Significant texts in any genre arise from specific social and cultural conditions and possess an enduring relevance.
Beastly is a contemporary appropriation of the traditional fairytale, ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ However the elements of a fairytale have been subverted, so that Beastly now fits into the fantasy genre. The Director, Daniel Barnz, has recreated Beastly into a post modern text, reflecting the views of a post modern world. By subverting Beastly, Barnz has introduced the post modern characteristics of uncertainty and superficiality, making the text more relevant, interesting and challenging to contemporary audiences.
Uncertainty is a characteristic of the post modern world. Since WWII, many certainties have been thrown out, allowing debate on belief and meaning. Values are no longer perceived as concrete black and white, giving rise to uncertainty as an accepted norm of the post modern world. Since the success of the romantic-fantasy film Twilight, the entertainment industry has seen a steady stream of vampire-romance based texts. Beastly is critiqued by the LA Times as having a ‘contemporary twist on gothic themes, seems designed to appeal to the "Twilight" crowd’. In fact many top critics are comparing Beastly to Twilight. This new craze with dark romance has to do with uncertainty, a characteristic of the post modern era. Vampires and the like have become a significant part of pop culture. Society is intrigued by the uncertainty of a romance with the supernatural. Anything is possible.
In fairytales, the presence of the supernatural is something that is certain; it is accepted because magic is a norm of the world. For example, the presence of fairies at Sleeping Beauty’s christening is not considered strange, rather it is welcomed. Similarly, in BATB, Beauty does not find the enchanted castle unusual; rather she is delighted by it, and “days passed swiftly in different amusements.”
Beastly retains the element of the supernatural to add uncertainty to a text produced in a post modern world. Beastly is set in an ordinary, post modern, New York, where magic is something viewed with uncertainty. Then the magical realm, in the form of the witch Kendra, enters this ordinary world, and the film explores the clash of these worlds. The presence of the supernatural is an obstacle that Kyle must come to terms with. Kyle’s transformation itself is totally unpredictable. Anything can happen in the supernatural, adding suspense, to keep audiences interested and engaged.
Although the theme of uncertainty surrounds Beastly, it does have one element in which there is certainty. Each genre has its own chronotype, meaning the way time and space are organised within the genre.
The traditional chronotype of fairytales is that they exist in a world that is clearly detached from our concept of time and space. Many fairytales, including BATB, start with the clichéd opening ‘once upon a time’. They are set in a land ‘far far away’, ‘in a certain kingdom’, and so on. BATB concludes with ‘and they lived happily ever after.’ Time has no constraints.
On the other hand, the fantasy chronotype is firmly anchored in reality. Beastly is set in a post modern world, where the places in the film are real life places. We are introduced to the ordinary world of New York City, which sets the stage for what is real, the certain, and what is supernatural, the uncertain.
Superficiality is also a value of the post modern era. This is directly related to consumerism and the mass production. Youth culture today places much value in a person’s material possessions and outward appearances as the measure of their social status and importance to society.
Many of the values expressed in Beastly are reflective of the post modern era and are relevant to contemporary culture. Kyle’s ‘shallow’ values are reflective of the values today, particularly superficiality. Looks are so important to him, as he says, ‘Beautiful people get it better,’ and “My dad always said how much people will like you is directly proportional to what you look like.”
By portraying different protagonists, the texts focus on different aspects relevant to each of the cultures in which they were composed. ‘BATB’ was written in Europe in the mid 18th century, during the era of Romanticism. There was a fascination with the eerie and the intense. BATB draws out the horror and ugliness of humanity and represents all this in the form of an animal or beast. The Beast represents the toughest of human nature, but can still be softened by love. The protagonist, Beauty, is portrayed as the typical fairytale hero- oppressed, kind and good natured- and she represents the power of love. Love is portrayed as one of the most powerful things in the world.
In Beastly, the protagonist is Kyle, the Beast. He is good looking, intelligent and rich, but arrogant and vain. The hero of Beastly does not start off as oppressed, rather he is the oppressor. His obstacles are his own pride and conceit. He says, "Should you vote for me just because I'm the rich, popular, good looking guy? Hell yeah!" His obstacles represent the superficial values of today’s society.
Despite its superficiality, Beastly, like the original BATB still places value on finding true love- an element of the romance genre. The fairytale genre is not completely separate from the romance genre. For example, Cinderella involves a servant girl falling in love with a Prince and Snow White involves finding true love’s kiss. ‘BATB’ follows the typical plot in a romance genre. Beauty and the Beast meet, under tense circumstances. The Beast falls in love with Beauty, who does not return his feelings. Their relationship is hampered when Beauty returns home, and the Beast is left to die. However, the conflict is resolved and they live ‘happily ever after’.
Similarly, Beastly’s storyline also follows the typical storyline of a romance genre text. Kyle has fallen in love with Lindy, who does not return his affections. He shows his affection through symbols of love- like roses and letters. His search for true love is deep and meaningful, compared to the superficiality of the post modern world he is living in.
In Beastly, the Beast, Kyle, builds a greenhouse full of roses to show his love for Lindy. The roses symbolise his love, and devotion to her. Although roses are considered a contemporary symbol of love, they occur in both ‘BATB’, which was written in the mid 18th century, and ‘Beastly’, a 21st century film. This is to emphasise the eternal relevance of love, no matter the era.
In BATB, the symbols of love are more traditional. As Beauty wanders the beast’s mansion, she happens upon many doors that lead to beautiful gardens, rooms full of exquisite birds, musical instruments, jewels and unicorns- all traditional symbols of love.
As Kyle falls in love with Lindy, he begins to write her a long letter. This traditional symbol of love has seemed to die out with the introduction of emails, text messages and social networking sites. Letters are now relatively rare, and its placement in Beastly shows that the love between Kyle and Lindy is rare and unique, in a world where superficiality and outward appearances seem to dictate the power of love. Love will always play a significant part in culture, no matter what era we are living in. Love is universal, and its relevance in society will always be constant. Thus, Beastly has enhanced the traditional fairytale genre element of love.
While the ‘moral’ of BATB is ‘do not be deceived by appearances; let your heart guide you, and not your eyes,’ the moral of Beastly could be summed up in its tagline of ‘Love is Never Ugly.’ In other words, love can transform an unattractive person into something beautiful. Kyle is told by Kendra, “You have a year to find someone to love you...Or stay like this forever...As aggressively unattractive outside as you are inside.” Kendra’s point is that he must find love because love is not ugly; it is beautiful and will be able to transform him into someone attractive- inside and out. Barnz has done this to directly relate to the post modern value of superficiality. In the traditional fairytale, the values were to do with not judging a book by a cover. However, in Beastly, the values directly correlate with superficiality. The concept that Kyle must get over his obsession with his appearance and image so that he can achieve a ‘happily ever after’ ending warns against being superficial.
The film also explores the fact that superficiality is making individuals into ‘beasts,’ and that the only way to stop this is through realising what love really is. Lindy loves him despite his scars and tattoos. She shows him what it is to really love someone, even if they are unattractive on the outside, they may be beautiful on the inside. She even says to him “You’re the most beautiful man I have ever met.” By looking beneath the surface, Lindy is a contrast to the superficiality of the post modern world.
In conclusion, although Beastly is a contemporary appropriation of a traditional fairytale, many of the elements that characterise fairytales have been subverted with elements of the fantasy genre. Thus ‘Beastly’ has been transformed into a text of the fantasy genre. The film portrays love as something valuable to be attained, despite the superficiality and uncertainty of the post modern world. the very act of subverting a traditional fairytale is a characteristic of literary texts in the post modern era. Love is relevant in every era, despite the different cultural values.