Hidden in Childhood

     The heroine's journey has shown up countless times in stories I have read or watched, but I never recognized the pattern before it was pointed out to me. Beauty and the Beast is one of my childhood classics, and it also happens to be a fantastic representation of Maureen Murdock's heroine's journey. However, the journey is a complex concept so I will only focus on a few major steps. Starting from the beginning of the movie at step 1, "shift from feminine to masculine," we can see Belle rejecting typical feminine roles. Her rejection to conforming to society is shown when she doesn't seek Gaston, the most desired man in their village while the other girls are only focused on trying to marry him. She also reads books, helps her father with his inventions, and forms her own opinions, which society does not want her to do as a woman. This nonconformity is further confirmed in one of the first songs, "Belle", when the village people say, "that girl is strange, no question" and "she doesn't quite fit in" in reference to Belle. 

     Soon after the beginning, Belle's father leaves home but doesn't come back. Feeling concerned, Belle tries to go find him, venturing off on a dangerous journey generally reserved for men in their community. The circumstances forced Belle to further embrace a more masculine role out of concern for her father. This constitutes the step "identification with the masculine." This is followed by the "road of trials" when Belle encounters the Beast. This step is extremely important to her journey because it's where she experiences the most change. She takes the place of her father as prisoner of the Beast, which further highlights her pursuit of the masculine role of her father. During her time as prisoner, she faces a lot of challenges. Through these struggles, she reflects upon her life, learns from the animate objects, and adapts to interacting with the Beast. Her life before that had been repetitive, evidenced in the line "everyday like the one before" that she sings. This new situation she is put in and the new perspectives that are shared with her allow her to change her views on life and grow as a character. 

    After a while, Belle returns home where she sees her father again and falls back into the ways of her community. Yet she realizes she isn't satisfied at home and she misses the Beast. This breaks her out of her yearning to reconnect with her community at home. The community continues to reject her masculine side, represented by her relationship with the Beast because that is where she truly embraced it. She is reasonably satisfied with her life now that she has reunited with her father. However, when the community realizes her connection to the Beast, they chant "kill the beast" and storm the castle. This upsets Belle's life and shows that the community strongly disapproves of who she is when she is with the Beast. Not accepted at home and missing who she was with the Beast, she goes back to live with him. However, this time, she incorporates her father back into her life, joining the two personalities she takes on around each individual. This allows her to create a balance her old-self and her new-self. 

    Beauty and the Beast fits the format of the Heroine's journey almost perfectly, and I wish I could cover more steps. It is fascinating to see these patterns that have been hidden throughout my childhood, but now that I have the template, I see them everywhere. I think this is a valuable aspect of culture to analyze because our brains react to the patterns with enthusiasm and intrigue each time but often fail to recognize the repetition. It also changes the way I watch movies now because each event seems more significant in shaping the character's identity rather than just a series of things that coincidentally happened in the story. Everything seems more intentional, and I think that intention and focus on identity is extremely important to the understanding of these stories and the characters in them. 

Comments

  1. Khadeejah R.April 20, 2023 at 11:16 AM

    Now that I've learned about the heroine's journey I also see it in almost every movie I watch. I think Disney Princess movies in particular have their main characters embrace both their femininity and masculinity. Beauty and the Beast is a really good example and you do a great job of explaining how Belle embraces her masculinity around the Beast, and how she realizes she can't conform to her community's standard of femininity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel TApril 21, 2023 at 7:11 PM

    Beauty and the Beast is a great example of the heroine's journey. I think it is interesting that we never see Belle acting traditionally feminine in the movie, however. There is sort of this idea that there has always been something abnormal/ masculine about her, and she has already learned to balance that with her femininity. As you pointed out here, her journey really seems to be more of a fight for acceptance and coming together of different worlds.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tracy LiApril 22, 2023 at 11:52 PM

    The Heroine's Journey, like the Hero's journey, is a nice cliche that helps characterize classic stories and I too literally see it everywhere now. Recognizing patterns in stories can enhance the understanding and appreciation of them, and Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorite fairy tales that also happens to perfectly represent the heroine's journey.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aryan S.May 12, 2023 at 10:36 AM

    I really enjoyed reading your analysis of Beauty and the Beast through the lens of Maureen Murdock's heroine's journey. It's cool how the steps of the journey align so well with Belle's character development throughout the movie. From her rejection of expectations to her identification with the masculine role and her experiences with the Beast, each step contributes to her growth and self-discovery. Recognizing these patterns enhances our appreciation of storytelling and the intentional shaping of characters' identities.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SavindiMay 22, 2023 at 9:32 PM

    Hi Lisa! Great post! I completely agree that Beauty and the Beast is a perfect example of the heroine’s journey. Now that I’ve learned about the heroine’s journey, it’s fun to see it everywhere, especially in stories I’ve loved since I was a kid. Also, I’d argue that even the two major settings (Belle’s hometown and the Beast’s castle) are physical symbols of the feminine and masculine sides of Belle’s character. The town is bright and lively, which I think is often associated with feminine energy. Meanwhile, the castle has darker elements and a very dominant/intimidating energy that is more often associated with masculinity. Belle moving between these two worlds is like a representation of her moving between these two sides of gender too while also being a perfect mix of femininity and masculinity. It’s a small detail, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Role Beyond the Screen

“Hello! My name is Lisa Spencer. I am a sophomore in computer science at UIUC.”  When I say this line, people immediately think I’m nerdy and introverted. People assume I want to code all day and be the best software engineer ever. While this may be true for some computer science majors, this does not apply to me. In reality, my interests extend far beyond algorithms and debugging. I enjoy connecting with others, discussing ideas, and improving the world at the intersection of technology and business. I chose computer science because I love logic and patterns. The challenge of getting a computer to do what I want was exciting to me. Over the summer, I worked as a Software Engineer Intern. I felt stagnant at first because the learning curve was so sharp that I was only absorbing information and not outputting much progress. Then I started contributing. Delivering code that I had worked on that would be put to real-world use was incredibly satisfying.  But I still felt like I wa...
Read more

Puzzle Connections

               A challenge. A strategy. Logic. Sorting. A puzzle. These things have always been there to connect my family. The struggle of mismatched pieces and the joy of bringing them together has always been a central pastime in my family.  My dad introduced my younger brother and I to wooden puzzles at a young age. I remember sitting down on my knees so my small arms could reach the pieces that were spread everywhere on our old round kitchen table. My excitement was bubbling. We had the whole day just for this. My dad got out the wood glue, and I remember feeling so cool because I got to use special glue. We had to hold the pieces in place while the glue dried or fell apart, making us glue it again. I had so much fun with my family and would ask for these wooden puzzles every birthday or Christmas. We made models of houses, castles, music box pianos, and more. I love these memories, so I still have the models displayed on my bookshe...
Read more

Mail From Home

  Mail can come in many different forms, whether that’s a letter, an advertisement, a magazine, a postcard, or a package. Some mail is thrown out immediately. Other mail is kept forever. The mail I’ve been keeping forever was from my mom.  One summer when I was little, I spent two months in China with my younger brother and grandparents. My dad was off on a business trip and my mom had stayed back to work on her dissertation. We had been to China before and my grandparents had visited us for long stretches of time before, but we had never been without our parents for so long.  We were a little scared at first, but after the jetlag wore off, our excitement skyrocketed. Everyday was just fun. Our grandparents spoiled us. We would watch TV, go out to eat, go shopping, go for walks, and swim. This is when my grandpa taught me how to swim. I remember asking to go every day after dinner. My brother and I would beg his ears off. Most days he would agree, and we would all walk ...
Read more