Beauty and the Beast

I had a Mother/Daughter day last weekend at the movies. I joined my daughter, her childhood friend and her friend's mom, who happens to also be my long time friend, at the movie Beauty and the Beast. This was a full circle moment for my daughter and me. I first took my little girl of five to see the cartoon version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast back in 1991. Then I went with my college age daughter to see the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast. And now my married, adult daughter to see the real people movie version. I enjoyed all three versions and in my opinion, they were all very well done.

But what I am noticing, is the evolution of the Disney heroine from a "damsel in distress" saved by her "Prince Charming" to an empowered female capable of saving herself as well as the "men in distress" in her life. I was just reading about the petition to keep the bronze statue of the "fearless girl" that stands in front of the Wall Street bull in place permanently. As I was watching the character of Belle in Beauty and the Beast I was thinking of that fearless girl. There is a scene in the movie where Belle is asking her father about her mother. Her father tells Belle that her mother was fearless. Belle is fearless also as she stands up to the Beast. Belle saves herself, her father and the Beast from the spell that he is under. She refuses to marry the town "jerk" even though he shows her how horrible a life she will have as an "old maid". Belle loves books and wants to teach other girls to read, much to the horror of the town folk. Teaching girls to read is considered a bad thing. Reading books and thinking about the world and its possibilities is a bad thing. Belle is determined to change that thinking. She is a strong character, the heroine of the story.

Beauty and the Beast is a wonderful movie for the girl in all of us and for the boys to see also. Young girls need strong role models in their life and in their movies. In a world that is often scary, women need to awake the fearless girl that lives inside of each one of us.