Beauty and the Beast and Childhood Memories

Justin Smith
Lambda Chi Alpha

Memory is an interesting thing.  When I’m watching old movies, for example, it’s always surprising to me what I remember from the movie and what I completely forgot.  A large part of this is due to having seen the movie so long ago, and while I was a child.  The thing that brings this up is the re-release of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in theaters in 3D.  I haven’t watched the movie since I was probably six years old, and had forgotten large portions of the film.  I remembered key scenes, such as the “Be Our Guest” musical number and when Mrs. Potts sings “Beauty and the Beast” as Belle and the Beast grow closer to one another, culminating in the dance in the yellow dress in the library.

I also remembered things about Belle’s character, as when I was much younger I had a huge crush on her.  She was an outcast because she liked to read books and she lived with her “crazy” inventive father.  As a child who loved to read, I felt for her and wanted to read books with her.  I even went so far as to tell my parents that I would marry Belle one day.  Due to this, I tended to only watch the movie up until the point where Belle’s father leaves to go to the fair, because that way I could preserve Belle in my mind the way that she was at the beginning of the movie, before she fell in love and got married to someone else.

When I was about seven years old, my parents took my sister and I to Disney World.  While we were there, I had the opportunity to meet Belle and get her autograph.  I was so excited I was willing to wait in line for as long as I had to.  After we had been in line for a half hour or so, I was nearing the front.  Unfortunately, at this time, the Beast joined Belle in signing autographs and greeting guests.  My dad told me that I should still try to meet Belle, as she was, at that time, the love of my life.  He promised me that he would punch the Beast in the face so that I could have my time with Belle, but I got scared.  Due to this, I never actually got to meet Belle or get her autograph.  This specific memory is ingrained into my mind.  I haven’t forgotten it, and I don’t think I ever will.

Due to this, as I was watching Beauty and the Beast again, for the first time in more than a decade, it was amazing to me how much of that opening musical number with Belle going through town had stayed with me.  When she goes into the bookshop and picks out another book to borrow, I knew what color it would be.  I knew exactly where the ripples of mud would splash off the book when Gaston knocked the book onto the ground.  Most of all, I remembered exactly how I felt when I was a child, watching this scene and hoping that one day I would get to meet Belle and profess my love to her.

Essentially what I’m saying is I remembered what it felt like to be a kid again, and it was exciting and fun.  If you have any fond memories of the movie, I’d recommend seeing it again in theaters if only to be reminded of a part of your childhood you might not know you remember.  While I’m not the biggest fan of Disney re-releasing their old movies in 3D just to make money off of people, it’s still kind of a nice experience to be able to watch it again in a theater on a big screen.  And obviously if you don’t want to give Disney your money, you don’t have to go.  I, however, had a good time with it, and I hope you had a good time reading this article.  Have a good week!

Justin is a senior studying creative writing. You may contact him at smithjs@muohio.edu.