#reader submitted

“Yama.” Said a low voice. Ryosuke turned around to see his beloved director. “Yes?” he asked, smiling. “Let’s go out together. You and me.” “Of course!” Yamada agreed, grabbing his hand and skipping out the door. (kill me I can’t write any more)

About the pit...

Hello Mrs. Megan! I hope I’m not bothering you with my many questions, but I feel you are the best person I know of to ask. I have a plot idea that I’ve been wrestling with you’re familiar with batb character archetypes, mythologies, symbolism, and your views are generally incredibly insightful/thoughtful :D

I’m writing my own version of batb and I’ve seen writers keep the character human/keep him as a beast for various reasons. To give some background, my ‘Beast’ was 'taken advantage’ of at 19 (based on Villeneuve’s reference with the faerie 'nanny’) I think it’s been done, but I though it was really unique idea for the transformation not to be the result of an actual curse, but rather his shame/humiliation manifesting itself and warping his body (he’s a magical changeling-sort of character so I reasoned out if there was just enough negative feelings in him, his magic would affect his appearance). 

Because the physical manifestation of the monster represents his lingering pain/sadness/anger towards the incident I didn’t want the love of just one person to be the end all and suddenly he becomes human (which in my case would be a little cheap since in real life people struggle with things like rape for years and years), but I didn’t want to keep him as a beast because for one, his form is pretty repellant, and secondly, like I said, the monstrous outer form represents his pain and torment attached to the situation, and I didn’t want to leave the reader (or myself) with a feeling that he would never move past it.

I had the idea of a slow transformation back to a human that doesn’t even finish by the end of the book it starts just after the climax and by the resolution he is halfway/(quarter?) human, (I’m not entirely sure on the extent of the progression) but it is implied that a human form is basically the eventual outcome for the character. Basically the implication that I was trying to symbolize that by doing this was that healing is slow, but it is possible.

Although it fits the character arches well there are problems that exist because of the physical world. For instance, there are other characters that make a reappearance, the beauty’s father, sisters, and the village that is terrified of 'the beast’ because he’s sort of a local legend/myth (that has been killing and eating animals near the village which he needs to do as he cannot eat human food/it has to be an animal) I don’t want to trouble you with too much detail (which I had probably already done) but as he is a changeling/faerie thing he had powers and he use to disguise his monstrous physical appearance and visit the village (he’s actually a sort of Avenant/Gaston character in the beginning, and (unknown to the 'beauty’) asks her father who he knows, for his daughter). Sorry I’m rambling– 

Anyway! I’m not sure if I want him to go back to disguising himself as this feels like it’s covering up his appearance to satisfy other people which was part of the problem/not very satisfying, and I don’t want him to hide out in the forest until he turns human (because loneliness/ostrasization and being by himself has been portrayed fairly negatively throughout the story). However, on the other hand, I know that if he looks the way he does during the part where they go back to their village, the villagers would likely be raising pitchforks and lighting torches if they saw him.

I was wondering what your feelings/thoughts are on this? I’m sorry for sending so much information, but I’ve been stuck on this for awhile and I thought if there was anyone that might be able to help, it would be you ^^’.

If it’s too much I really don’t want to cause you any grievances, I know you’re fairly fast approaching your own end and that must be stressful tying everything up, but let me know if you can, I would appreciate any advice really ^^’

Best wishes!

RosesnWater

Hi Rosesnwater!

I am so sorry this has been left mouldering in my inbox forever.  With a baby in the house it’s hard to find the time to do my paying work, let alone maintain the blog!

The glamour angle is very interesting, especially if you make it a big part of the story. Perhaps your beast has some of the same questions for himself that you do, and it weighs on him? Or perhaps the use of glamour is seen by your Beauty as a betrayal? I feel like there’s fairy tale precedent for the suitor-who-seems-handsome-but-is-a-monster (stories in the African tradition like The Woman Who Married a Lion, or The Girl Who Married a Skull). I also think this might be a useful conflict within your story…especially if his shame has caused him to create a monstrous glamour that he now believes to be his true self. Who is to say that a handsome, confident glamour is more or less real than a monstrous one? I think you’re right to explore the idea of recovery (and self-image) as a process, and not a thing to be solved with one magic kiss, or one helpful relationship.

Placing limits on magical glamour might be a useful device — he can only be the handsome suitor for a fixed period, or under specific circumstances, etc. This way we amp up the tension and invite challenges (think the two hour morph time limit in Animorphs), and it might also be the reason he believes his monstrous form to be the real one —it isn’t limited the way other forms are (and then your job as a storyteller is to tell us why!). I don’t know the ins and outs of your book, of course, but I’ve found adding constraints to magical systems always helps to make them feel more believable, and to move the plot along via roadblocks and challenges!

Again, please forgive my incredible slowness in getting to this reply. It’s honestly just the juggling act of work/family/accursed-princes-and-their-bestial-natures. You know how it is!

Ideas for further evolving the Beauty and the Beast Tale

I saw your post recently, where you discussed how the BATB tale went from one of a woman accepting an unconventional male partner, to a female sexual awakening, to one of the male beast claiming a positive masculinity.

May I take it further?

One of the most important 20th century developments in the BATB story was making the Beast attractive in his beastly form, even, in some cases, keeping him that way (think Rose Daughter and the 1980s TV show).

So, I’m going to say: the BATB tale could go onto one of acceptance: the woman’s acceptance of loving a man whom society deems unsuitable just the way he is, and not thinking any less of him for his unchangeable unsuitability; the man’s of self-acceptance, and with it, the move out of self-pity.  This works on two layers: acceptance that he will never reach the societal ‘standard’ makes him both less and more beautiful: less, in the eyes of society because he stops trying; also more beautiful, because self-respect is beautiful.

To this end, the BATB stories I want to write (but don’t have the skill or the patience, and certainly not the sensitivity) is a romance between a black man and a European woman set in the 17th century (a million opportunities to reference Othello); and a modern story where the 'Beast’ is an autistic man (lots of opportunities to point out that autists are as human as everybody else). 

 Hi Emily!

While I think there are lots of opportunities to explore that sort of territory, I’d advise proceeding with extraordinary sensitivity and caution. Because many historically othered communities and individuals have often been depicted as “animalistic”, “savage” or  “beastly”, and described as being base or inhuman, to put people belonging to those groups into a fairy tale narrative like Beauty and the Beast runs the risk of being at best, insensitive, and at worst, damaging and offensive.