AAR

[Kerstin]

I often like romances based on fairy-tales, e.g. Cinderella. However I can not really warm up to the "Beauty and the Beast" myth which is funny because I liked the fairy-tale. Maybe because in the fairy-tale beautiful and virtuous Bella is rewarded in the end with a beautiful and kind prince who only was a beast in disguise.

In romances that plays out more realistically in that a flawlessly beautiful woman with a tender heart awakens an emotionally and physically heavily scarred hero to life. Why is it that in these stories the woman always has to be so beautiful? I read the first chapter of Hoyt's new book (a preview in the current romance "To seduce a sinner") and the hero is horribly disfigured, ugly and quite unsociable while the heroine is earth-shatteringly beautiful and tender-hearted. I don't really know why I don't care much for these Beauty and the Beast romances. But something there doesn't seem quite right to me. Maybe it is because you never see these stories in reverse, the beautiful, virtuous prince who awakens the scarred, ugly female beast. Also these heroes are not only physically unappealing, they behave also beastly to the heroine. I mean, aren't there enough men out there in real life who are like that? Ugly and unsociable? I never felt compelled to save these members of the male species-and not only not because I'm neither overly kind nor a flawless beauty ;-)

How do you feel about it and why do you like or not like Beauty and the Beast stories?


Kerstin

[Skrabs]

I think Beauty and the Beast romances are my favourite of all the fairytales. I just read a copy of Beast by Judith Ivory last week which I really enjoyed. It's not very typical - in that even though Louisa is stunningly beautiful she has no people skills and I wouldn't even particularly say that she's very nice. Complex yes, but not sickly sweet like the usual types. I also liked the fact that Charles really is quite grotesque. The heroine thinks him interesting to look at but that's really the best that can be said of him. It's a very interesting book about whether looks really matter, considering that for the first half she never sees him. Also, a hot read.

I also have to admit that I loved Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast. So sue me. The big kid in me loves Disney.

Another Cinderella type story I read online is this short story called Ember at http://www.bettiesharpe.com/reads/index.htm. It's a real twist on the Cinderella story and I really liked it. It's about a prince who is cursed at birth to be charming - hence Prince Charming - and everyone loves him because they must except for the one woman who can see through the curse. Interesting.

My very favourite type of fairytales are usually the original ones which were darker in tone than the ones we're getting used to. More a warning than a pretty little tale. Hans Christian Andersson and Grimm etc.

[Anne Marble]

[Mark]

Ravished by Amanda Quick is a BatB story with a heroine who isn't a stunning beauty. Her sister is the family beauty.

[Natalie]

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite romantic fairy tale because the heroine actually saves the hero instead of being reduced to a damsel in distress.

[Niftybergin]

I don't mind Beauty-and-the-Beast storylines. I don't search them out, but I don't mind them.

I liked (very much!) the Quick romance Mark mentioned. And I think Mary Jo Putney has a short story -- something something Blackthorn Hall? or something like that -- that I liked very much.

One relatively recent B&B read was Goddess of the Rose by PC Cast. It's LITERALLY a B&B story...the hero is the Minotaur of Greek mythology. He keeps his horns and claws even at the end of the story.

I don't mind it if the guy is ugly/scarred and doesn't metamorphose at the end. I guess that works for me because the idea is that love should be more than skin-deep. (When I was married, there were times when I looked at my husband and objectively thought that he really wasn't very handsome at all. And othe times I looked at him and he was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.)

As for why it doesn't work in the reverse -- handsome men choosing the "beastly" woman -- I dunno, but isn't this kind of true to reality? I mean, when I look at couples out in the real world, I see FAR more couples where the woman is more attractive than the man than the reverse. I'm not a man, so I can't speak from experience, but I thought men were hardwired to be visually stimulated, to be drawn to looks/outward appeal. And there's all sorts of biological imperatives at play: a clear complexion and even features and a pleasing shape sends some sort of message to the lizard brain that the woman is fertile and likely good mate material. Or some such. Whereas with women, the biological imperatives are different. So maybe that's why we don't see the reverse in B&B stories, with the beautiful guy going after the beastly girl. Not that I'm opposed to reading those stories, either.

[xina]

I dunno, but isn't this kind of true to reality? I mean, when I look at couples out in the real world, I see FAR more couples where the woman is more attractive than the man than the reverse.



In reality, I"ve seen both. Not beastly women, but not as attractive than the man. My parents for example...my father was classically handsome and while my mother wasn't plain, she was less pretty than he was. But you are right...so often woman are much more attractive than the men.

I happen to like Beauty and the Beast stories too and can't think of any that are in the reverse. The best romance I can think of with this theme is Tapestry by Karen Ranney. Very touching and beautiful story, but would it be as lovely if the heroine were the one with the scarred face and the hero was the handsome one? I don't think it would.
I am looking forward to Hoight's next book with the scarred hero. I don't know why, but I am drawn to those books and do seek them out.
_________________
"As you wish"
~The Princess Bride

[Schola]

+IHS+

What about the legend of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell? (Sir Gawain is one of the Knights of the Round Table.)

I forget all the details, but I know that Dame Ragnell, who was extremely ugly, saved King Arthur's life or his kingdom, and that he owed her anything she asked for. She demanded that one of his knights be her husband. Naturally, all the single knights were horrified at the thought of having such a hideous wife. Only Sir Gawain stepped forward, saying he would honour the woman who had saved his king.

On their wedding night, she revealed to him that she was actually a great beauty who was cursed to be ugly for half of the day. She told him she could be ugly during the daytime, when they were with the rest of the court, or at night, when she was alone with him.

Of course, Gawain wanted her to be beautiful at night. She argued that she preferred to be beautiful in the daytime. Ever chivalrous, he gave in.

And that was all it took to break the curse! From that moment on, Dame Ragnell was her beautiful self all the time!

How is that for a reversal?
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"To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance." (G.K. Chesterton)

[Kerstin]

[xina]

I also liked the twist in "Shrek" which was a really unusual version of the Beauty and the Beast myth.


Kerstin[/quote]


Loved Shrek. It is such a lovely story. It is so much more than an animation. There is a real message in it. A spot-on example of a Beauty and Beast story.
_________________
"As you wish"
~The Princess Bride

[Mingqi]

[Suzanna]

[Elizabeth Rolls]

[Schola]

[LFL]