Theory plays a significant role in allowing the readers to visualize different aspects of a text. Some of the facets that could be used to assess a text include the historical, structural, or the feminist approaches among others. The use of a theoretical lens to evaluate a particular text is known as the adaptation. One of the literary texts that have experienced immense adaption includes the fairy tales. A fairy tale falls under the folklore genre and primarily takes the form of a short story. It features a host of subjects including dragons, dwarfs, giants, and mermaids among others (Schanoes, 2016). "Beauty and the Beast" is an example of one of the most popular tales that has undergone numerous adaptations in a bid to make meaning out of its thematic representation. Jerry Griswold's adaptation of "The Beauty and the Beast" uses the Beaumont's classic theory as a background to show the different meanings of the story as assessed by psychologists and as adapted by contemporary writers, picture books, and screenplay.
The "Beauty and the Beast" offers a convenient platform to assess the discovery of meaning as found on the fairy tales. Jerry Griswold uses more than one facet to assess how various parties drew their meaning from arguably one of the most popular fairy tale story of all time. One of the approaches to adaptation mostly applied in literature is the feminist angle. Here, the politics of gender tend to prevail in a text with aspects such as gender roles and sexual norms becoming more apparent. With regards to the "Beauty and the Beast," the first generation feminists remained critical of the tale citing that it portrayed the patriarchal tendencies that emanated from the unnecessary victimization of the women. On the other hand, the second generation feminists were more liberal to the tales who endorsed them as important female stories that portrayed a sense of women empowerment. According to Griswold, "those feminists who object to "Beauty and the Beast" see it as an admiring portrait of a self-sacrificial maiden and argue that Beaumont’s story conveys the objectionable lesson that women should be submissive” (Griswold, 2004, p. 63). As such, among the feminists, “Beauty and the Beast” was a polarizing figure with critics and proponents differing on its role in empowering women.
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Other than feminism, the “Beauty and the Beast” further takes a deconstruction approach where a text is deconstructed to illustrate that the initial values, principles, and oppositions created by a text degenerate as the story continues. For instance, when reading the story, “Beauty and the Beast” constructs a sense of binary opposition between the values of civilization and savagery which are congruent to those of marriage and sexuality. However, as the story progresses, these values become increasingly regressed as Beauty changes her perspective towards the Beast thus making the distinction between Savage and civilized less apparent. Another important approach to adaptation that contemporary authors have delved into includes the Freudian approach. The approach "emphasizes sexual tensions, repressions, family dramas, and desires of characters, authors, and cultures" (Critical Approaches: Theory allows us to see different elements of a text). For instance, Beauty sees Beast as a beast primarily because he has held his father's captive. As Beast begins to separate from Beauty's father, she begins to see him as a man rather than a beast.
Griswold also provides an outlook of how the psychological critics have attempted to create an adaptation out of the story. Throughout the story, Beauty undergoes an emotional transformation, a form of female maturation. Other than going through various developmental stages, she also learns, appreciates, and matures. The story also seeks to offer vital lessons to the man who must learn not to force themselves onto a woman but instead show gentleman tendencies. Therefore, from a psychological point of view, this is a fairy tale that aims at illuminating the female psychosocial problem and how development through the stages assists her to overcome them. It also illuminates on the transformation of the man and how they can tune their character and mentality to align to the demands of the female. Lastly, from a socio-historical point of view, the tale has been adapted to assess the “reactionary condemnation of social-climbing by the bourgeois or merchant class” (Griswold, 2004, p. 53). Beauty’s sisters are particularly crucial in painting a picture of classism in the story. They are regarded as social climbers hell-bent at ensuring that they will only marry an earl or a duke.
Jerry Griswold's adaptation of "The Beauty and the Beast" uses the Beaumont's classic theory as a background to show the different meanings of the story as assessed by psychologists and as adapted by contemporary writers, picture books, and screenplay. From the analysis, it becomes apparent that fairy tales can be evaluated using different critical approaches ranging from the feminist to the Freudian and socio-historical perspectives. Contemporary writers have focused on various approaches to ensure that the story reflects, portrays, and makes sense of the society today (Zipes, 2013). Throughout "Beauty and the Beast," readers can acquire various thematic representations ranging from classism, gender roles, societal values, and civilization among others. In conclusion, the adaptation of the text using the Beaumont's classical theory has provided writers and filmmakers an opportunity to conceptualize the essence of fairy tales.
References
Critical Approaches: Theory allows us to see different elements of a text. Pdf.
Griswold, J. (2004). The meanings of" Beauty and the Beast": A handbook. Broadview Press.
Schanoes, V. L. (2016). Fairy Tales, Myth, and Psychoanalytic Theory: Feminism and Retelling the Tale. Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2013). Why fairy tales stick: The evolution and relevance of a genre. Routledge.
