B and B

The story of Beauty and the Beast has been remade numerous times over the years. It originated as a French fairytale in the 18th century and has since been adapted into various forms of media. Some notable adaptations include a black and white live-action film in 1946, a modernized version in 1976, a live-action TV series in 1987, a digitally remastered Disney film in 1991, and a live-action film in 2017 starring Emma Watson. The story has been reimagined in different settings and with different plot variations, but the core themes of love and transformation remain consistent throughout the various adaptations. The first time I read Beauty and the Beast, it was actually for this class, and this was a story I've always known for a really long time, but I didn't realize how many times it was remade over and over again. Arlene Washington actually compiled all the different stages of the story in March of 2017. The original story of Beauty and the Beast was by Gabriel Susan Barbet in the 18th century, and it was then made into a film in 1946 by Gene Koscius. It was a live action movie, or film actually, and it was in black and white, and the storyline for that was the father was taken captive for picking a rose, and Belle had to take his place as a prisoner, and the entire time the Beast woes her to try and keep her with him and to live in his kingdom with her. In 1962, Lady Altina and Duke Edros, they were set to be married, and he's keeping a secret from her, and she never realizes what his true form is at night, and he never ends up telling her that a magician put a spell on him because he wanted to be king, and she's the only one that can save him, but this is unbeknownst to her until, like, the very end of the story. And this is when the story actually starts to change from its original form. There was another thing done in 1976, which was the first time it became modernized, and actually it was a Hallmark Channel, and the girl marries the Beast to, she marries him right off the bat, and lives in the castle, but that's to save her father, and they really don't show that, they don't discuss that he took a rose, or violated the kingdom, or broke, you know, broke in or anything, they just, it's a very broad, thrown-together version of this story. Fairytale Theater, Fairytale Theater is with Susan Sarandon and Claude Kinski, and that was done in 1994, and that was the first live action that we would know to be modern. It was all in full color, it was more drawn-out, more of a love story, Susan Sarandon is a well-known actor today, she wasn't then, she was just coming into the business and whatnot, and that was more colorful than the other versions before that one. In 1987, CBS series Catherine Chandler was a district attorney in this film called Beauty and the Beast, and there was another character, Vincent, and this was an underground community that they lived in, and everything was done in the sewer lines. She had gotten into trouble, Vincent rescued a damsel in distress, and she was taken back by him, you know, the perpetrators all see him as a monster, and they're all running in the other way, and this is not a fairytale, this is more a modern day, like in the subway of New York, and it doesn't show him as a malicious creature, it shows him more loving more empathy for her, she is kind of snotty, like she's not nice to anybody, and he tries to convert her personality to be more loving, more like him, more kind, and caring, and I think I put this in my other report, but the Game of Thrones writer George Martin actually wrote three seasons of this CBS series, so it ran for three seasons, and then it had ended. In 1991, was when our beloved Walt Disney started the first digitally remastered version of Beauty and the Beast, and this was set in France, Belle was the prisoner of the enchanted castle, which is different from the 1946 version, the Beast, you know, tries to win her love, and introduces her to everything that's living in the castle, it's enchanted, and she makes all these friends, and it becomes a family, and he finally sets her loose in the end, to let her go home, and you know, cares for her so much, and she ends up coming back, and then of course, you know, the whole town wants to burn the castle down, and whatnot, so that's also different from the original version. In 1997, this one I had a laugh at, Fran Drescher, is in a short film, Beautician and the Beast, and it's a cross between Beauty and the Beast, and The Sound of Music, there's actually a short you could watch of it, and she interacts with a mean dictator guy, from like Europe, and eventually, you know, she's not into his, the way he is, and she's against him, and he's so negative, and she's so positive, and she ends up falling for him, and there's no, you know, prisoner part, she's not held captive, or anything like that, she actually does this by her own, you know, choice. In 2005, there is called Blood of Beasts, and it's more of a Viking style, done in medieval times, there's a princess Freya, on a cursed island, and she's looking for her dad, and her lover, and it turns out, she comes across this beast, her dad's held captive, she swaps with the beast, and is like, let my dad go, and you can take me, and unbeknownst to her, I don't want to really spoil it, but the beast turns out to be somebody she never would have realized was her, or was them, and that's more about like sacrifice, she was willing to sacrifice everything to give up for her dad, and you know, it turns out, for the better in the end. Beastly was a short TV series in 2011, that was based on Alex Finn's novel, also revolving around Beauty and the Beast, it's more modern, one of the Olsen twins was in it, and of course, Doogie Howser, Neil Patrick Harris was in that, and Kyle is this deformed person, and he falls, he has to fall in love with a girl within a year, or he's gonna stay this beastly form, and the whole series is more like, you know, teen, teen beast, you know, love stories, high school, all the drama for that, and that ran for four seasons as well, and they end up, you know, working that all out as well. There was a TV series in 2012 that was short, that was a CW drama, and that was more about crimes, it kind of didn't have the feel of Beauty and the Beast in my opinion, but I just wanted to make sure I put it in there. And the beloved Once Upon a Time series in 2012 came out, that was a modern mashup of all fairy tale characters and real life situations and predicaments that we would live every day with, and they do a good job of, you know, setting her up, she kind of falls for, his name is escaping me right now, but, oh, Rumpelstiltskin, and Belle falls for Rumpelstiltskin, and there's a hookup in there, which really, you know, it's a far fetched thing for Beauty and the Beast, but it is the same, they're using that as the background for Beauty and the Beast for the two of them, so that's a really good series, too, and they bring all kinds of creatures and characters in from all across, stories from long, long ago and current, it's a really great series. In 2017, Beauty and the Beast was turned into a live action film, finally, with Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, and they are said to have been the best rendition of the story, and because of the Hollywood, they have a big Hollywood back cast, everybody, the supporting actors in that was very star-studded, and it has been known to be one of the best, they do, they use the yellow dress in that, and the Beast costume, which is kind of a copy off of Walt Disney's version of it, but it wasn't until Disney actually made it so glamorous and whatnot, all the other versions before him weren't as glamorous, and weren't so expensive looking with the castle and whatnot, the castles were basically ran down and disheveled and everything like that, so, Beauty and the Beast has been a story that's been around since the 18th century, and no one seems to get tired of it, I'm sure there's going to be more to come after this year, and they, you know, they use the song in it, you know, tale as old as time, and it literally has been around, it's one of the stories that's been around the longest, and again, Arlene Washington, I want to give credit to, she compiled all the different versions of Beauty and the Beast and made it a little easier, I did get caught up in a rabbit hole of watching parts of these, and some of them are good, some of them are also good, some of them were really, you know, dull and shocking that they considered this to be part of Beauty and the Beast, but, I really enjoyed the assignment, the timeline was very interesting to me too, I kind of fell short on this, and I hope I kind of justified myself doing this this way, so, let me see if I can figure out how to send this, and I appreciate your time, thanks!