beauty and the beast | The Hunchblog of Notre Dame

21Dec 2022

4 Non-Christmas Movies that will Raise your Holiday Spirit

by jess

Like most people on the internet I make a lot ranked list content. Not here so much but else yes. A few years ago I did a list of Non-Christmas Movies which is not a new concept and how I’m doing again so this a part 2 of the this list except this one is not ranked and there are only four.

Why four? Because. That is a good enough reason. (I had five but one was already on my OG list and I just wanted this out prior to the Holiday so four)

I had a few parameters for these movies. First they had to some kind of winter aesthetic, had to have something to with family and gifts. However none of these film are about Christmas or have scenes Christmas.

Some Spoilers

Anastasia (1997)

Anya journey to the past Anastasia picture image — Anya, “*Anastasia*“

I don’t know about you but when I think about Christmas the music from The Nutcracker comes up as peak Christmas music. And that makes me think of the setting of Anastasia. Add in some snowscape, “The Once upon as December” song, the necklace motif and reconnecting with family and you could add this to your holiday watch list.

The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005)

James Cosmo as Father Christmas and Georgie Henley as Lucy, “*Narnia*”

Dumb side story, I love Bob’s Burgers and one of my favorite bits is in the second episode where one of the kids says that Narnia was written by Salman Rushdie. I don’t know why I find that so funny but I do.

So back to Narnia. Giving that Narnia is under a constant winter due to Jadis, The White Witch, I think it very much got that winter aesthetic down. The internal drama is about family and Santa a.k.a Father Christmas gives them presents which are very useful.

The Little Princess (1995)

Liesel Mattews as Sarah, The Little Princess — Liesel Matthews as Sarah, “*The Little Princess*“

Again we have snow imagery with Sarah spinning as snow blows around her. She gets a locket from her father before he goes off to war. The locket is taken after her father is presumed dead leaving Sarah at the mercy of her boarding School’s Head Mistress. Her friends get the locket back for her. And at the end of the movie she reunites with her father and gains an adopted sister.

La Belle et la Bête (2014) or any version you want

Lea Seydoux as Belle La Belle et la Bete 2014 picture image — Lea Seydoux as Belle, “*La Belle et la Bête*” (2014)

Surrounding the Beast’s domain is snow, much like the Disney version. The Beast gifts her items, like in the Disney version and the 1946 version. In this version it’s dresses. There is also a family dynamic at play since she offers herself to the Beast to save her father. Why did I pick this? Seemed logical however any version of Beauty and the Beast will work for happy Christmas movie watching. Even the 2017 (or the Christmas mid-quel movie) if you want, it’s not the one I would go for but whatever makes you happy.

Shout out to Three Wishes for Cinderella, I forgot you were on the OG list.

Happy Holidays

23Jan 2019

Beauty and the Beast Nitpicks

by jess

Beauty and the Beast Something there picture image — Belle and the Beast

There is a lot of discourse around Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Two elements that get addressed are the Beast’s age relative to his curse, I.E was he eleven when he was cursed or an adult and Belle’s desire for adventure in the great wide somewhere.

First lets consider the Beast’s age. Technically both readings are correct according supplemental media. In the 2017 version makes it clear from the word go that he was an adult BUT in the christmas mid-quel he was a kid, who was cursed on Christmas. So both readings are correct in a way.

But let’s just consider the 1991 movie and ignore the other movies. The first clue that points to his age at the time of the curse is the narrator saying that the enchanted rose would bloom until his 21st year. And then Lumiere saying that they have been cursed for ten years. Which means he was eleven. It’s kinda hard to ignore that. Unless you don’t like math, like me.

However maybe Lumiere was merely saying that for while the servants carried on with business as usual and it’s only been in the last ten years they gave up trying and the narrator’s line indicated that Beast was a beast for 20 years before the rose bloomed. Or maybe this movie has no real concept of time. It’s an enchanted castle after all.

