Every girl has their favorite fairy tale, whether they believe in fairy tales or not. We all grew up listening to Disney versions of magical lands and happily ever afters. Soon we all grow up and we have one of two opinions about them. I would like to call the first group the Gloomy Ones, and the second group the Hopeful Ones (can you guess which group I’m in?) The Gloomy Ones believe that fairy tales are stupid and idiotic and none of it comes true, so why should we believe it? The Hopeful Ones believe we develop this hope that Prince Charming still exists (even though he may be a janitor), magic is still in the world, and there are such things as happily ever afters.
The reason why I bring this up is that there’s a lot of talk about fairy tales these days; “Once Upon a Time” on ABC, two different movies coming out JUST about Snow White (lucky...), and have you counted all of the versions of Cinderella Disney has released with teen heartthrobs and pretty girls? Yeah. That’s because all of us ‘Hopefuls’ are taking over. Watch out you ‘Gloomys!’
Personally, I view fairy tales as stories that can happen in reality, but they’re fluffed up and less scary...or whatever. The coffee shop clerk falls in love with the lawyer that gets coffee every morning? Cinderella. A girl who still has hope in humanity and becomes a teacher only to eat an apple and get sick and falls in love with a doctor? Snow White (admit it, it could happen...). The girl who tricks her boyfriend into thinking she can do the impossible? Rumpelstilskin.
Fairy tales are apart of our lives whether we want them to be or not. Eventually, when we have our own children, they creep up into our lives and make themselves known. So why not embrace that? Why not keep that spirit and hope alive? Stories have a lot of power. They help us look at something differently, or they help explain a situation with a simple phrase. Ask any Catholic about the DaVinci Code(remember how up in arms people were?), or how EVERYONE knows that there’s no place like home. They’re not just stories.
There’s always that one fairy tale that sticks with us, too. I remember in college, a bunch of the girls in Feeney Players (of whom I hung out with only two) decided they would decorate their dorms with the Disney princess they emulated or had the closest personality to. Those tales stick with us for the rest of our lives.
Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale. Yes, yes, the Disney version was my first exposure to the story, but it went deeper than that, and when I was old enough to read more about the story, B&B really DID become my favorite fairy tale. There are a lot of versions of the tale, and honestly, pretty much all of them have the same storyline.
I related to Belle (and yes, that it what I’m going to call her, not Beauty) the most because she read books like I did when I was growing up, and she loved her father so much, she was willing to let him and her whole family go to make sure they were safe and sound. That kind of love isn’t found in a lot of fairy tales.
My favorite version of B&B is Beauty by Robin McKinley. I actually have to find it so I can read it again because like an idiot, I lost it when I moved to Maine. I like it because it’s the story that makes the most sense, and it’s the most believeable too. In it, Belle isn’t beautiful (she nicknames herself Beauty as a joke); she’s tall with mousy brown hair and big hands and feet. The Beast isn’t mean at all; he’s actually quite sweet and kind right from the get-go, just a little too overprotective of his roses (which happens to be in every single rendition I’ve read interestingly enough).
The lesson we all are supposed to learn (as there is a lesson with all fairy tales) is that people shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. That’s where the idea of Belle being a bookworm came about. Now, the lesson is the same in every version, but Disney did it somewhat backwards. Belle already can see beyond what she sees and accepts everyone by their character. Everyone in her town is kind of summed up by Gaston’s comment about Belle’s choice of leisure, “How can you read this? There’s no pictures!” By the way, when I knew enough about the subject, my first comment about Gaston was that he should go back to school and learn some grammar--I realize he’s French, but come on Disney.
The other versions of B&B, Belle is still a reader, but she doesn’t realize the lesson until she tells the Beast she’ll marry him. When she leaves the Beast and comes back late and can’t find her way back, she realizes that she loves him and it doesn’t matter what he looks like.
Isn’t that why we hear stories in the first place; to know that those characters got it right in the end and we can too? The basis of fairy tales is to give us hope of a happy life; to plant it into our hearts and let it sit, waiting to be used as a reminder when we need one. Because whether we’re a ‘Hopeful’ or a ‘Gloomy,’ it’s still there. The question is if we use it or not.
There’s always that part in the story that things are not good at all. It seems impossible that there would be a happy ever after. That’s where people get stuck and they stop believing. In the end, though, everything turns out wonderfully.
I take comfort in that even though life is wicked hard right now, there IS a point where things will be better and there’ll be a happily ever after. There’s one problem I’m having though: I can’t really see it right now. I know it’ll happen, I have faith in God that it’ll happen, and I trust Him. I just cannot for the life of me find a stopping point of all this challenge in my life. I feel like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof when he asks God if He can choose someone else once in a while. Even a poor teacher is entitled to some happiness, right?
...There must be more to this provincial life.
