akio Fujisawa, Anika Manchandani. Ordinary World. Belle ...
What is the hero's journey in Beauty and the Beast?
November 17, 2022. The journey home was Belle deciding to live with the Beast after she confessed her love for him in the last moments of his life. She turns the Beast back into his human form along with all his servants. The spell on the castle is finally broken. All in all, Belle completes her heroic journey.
5.2 The Monomyth: Understanding the Seventeen Stages of the Hero's Journey
But, the hero's journey only increases its level of danger over time! So, the goddess tries to persuade the hero to stop the journey. Maybe the goddess tries to get the hero to run away together, ignore the troubles of the world and start a new life somewhere. Maybe the goddess tries to convince the hero that the hero has nothing to prove to ...
Beast (Disney)
PrinceAdam, better known as the Beast, is the titular male protagonist of the Beauty and the Beast franchise. He was never actually named in the film, but his name is later revealed to be Adam. In the original film, he was introduced as a villainous protagonist similar to Emperor Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove, however, this is just a plot ...
Hero's Journey:Beauty & the Beast
Belle: no mother & an unusual father. Beast: Turned from a handsome Prince to an ugly beast until he finds real true love because of his arrogance and selfishness when he was repulsed by an ugly old witch. Call To Adventure. Belle's father gets lost in the woods and wanders into Beasts palace and is taken prisoner. Belle goes to find him.
Hero's journey
Illustration of the hero's journey. In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, also known as the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.. Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychoanalyst Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord ...
The Hero's Journey: An Eternal Tale of Trial and Transformation
Joseph Campbell, a literature professor at Sarah Lawrence College, wrote extensively about the Hero's Journey, most notably in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (published in 1949). He revealed how mythical traditions throughout the world—whether it be those of India, Greece or Egypt—follow a similar structure when it comes to the hero myth.
Beauty and the Beast, The West Wing Episode: Beast's Hero's Journey
In this special episode Sally the Researcher and Carri, from the LDS Dating podcast, talk about Beast as he goes through "the Hero's Journey". The Smithsonian Documentary about The Real Beauty and the Beast. The Hero's Journey by Christopher Vogler. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Cambell, a Wikipedia Summary.
Disney 100 Songs
Beauty And The Beast (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) Bella Notte (from LADY AND THE TRAMP) Belle (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) ... Zero To Hero (from HERCULES) Show All Download the Digital Sheet Music for Disney 100 Songs. ... and featuring colorful art throughout, Disney 100 Songs will take you on a century-long musical journey through 60 feature ...
The best movie sex scenes? Here are some films that we think got it
Here's what I mean: When Aisha talks about the sequence near the beginning of Magic Mike's Last Dance, it's not irrelevant that the scene is, to her (and to me), hot. But it also makes sense in ...
Dan Stevens on 'Abigail,' 'Godzilla x Kong' and 'Cuckoo'
In Warner Bros.' mega monster sequel "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," he's a long-haired, Haiwaiian-shirted '80s-era action hero and Titan veterinarian — a sort of Brad Pitt meets ...

Hero's Journey

Ordinary World

Call to Adventure

Refusal of the Call

Meeting the Mentor

Crossing the Threshold

Tests, Allies, Enemies

Approach to the Inmost Cave

Reward (Seizing the Sword)

The Road Back

Resurrection

Return With the Elixir

Tired of ads?

W hy's T his F unny?

How the Hero's Journey Became the Guiding Force in Disney Animation

About the Author

More in Featured

Celebrate The April 2024 Stage 32 Community's Successes

11 Tips For Bringing Your Animated Characters To Life

The 9 Levels Of Story- Part 2: Creative, Project, & Story

More in Trending

A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fairy Tale

Discover more from Interesting Literature

4 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fairy Tale”

Tale as Old as Time: Archetypes in Beauty and the Beast

Student Activity Details

Related on EDSITEment

A Hero’s Journey: Beauty and the Beast

The Hero’s Journey and Archetype Analysis of Beauty and the Beast

Share this:

Recent Posts

What is the hero’s journey in Beauty and the Beast?

What are the 12 steps of the heroes journey?

What Disney movie has the hero’s journey?

What are the 7 stages of the hero’s journey?

What are the 5 Elements of the hero’s Journey?

Who created the 12 stages of the hero’s journey?

What are the 8 archetypes of hero’s journey?

What is step 8 of the hero’s journey?

What is the most important stage of the hero’s Journey?

What is hero’s Journey structure?

How do I write my own hero’s journey?

How do you write a short story in The hero’s Journey?

What stories use the hero’s Journey?

How is Moana an example of the hero’s journey?

Is every story a hero’s journey?

What characters fit the hero’s journey?

Who is the hero in the hero’s journey?

What are the 7 types of heroes?

Does Moana follow the hero’s journey?

Is Encanto a hero’s journey?

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Heroes Wiki

Beast (Disney)

History [ ]

Appearance [ ]

Personality [ ]

Powers and Abilities [ ]

Other Appearances [ ]

Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure [ ]

Kinect Disneyland Adventures [ ]

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion [ ]

House of Mouse [ ]

Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse [ ]

Mickey's House of Villains [ ]

Kingdom Hearts franchise [ ]

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories [ ]

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days [ ]

Kingdom Hearts II [ ]

Once Upon a Time [ ]

Descendants [ ]

Disney Emoji Blitz [ ]

Disney As Told By Emoji [ ]

External Links [ ]

Navigation [ ]

Hero's Journey:Beauty & the Beast Sophia Diaz

Initiation:

Report Abuse

Beauty and the Beast, The West Wing Episode: Beast’s Hero’s Journey

Beast's Hero's Journey