128 Popular Culture Review
choice is represented passively , told in still images and related to us through the voice of a narrator . Later in the film , piecing together the puzzle , we learn that the prince was eleven years old , just approaching puberty , when the enchantress showed up on his doorstep . 3It is at this time of becoming and the awakening of desire that the boy chooses incorrectly . Clearly , the enchantress , and by extension society , see the prince ’ s rejection of heterosexuality as a choice , but there is an indication that the prince is not really choosing — that we , the audience , should realize that these things are determined early on .
What glimpses we have of the pre-curse prince provide us with a picture of a somewhat effeminate boy . The prince ’ s face is beautiful , with full , pouting lips . 4 His eyebrows are long , thin , and perfectly plucked . His hair — even before becoming a beast — is long and flowing . He does not want for conditioner . He looks more like Fabio than the traditional Disney hero : this is no butch Prince Charming . In the first two stained glass panels we are shown , the prince is depicted first with a sword and then a scepter , two phallic images filling his little noble hands . In the larger stained glass we see the prince in the center . To the left is the moon and a night scene of the village with a man and a woman . To the right is the sun and a day scene with another man and woman . The prince is caught between , neither day nor night engulf him . Below him is the furrowed field . He hovers above , neither urban nor rural . A knight ’ s horse is to his left , a dog to his right — the prince stands between animality and humanity as well as masculinity and femininity , day and night , here and there . He is displaced , alone , different from the veiy start .
After a decade of being punished for his difference , though , he now wants to be accepted — not for what he is , but for what he can pretend to be . The Beast knows what Belle means for him ; she ’ s not a true love but a ticket back into mainstream society . This is no romantic . “ Of course ! . . . I ’ m not a fool ” the Beast roars at his staff when they ask if he ’ s considered the possibility that “ this girl ” could lift the curse for them all . And so he sets his sights on heading back into the closet and marrying . He determines to act macho , saving Belle from the wolves , but not too macho , because a woman also wants a sensitive man who likes feeding birds and playing in the snow . He rejects his past sense of flamboyant style : When getting ready for his first “ date ” with Belle , his staff makes him up with highly-teased curly fur and cute little bows in his hair . He quickly rejects the look — he is committed to pretending to be something new , and so he and his hair are made to appear straight . After a night of dining and dancing and acting like he has true feelings for the girl , the staff is impressed at the Beast ’ s ability to pretend . “ I knew you had it in you !” says Cogsworth the clock / butler ( who earlier had joked that the Beast admit to Belle that his true gift to her would be a set of “ promises [ he didn ’ t ] intend to keep ”). More cautious , more conniving — this is the new Beast .