Beauty and the Beast: A Psychological Review of Life Today
If people pay to watch the show, it must mean something to them, unless we decide that such a large part of the population is just plain boring. That would be a stupid psychological conclusion. The truth is, we only do what’s important to us, even when we don’t understand our own reasons (and that’s the problem).
Beauty and the Beast is an instructive fairy tale that has a lot to say about our psychological reality.
Beauty is a “strange girl”, as her peers say. She is always with an open book in her hands that makes her imagination fly and see other places, people and wonders. She is so sensitive to that “other world”, which we can only call “inner world”, as she is indifferent to the exterior and her glamor.
Who would be Bella today? A girl who likes to read and doesn’t fit in with her peer group, who has a critical view of the Disney Channel and her stars. Someone who doesn’t like to spend their days in malls. To average teenagers, this beauty would seem absurd, it would certainly not be considered “normal”. Her parents might even be concerned about her “introversion of hers”, while her peers, mainly girls, would mercilessly bully her, as her functions other than hers are like a slap in the face of hers. she. Modern Beauty’s behavior would show her classmates that what is so important to them can be seen in another way. And because the other girls may actually feel that their values aren’t as real as they think, they need to stifle and silence alternative voices, like Beauty’s. So, let’s (psychologically) kill the different ones.
In the musical everything shines with melody and joy because we are looking through the eyes of Belle and we are merged in her world and challenges. But from the outside, Bella’s life would be miserable.
Beauties like this there are many out there. They may not look glamorous and are surely not popular. When they are beautiful, they may believe they are ugly because that is how the world sees them. They have beauty on the inside and often hold it tight to protect it so they are shy which doesn’t help with their “introversion” and “relationship problems”. These beauties fight a lonely battle and feel so desperately alone.
In the fairy tale, Beauty rejects Gaston, who is the representation of the system itself. Gaston symbolizes the common mindset and standard values. He is the reflection of the average male figure in a highly extroverted society. Thus, Gastón and his followers (men and women) are as blind to the inner world as they are insensitive to other points of view. For them, everything must fit into the established pattern. He wants Beauty not because he loves it, but to conquer and dominate the one to whom it means nothing.
By putting Gaston down, Beauty is bravely setting the standards for the life she wants for herself. That’s what any “good girl” does in the process of finding her. Bella wants to be herself and therefore it is crucial that she not accept Gaston. He tells her that she will make all “his dreams of her come true”. But what dreams? Whose dreams? The deep inner dreams of beauty or the stereotyped collective ideals? Gaston, as an expression of masculine banality shaped by thoughtless thought, would actually kill Bella’s dreams.
Beauty tells Gaston no and meets the Beast. That’s what happens when you deny giving in to media stereotypes. This person will have to face the Beast, the first unrefined, grotesque and terrifying step on the path of individualization. The Beast, as the story says, is the other side of the beautiful person that we show to the world. The Beast is a threat and a promise. Although people are not used to dealing with the inner desert, the Beast represents that everything has been pushed aside, turned off, “forgotten” and ignored. Our true potential prince charming. What makes us who we are.
Beauty had dreamed of another life, which is possible, but it is not free, there is a price to pay and a battle to be won. Many teens have from time to time the healthy feeling of rejecting the status quo and following its vision. However, fresh and young as they are, and mostly alone, they have no knowledge or guidance to achieve what they want and thus make their dreams come true. As we all know, life is not easy at all. It is one thing to wish and idealize, another very different thing is to roll up your sleeves and work, and guess what, without an instruction manual. This existential dilemma often goes on for years and years, until people in their late 40s realize that they still haven’t achieved their dreams.
What is the path that fairy tales suggest? Introversion, perseverance, acceptance and love.
Beauty is lost in the woods, as any of us would be after rejecting Gaston/status quo (“What the hell am I going to do now?”). She’s alone and scared, and as usual it’s raining (along with our own tears). She needs a shelter. The forest is the place of unconsciousness, far from the civilized mind, the palace of the ego with its comfortable hackneyed reality. In the forest one is silent and observes. Instincts gain strength and sharpen. It’s time to feel. From the outside, a person in the forest will seem introverted.
The palace in the forest tells us that something big is happening there. The desert is fully alive and carries a profound message. The master of this side of the psyche world is justly cursed by a wise witch. He is the result of a personality excessively open to the outside, ignoring the interior, which is: conscience, spirituality, ethics, meaning. The vain prince is doomed to die (of course, who wants a two-dimensional life?) unless he is capable of loving and being loved. Such a beautiful curse.
Who can love the ugly, rude and scary Beast? Just someone for whom the average mentality and lifestyle is uglier, ruder, and scarier. Beauty. Because what we reject is utterly unbearable, because the idea of giving up our own personality and uniqueness is worse than dying, we face the Beast. The outer door is closed, it only remains to move forward, that is: to go deeper. From the outside, a person on this journey will appear very introverted and even depressed. It will be like a ship sailing in troubled waters. You will benefit from qualified and attuned help, even though you are perfectly normal and are reacting as expected to what is at stake.
By being available and paying attention to the situation, as Belle is completely plugged into the prince’s castle, without having any further distractions, she finds her way into the heart of the Beast. It is faster and easier to solve a case when we dedicate ourselves completely to it. What seemed incomprehensible and terrifying, takes on a new face and finally the two lovebirds are close to breaking the spell and living happily ever after. From the outside a person seems to have regained her self-esteem and confidence. But the battle is not over. We still have to deal with Gaston. What are we going to do with this guy?
Protect us. The wonderful reality that we encounter in your personal inner journey remains invisible to the outside world, and worse still, the extroverted and superficial exterior is afraid of the mysterious inner side of the psyche. Therefore, once again let us kill the different ones. And there goes Gastón and his followers full of pious beliefs stuck between the sin of one ego and that of another, to eliminate the Beast, that is, the one who dared to make his difference.
This last combat of the first scene of the individuation process contributes to its apotheosis and realization. Gaston apparently wins, but actually releases the Beast. When all seems to be lost, it’s time for self-esteem and confidence to blossom to prove they’re real. Once again, being positive at home is not enough. The world exacts its toll and in doing so gives us the opportunity to shine our inner beauty. The transformation is complete, the Beast has left the scene and made way for the Prince. Our future is already available to us. We have our own mind and project. The path is open, we marry our own Being.