There are also a few other elements that sight that the Beast was an adult at the time of the curse or the enchantress was just really mean-sprited. First there is the portrait which him as an adult. It’s hard to argue against that one. But maybe it was an enchanted portrait that aged with the Beast? Though if that was a thing in the curse it would have gotten mentioned in the narrative, I mean the mirror did. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. It’s was a portrait of the Beast as an adult human, that is not a child’s portrait.

Then there is a Chip. How old is Chip? Because if Beast was cursed as child then Chip would have either been born a teacup or spent most of his life not knowing he was ever human. Seems cruel, you go through your whole life thinking you’re a talking teacup only to learn that you were once a human, a creature Chip would have never even seen before. Though Chip being in favor of breaking the curse indicates that he remembers being human. Though that would mean he been a child for about 20 years.

Also there is whole aspect of aging within the castle. If Beast was an adult at the time of this curse that means no one was aging, which seems to be the case since Beast recognized everyone when they were cured.
I just want to point out Mid-quel ignores this, only the Beast ages no one else.

Then again you can just sight enchanted castle and maybe no one in the castle knows what year it is anymore or their ages.

Belle Beauty and the Beast picture image — Belle

Then there is Belle. Her line about wanting adventure gets thrown around but next line gets ignore. So she wants adventure but she needs someone who understand her.
Want vs Need is a pretty basic concept. So some people think Belle got the short end of the narrative stick because she didn’t get adventure in the great wide somewhere. Which is the point, it’s what she wanted not what she needed.

The bad part of this the 2017 version trying to fit this in with the book of teleportation. I suppose they could have made it more of thing but they just used it to show how Belle’s mother died by illness. Adventure? A minor trip to Paris for backstory is the correction for Belle wanting adventure?

What the 2017 version could have done is changed it so that enchantress was sneaky and curing the Beast required a quest but only Belle could figure out what the magical macguffins were to break the curse. So Beast and Belle would have gone minor adventures to learn and grow and bond and fall in love. And in the end it’s still love that cures him. Then again that would have changed things too much and 2017 version was more concerned with fixing plot holes that didn’t really need fixing. But it made money so doesn’t really matter.

In the scheme of things these elements don’t really matter, they do not change the overall enjoyment of the movie. So if you think Beast was child or adult at the time of his curse either reading of the text is fine. If you wanted Belle to have more adventure, can’t fault you for that either.

11Dec 2018

8 Non-Christmas Christmas Movies

by jess

A while ago I did a list of non-Christmas Christmas movie list on Hubpages and I thought let’s do that again but here with different movies. So you can check out the other list HERE which is a bit more in step with other lists like this. Do look at it, it’s all I want for Christmas.

So here are eight other movies that are less commonly on other people’s lists. No shade to other lists on other sites. These movies have a winter setting or have a scene at Christmas and they have a familial tone.

Many films have the winter-y or snowy setting and a familial tones like Fanaa or Star Wars but I would not call those non-christmas Christmas movies, even though Star Wars movies have been coming out around Christmas (except Solo) so there is that added touch but all the same there not among the list.

So here are eight movies. I’m going try to avoid spoilers. These are ranked in no order.

Emmanuelle Beart as Manon in Manon des Sources picture image — Emmanuelle Beart as Manon in Manon des Sources

Manon de Sources – I think I have talked about this movie a little bit before. But towards the end of the film there are some scenes at Christmas, at least one scene at Christmas. However would say the the family angle some more into play here. Also if you want to want this movie you must watch Jean de Florette first because Manon des Source is the second part. But I highly recommend this movie.

Lady and the Tramp – This movie has a Christmas bookend as it starts and end at Christmas. But I don’t think I have to say too much about this one, it being a Disney classic however I will say that this film does have a strong message of family.

Beauty and the Beast – This one might just be superfluously here but I don’t care, it’s snowy and magical, so It counts.

Anastasia – Again you have snow imagery and a strong message of family togetherness. Plus Once Upon a December could be played in a Holiday rotation and wouldn’t feel out of place.

Tokyo Godfathers – I wouldn’t say that this was my favorite Satoshi Kon movie, (that would be Paprika.) It is one those movies that is a Christmas movie but it seldom makes any of the list, so it’s here.

The film is set on Christmas eve and is the story about three homeless people finding a baby. It has a non-traditional take on family.

