The Many Versions of Beauty and the Beast
The Popular Fairytale Story in Literature, Movies, and TV
Mar 7, 2009
The version of Beauty and the Beast that is the most well known today began with a tale created by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve in 1740 and then rewritten by Madame Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont in 1756.
Early Versions of Villeneuve and Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast
- From its beginnings it was only a brief time before the Beauty and Beast story was adapted by others. In 1742 Pierre-Nieville de Claude la Chausee wrote a play, Amour pour Amour, based on Villeneuve’s version and thirty years later fellow Frenchman, Andre Gretry, composed the Beauty and the Beast opera Zamire et Azor.
- The 19th century saw nearly 70 adaptations of the fairy tale story. Notable ones include an 1811 poem by Charles Lamb, an opera by J.R. Planchée that same year, noted illustrator Walter Crane’s picture book in 1875, an expanded, illustrated novella by Eleanor Vere Boyle, also in 1875, a version by scholar and folklorist Andrew Lang (1889), and the first film version (now lost), La Belle et la Bete, made in France (1899).
Modern Literary Versions of Beauty and the Beast
The beauty-beast theme has been used in many late 20th and early 21st century novels and short stories. Many elaborate on the original story, while others add a different slant or setting. Although some of these works are aimed at young adults, most can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
- Award winner Robin McKinley retold the Beauty and the Beast story not once but twice with her Beauty and Rose Daughter novels. Both are faithful to Beaumont’s tale, but have more in-depth characterizations.
- Donna Jo Napoli in her novel, Beast, also stays with the original story, but tells it from the Beast’s point-of-view and adds a “prequel” that tells the creature’s life before he meets Beauty.
- In another story, East, author Edith Pattou combines the Villeneuve and Beaunont stories with a similar Norwegian folk story, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. In this book the beast is a white bear that becomes a man at night.
- Two other recent authors have updated the Beauty and the Beast story. Mercedes Lackey’s The Fire Rose is set in 1906 San Francisco and involves a young woman who unwittingly becomes the caretaker of a recluse who refuses to be seen. Alex Flinn’s adaptation, Beastly, is set in the present day and is centered around a spoiled high school boy whom a revengeful witch transforms into a beast.
Movie Versions of Beauty and the Beast
Since the early beginnings of film, there have been countless adaptations of the Beauty and the Beast story. These movies vary from faithful recreations to complete retellings. Among these films, two stand out.
- Jean Cocteau in his La Belle et la Bete (France, 1946) made a few changes by giving the original story a subplot involving a brother and a suitor. He also added magical elements to the Beast’s castle such as human arms used as sconces and disembodied faces that appear everywhere. Cocteau was a poet and artist as well as moviemaker and these talents are clearly shown in this beautifully filmed black-and-white fantasy.
- Walt Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast (USA, 1991) kept the suitor subplot and the come-to-life inanimate objects from La Belle et la Bete and added several memorable songs. Considered to be among the finest animated features ever made, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is still the only such film to be ever nominated for an Oscar as best picture.
Both of these Beauty and Beast movies, and others, are available on DVD.
Television Versions of Beauty and the Beast
As in the movies, there have been many television versions of this fairy tale story. Some were not very good. Others were.
- In 1958 Shirley Temple’s Storybook presented an adaptation of the Andrew Lang version starring Charlton Heston and Claire Bloom.
- A 1976 Hallmark Hall-of-Fame production of Beauty and the Beast starred the husband and wife team of George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere. Van Devere’s role as Belle Beaumont was the first to show the heroine as a feisty, self-reliant woman. Oscar winner Scott received an Emmy nomination as the Beast.
- Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tales in 1984 produced an adaptation starring Klaus Kinski and Susan Sarandon that copied the costumes and sets of the Cocteau film.
- A popular television series from 1987 to 1989 was Beauty and the Beast. Owing more to detective and fantasy shows than the original story, the series centered around a New York City district attorney (Linda Hamilton) and a gentle, lion-featured outcast (Ron Perlman) who lives with other outcasts in the tunnels below the city.
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