I
went to watch Beauty and the Beast on April Fool’s Day and was not
disappointed. I watched the animation one back in 1992 (I’m still only in my
late 20s by the way) four times at the theatres (yes, four!). Even then and
now, I was not offended by the character LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick, who is
supposedly gay. I viewed him as someone who admires and is besotted by Gaston
(yeah, I’m not sure why either) and to me, that is not unusual among men and
even women then and now. Why, we had the five Malay warriors (Hang Lekiu, Hang
Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir and Hang Kasturi) who were close but were not
sexually interested in each other. I’m not sure why director Bill Condon
decided to make the LeFou character gay but it’s not as if we don’t have
previous movies featuring gay characters before. Note that in no way am I condoning
this; after all, I am first and foremost a Muslim. I went to the movie without
thinking of the character’s sexuality as I just wanted to enjoy it and before
long, I was singing along to it.
Then
as now, I left the theatres reinforced with the following life lessons:
i. Internal
beauty is greater than external beauty. Beast learnt the hard way that true beauty
comes from within, about being kind, considerate and thoughtful of others and
not being selfish.
ii. Learning is a continuous
lifelong process. Never ever stop learning and always be curious. Have passion
in learning, discovering and exploring new things!
iii. Be yourself
and dare to be different. Don’t ever compromise your personality and interests
just to fit in, even if the whole village thinks you’re strange and peculiar or
have gone cuckoo. Don’t limit yourself and don’t other people stop you from achieving.
Embrace your individuality.
iv. Believe in
miracles and the power of prayer. Because falling in love is magic in itself.
v. Perfection isn’t
everything. We have Chip, who is a chipped cup in his enchanted life, but he’s
among the important characters in the movie. Will the movie work without his character?
Possibly. But it doesn’t hurt to have him and he shows that even though he’s
not perfect, he can still have fun.
I may be imperfect but I’m still beautiful
vi. Look beyond
what you can see because, yes, beauty is just skin deep. Overcome your fear and
prejudice towards another and you might just find the other person appealing
and interesting. On the other hand, a good-looking, strong and popular person
may actually have evil plans for you. You just never know.
vii. Love will
conquer hatred any day. It’s his hatred and fear of Beast that led Gaston down
the evil path and he even managed to influence the whole village with his idea
and beliefs. But despite the attack which took the castle inhabitants by
surprise and the number of villagers who supported Gaston, he still lost.
viii. Don’t let fear
paralyse you and hold you back from experiencing life. Don’t let fear get in
the way. Push yourself out of the comfort zone, be open-minded and don’t be
afraid of making friends no matter how different they may be to us.
ix. No one knows
what tomorrow brings. One day you might be in a small provincial village, the
next day, imprisoned in a tower. And another day, you might discover new
friends, a library, a new friend, a new feeling and who knows, a totally unexpected
happy ending.
x. Have dreams,
hopes and ambitions for a better life. Above all, have faith.
xi. Don’t settle
for second best. Even Gaston knows he deserves the best.
xii. Every rose has
its share of thorns. A pretty face is not free of imperfections as Gaston
demonstrates.
xiii. Wealth isn’t
everything. You may be rich and live in a castle but you may still lead an
empty existence.
xiv. A cup of tea
never hurts. The English believe a cuppa can help make any situation better. Yes,
even though the movie’s setting is in a village in France.
Tea, anyone?
Oh,
and I must say that I can totally relate to the songs especially this part from
Madame Gaston:
I
want so much more than this provincial life
I
want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I
want it more than I can tell
And
for once it might be grand, to have someone understand
I
want so much more than they’ve got planned
This
part really spoke to me when I first heard it and it still does now. I’m from
the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, a mere 6.4 km or 4 miles from KLCC so I’m hardly
from a provincial town but, like Belle, I want so much more and I want
adventure in the great wide somewhere. And insyaAllah, I will continue to work
hard so I can go on adventures. In the meantime, I’ll dream and hope and plan
of course.
(By
the way, I also like the song A Whole New World from Aladdin. I always sing it
when I’m on a trip.)
It
may seem funny to some to draw inspiration from a movie based on fairy tales
but I always believe we can always learn something from what we see and
experience. And I’d rather do that than focus on something that I can just
ignore like whether or not LeFou is really a gay character and whether he
should be portrayed as one.
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