Teaching Beauty and the Beast

PART 2 OF 2

Happy New Year, everybody!
I'm looking for a feminist variant on Beauty and the Beast for intermediate (up
to about age 12) readers for my Gender in Children's Literature course.  I've
been focusing on "The Little Mermaid" and using Robin Morgan's "The Mer-Child,"
but I'm thinking it's time to switch up--fewer of my students spent their
childhoods obsessed with the Disney mermaid.  It seems there ought to be a
comparable contemporary feminist take on "Beauty & the Beast," but I can't find
one.  Can anybody help?

Thanks,
Janet Gray
The College of New Jersey
gray  AT  tcnj.edu

Hi -- Andrea Dworkin and Madonna Kolbenschlag (_Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-bye_)
both wrote about fairy tales (some time ago).  I'm not certain if Beauty and
the Beast is one of them.
I know there are some more recent, but I'm not sure about the titles.

Good luck.

Elaine

Elaine K. Miller, PhD
e k miller Productions
41 Charmwood Rd.
Pittsford, NY 14534
ekmiller  AT  ekmillerproductions.com
www.ekmillerproductions.com

Feminist Fairy Tales by Barbara G. Walker

http://www.amazon.com/Feminist-Fairy-Tales-Barbara-Walker/dp/0062513206
 		 	   		 

Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber has two feminist variants of B & B - "The
Tiger's Bride" and "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" - they do not really fall in
the category of children's literature but might be worth looking at.

Cheers,
Kim

---
Kim Snowden, Ph.D
Women's & Gender Studies
University of British Columbia

"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain"
- Louise May Alcott, _Work_ (1873)

For a very rich and enthralling treatment of the whole subject see Marina
Warner's From the Beast to the Blonde.

Ophelia Benson
opheliabenson  AT  msn.com

Try Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch, which is a collection of revised
fairytales.  I think the one you want is called "The Tale of the Rose."                      
Best,                     
Jeana DelRosso
 
Dr. Jeana DelRosso
Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences
Chair, Department of English
Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies
College of Notre Dame of Maryland
4701 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21210
jdelrosso  AT  ndm.edu <mailto:jdelrosso  AT  ndm.edu>

Hi Janet and all,
Here's the weird thing-- a French scholar might be more helpful, but "Beauty
and the Beast" is a seventeenth-century tale authored by a woman~WMme
lePrince de Beaumont according to Amazon.com. It's the only "classic"
fairytale I can name that is so authored, and this at least complicates the
idea of a feminist "variant" since we might ask about the internal messages
of the original in this case.

Charles Perrault (the source of tales like Puss-in-boots, etc.) apparently
got it from her. This is probably significant, compared to say, "Sleeping
Beauty" or "la belle aux bois dormant"--which imagines women much more
passively and has been a good topic for feminist intervention. We are
talking elite, aristocratic court women, but we are also talking "salon"
culture, so something quite different from either folk tale or tales
published solely by male authors/publishers.

Hope this helps--it's at least worth looking into versions that take Mme de
Beaumont seriously, in addition to Angela Carter (whose work is really
interesting), or  20th-C liberal feminist variants. A good 17th-C French
scholar doing feminist work might at least make the argument that within the
parameters of the time, the ORIGINAL could be considered "feminist" in some
senses.

Best,
Miriam Wallace
New College of Florida

Thanks to all who offered suggestions about feminist updates of Beauty and the
Beast!  I have LOTS of ideas to work with now.  About Mme de Beaumont, whose
literary tale Miriam mentioned:  I assign a well annotated collection, Maria
Tatar's wonderful _The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales_, and assign a chapter by
Jack Zipes on the historical context of Mme de Beaumont's composition--indeed,
feminist for its day, at least for upper-class women.  I'm waffling about
shifting the focus off of "The Little Mermaid," though, because pairing Disney &
Anderson opens up so much about class & queerness...ah well, two weeks left
before I have to make up my mind. 
Janet Graygray  AT  tcnj.edu

I've been off this list for a bit; hope its not too late for a B& T. Beast
suggestion.

A feminist analysis to chew on: Check out Beauty and The Beast is from the
perspective of an abusive relationship. All the classic elements are there:
threatening to hurt the ones she loves, her sacrificing herself for her
kids/father, the Beast locking her up, promising violence if she doesn't
comply, denying her food, verbal abuse, etc. etc. What's difficult is the
message: that you can change him if you work hard enough, you are the only
one who can save him and underneath, the abuser is a kind loving prince who
will make all your dreams come true...

And the Little Mermaid; don't get me goin'.

--Rachel

For DRAMATIZED versions of feminist fairy tales, see Patricia Montley's Not So
Grim Fairy Tales.  Scripts and/or production rights available from Samuel
French, Inc. 
http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/2486

Synopses:

Not So Grim Fairy Tales, by Patricia Montley, is a feminist satire in 5 scenes
featuring an all-female cast of 15 (roles can be doubled or tripled).

In "Snow White and the Anti-Freeze," Snow White's Mother tries to persuade her
daughter to abandon keeping house for the seven dwarfs and join her in a
witches' commune.

In "Little Red and the Big Bad She-Wolf," Little Red, a business major at
Harvard, is invited by Mae Wolf to quit school and get a start in the
service-selling business--in spite of opposition from Granny, who turns out to
be Mae's senior partner.

In "Bumble Stiltskin and the Baby Business," Rumple Stiltskin's practical and
put-upon wife implores the Queen to keep her royal baby and offers to set up a
Day Care Center if she can be assured of government support.

In "Jack and the Marijuana Stalk," the Giant's Wife and Daughter pay a visit to
Jack's Mother in the hope of recouping the hen and the singing harp.

In "Cinderella and the Ever-After Life," Cinderella, a Ph.D. candidate, is
pressured by her Godmother and Stepsisters to give up the life of an academic
bum, but holds out against the Prince--a dynamite band leader--because she wants
to live happily ever after.

Performance time: 1 hour. 


Sally N. Wall, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Psychology/Sociology Department
College of Notre Dame of Maryland
4701 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21210