The beauty and the Beast was a huge risk for Disney, but the rewards were eternal.
After 30 years, the original animation The beauty and the Beast is still a staple of American animation for its stunning artwork and box office success, becoming one of three animated films to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The beauty and the Beast was a smash critical and financial success, confirming that Disney’s Renaissance was a monster to be reckoned with. While you can see the film’s lasting impression at Disney theme parks as well as your local theater, Collider has found that its most significant imprint is left on American animation, especially when it comes to change the direction of Disney’s animated stories.
Switch to darker scenarios
The success of The beauty and the Beast allowed to embrace darker and more dramatic stories. Romantic and Gothic elements have been given the opportunity to flourish, creating a contrast that appeals to all ages.
The two most notable movies to come out of this revelation were Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Damethe latter being directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who also directed The beauty and the Beast. Both movies focus on very real issues and might be heavy concepts for kids to grasp, but proved that successful animated movies don’t have to focus on light-hearted love stories.
Part of this fit was also inspired by something The beauty and the Beast did not do. Despite being Disney’s first animated title to earn a Best Picture nomination, it lost the award to Thesilenceofthelambs. Disney decided it was time to focus on serious romance fare in the hopes that they would one day land the Best Picture Oscar.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the president of Disney at the time, thought that Pocahontas was the animated film that would win Best Picture, partially influenced by Kevin Costner dance with wolves sweeping the Oscars in 1991. The company’s focus shifted from youth entertainment to Oscar glory.
Break away from the way villains were coded
The beauty and the Beast also remodeled the design of the villains. Villains were often designed with physical disabilities and other elements that eschewed conventional beauty standards to mean these characters could not be trusted. This led to unfortunate connotations of what “good” people are supposed to look like, and Disney desperately needed to change that mold.
Gaston broke that mold between his gorgeous biceps. He was an enemy designed to intentionally resemble the hero of a classic Disney movie: sculpted jaw, brawn, community-loved, and undeniably charming. But the beauty of the character is only on the surface.
Portraying Gaston as a reinforced villain The beauty and the BeastThe core message of , that a person’s inner qualities are where their true beauty lies. Unfortunately, Gaston’s awkward goon LeFou was coded into the traditional Disney villain mold, falling back on the idea that a “good guy” wouldn’t be friends with someone who looked like a specific way.
Gaston’s character designs proved successful, and Disney was inspired to codify their animated villains in a new way.
Judge Frollo, an ordinary man who wields considerable political power, was the antagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame rather than the physically deformed Quasimodo. The conventionally attractive Clayton would hunt Tarzan and his animal friends in Tarzanand the incarnation of colonialism in the form of a handsome general would terrorize the heroes of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Even though Disney strays completely from the villain mold, there are still antagonists who are encoded with Gaston’s physical good looks.
Mix of hand-drawn animation and CG
The most remarkable way The beauty and the Beast Transformed Disney Animation was the way it mixed computer animation and hand-drawn animation for the iconic ballroom dancing sequence. It wasn’t the first time Disney had blended these two types of animation together, but the fusion had never been more prominent and seamless than in this gorgeous sequence. Ballroom dancing brought together the past, present, and future of American animation for a truly magical moment.
In later years, CG and hand-drawn animation would be brought together even more in different ways with the entrance to the Cave of Wonders at Aladdin come to life and the wildebeests rushing into The Lion King.
Even in modern Disney computer-animated titles, the lingering influences of The beauty and the Beast may be seen. Moana used Eric Goldberg’s hand-drawn animation to create the animated tattoos on Maui’s body.
It’s hard to imagine what the American animation landscape would look like without the existence of The beauty and the Beast. A film once considered a risk has proven to have an incredible impact on Disney’s business and animation goals. The tale as old as time will persist forever, leaving a ripple effect on animation until the end of time.
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