Beauty and the Beast: The Usual Battle of the Sexes

The world is too heavy today.  Let’s take a walk on the light side.

            When I think of light banter, there is nothing that comes to mind quicker or easier than the battle of the sexes.  I was put into mind of this the other day when my husband walked through the house and said, “So, we need all the lights on?”  That is his way of telling me that our house should have all the overhead lighting of the Lascaux caves.  For some reason, probably associated with our Neanderthal beginnings, men always want the lights out and the heat turned down.  Women, on the other hand, assume that if the electric bill has been paid that the lights should be on and the ambient temperature should be comfortable.   It is the inherent difference between having two sensible, “x” chromosomes and being stuck with just one, “x” and a truncated version called a, “y.”

            Let me make clear that the battle of the sexes should never be taken too seriously.  Any sane person, girding up for battle on the field of sexual difference, should plan on leaving the field with a tie.  It is a confrontation conducted for comic relief.  It allows both sides to vent some frustration while celebrating their differences.  If you take this biologically preordained clash of will and wits too seriously you end up sounding like the women on, “The View.” 

            There is no question about it, I love men.  God knows I don’t understand them, but I do love them.  Belle, in Beauty and the Beast, my favorite fairy tale, must have felt the same way.  Here were three men wanting their version of good for her: a father who sheltered her, the town bully who wanted her for a trophy, and the beast who needed a chance at normalcy.  All of them thought that Belle was perfect as she was while Belle thought each of them needed serious improvement.  Here we have the blueprint for all modern relationships.

Even as a young girl, Belle (or Beauty, for in all of the 160+ versions of this tale she is never called anything else) was my only choice for a Disney Princess.  She was well educated and loved to read.  There was nothing passive about her.  She wasn’t sleeping her life away in the upper room of a castle, waiting for some pretty boy to waken her with a kiss.  Belle was always pro-active. 

In 1976, George C. Scott starred in a Hallmark Hall of Fame dramatization of Beauty and the Beast, with his wife, Trish Van de Vere.  Scott’s version of the Beast was over the top in both vile behavior and needful longing.  Yet, there was a strong sense of the romantic here, and always that undertone of the eternal battle of the sexes.   Beast would try to dominate through fear and aggression.  Beauty would give ground and then try to find a vulnerability to attack through kindness.  Her triumph was complete and, when the spell that created the Beast was finally broken, the prince turns into George C. Scott.  Not a pretty boy, but a man with character etched on his face as well as his soul.  This is my kind of guy.    

There are lessons to be learned in Beauty and the Beast.  I learned not to judge a person by their looks, and that a gruff exterior can hide a loving heart.  Most important of all, this girl learned that beauty without brains is no advantage; but brains without beauty—well, that is no problem at all. 

Let’s raise strong daughters, and keep the faith.