Gothic drama in Disney's<i>beauty and the beast:</i>Subverting traditional romance by transcending the animal‐human paradox

Abstract

In 1991, Walt Disney Studios released the animated feature film Beauty and the Beast to wide acclaim. In 1994, they set out to leverage their success into a new market: Broadway. By making overtures to domestic and international audiences with a musical version of Beauty and the Beast, they redefined legitimate theatre into a mass‐market venue. In an attempt to understand what Disney has accomplished with this classic fairy tale, I will look at the animated and stage versions as examples of Gothic romance and argue that their success, like that of Gothic novels, is based on an openness to reappropriation by women. By taking advantage of the core paradox of Gothics, namely the paradox of our Animal and Human natures, this Disney tale can be read as an indictment of traditional gender roles and a validation of unconventional roles. It offers to viewers a model for intimacy which presumes that both partners must seek wholeness of Self before either can find wholeness in relationship.