David Bowie as Maj. Jack 'Strafer' Celliers in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence picture image — David Bowie as Maj. Jack ‘Strafer’ Celliers in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence- I haven’t seen this movie is quite a long time and I don’t really remember it super well but I recall liking it. So this a war-time Drama starting David Bowie as a POW. The last scene of this movie takes place at Christmas.

Daniel Emilfork as Krank dressed as Santa The City of Lost Children picture image — Daniel Emilfork as Krank dressed as Santa

City of Lost Children – I reviewed this movie not too long ago. It has some Christmas imagery and it weird but there is also the family connection as the main character tries to save his brother, the weird family the mad scientist makes and the orphans. It has all the making of a Christmas classic oddly enough.

Dr Zhivago – I will admit I haven’t seen this movie but I have always wanted to but the run-time is intimidating. Then again I have seen Lawrence of of Arabia which is longer so that is on me, one day. Anyway like most of the movies listed here this one again is about family and has a pivotal scene set at Christmas.

Do you have a favorite non-Christmas movie? If so what is it? One of my favorites is on my Hubpages list . Can you guess it???

12Sep 2017

Thoughts on two Beauty and Beast Movie Versions

by jess

Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais as The Beast

In the past five years there have been two major movie adaptation done on Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. One was a French film done in 2014 that took some very big swing on adapting the story to a large scale epic and the other was a 2017 Disney remake of the 1991 animated version. Both films are technically an adaption of the traditional French Fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve. The story took inspiration from other stories including Cupid and Psyche. So nothing is original, everything is adaption and elevation, but are these films?

Jean Cocteau Arm homage in 2017 Beauty and the Beast

Both films took their queue from other adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, 2014 was made in the spirit of Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version and the 2017 version was a direct remake of Disney’s 1991 movie which also took some influence from Cocteau and other source in addition to the original fairy tale. Though I just want to say the 2017 movie has a shot of the an arm holding a lamp, so there was a Cocteau homage shoe-horned into the movie.

Vincent Cassel as the Beast and LÃ©a Seydoux as Belle

The 2017 movie and the 2014 movie are vastly different attempts at adaptation. The 2014 version follows the story closely till Belle reaches the Beast’s Castle but then take some very big swings and makes a lot of weird decisions like giving the beast a complex backstory that ultimately doesn’t make sense to the narrative and weakens the love story. Basically the Beast wouldn’t have been a beast if he and his first wife just had communicated. On the other end of the spectrum you have the 2017 version which tries to correct some flaws with original 1991 movie but it’s nearly a shot for shot remake that doesn’t enhance the story for the medium of Live-action.

Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as The Beast

The 2017 does add elements that actually makes the story dumber. The only decision that is improve upon and is different is that the stakes are higher for the servants in the castle and the curse is expanded upon and the town is also cursed to a degree. That is the only improved change. The rest of the changes are very misguided, like the book that can go anywhere which was just there because of Belle wanting adventure. However the only time it was used was for backstory on how Belle’s mother died of the plague even though the movie hinted at a more violent end as Maurice talked about being safe in the village. Also they way they reached the conclusion of death by plague was Belle and Beast finding a doctor’s mask. Why would the doctor just leave that behind anyway? It was a poorly thought out addition that didn’t add anything.

Emma Watson as Belle

Disney didn’t have to approach this project so straight on. They could have gone in any number of directions. Not sure where the fault lies as every decision seemed half-baked and followed the lead of a better movie. Maybe the department heads were not allowed to be creative with the look or style. While I don’t like the 2014 movie for how confused and boring the narrative was at least the design of the castle and the costumes were on point and interesting. Also the visuals were good in parts.

Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as The Beast

The result of the 2017 version was a very calculating remake. Disney knew that their 1991 movie was a triumph as it was nominated for a Best Picture award so they knew they could more less stand on the original’s success to make money and maybe some awards. While the 2014 movie was a misguided effort there was still a creative effort which can’t be sayt about the 2017 remake.

Also I hated the acting and the costume but that is for another day because I have words for that ballgown.

15Mar 2017