About the author : Antwuan Malone
Antwuan Malone is a Ministry Director at ELEVATE Young Adult Ministry (elevateministry.net) where empowers young adults toward Christian leadership. He is passionate about seeing young adults take their place in church history by drawing near enough to God to hear his call on their life, and courageously living in obedience to that call.
5 Cool Beauty and the Beast Things
In light of the 3-D release of Beauty and the Beast, I thought I’d offer some of my ultra cool insights from the movie.
If you didn’t know it already, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney cartoon movie… ever. Yes, better than Lion King (slightly), Little Nemo, Tangled, and all the rest of your favorites. Beast and Belle are number one. I’ve seen the movie so many times that, now, I’m looking for things I missed the first one hundred times around. So let me share some of the things about the movie that had me thinking. I hope you enjoy!
Oh, and by the way, B and B in 3D is worth every penny! :)
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1. Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast
When I first saw this movie as a teenager, I most identified with the Beast. Not that I was conceited and arrogant. I just felt the same way he did. That no one really wanted him around, or that he was somehow unattractive or unmagnetic (if that’s a word). Insecurity is a bad man! So when the movie opened with “for who would ever learn to love a beast” I immediately sympathized with the Beast character.
But going beyond me, I think of the way we must look to God. Like hideous beasts. And we often, after we’ve done the disobedient, sinful yuck that God despises, feel the same way The Beast did. That no one will be able to look past our yuck and blah to really love us. That we are too messed up and unattractive to Him. That we are too guilty to receive God’s love. That we are beasts incapable of receiving or returning the love from the God of the universe. Who could ever learn to love me, after all I’ve done? Some of you have been there. Some are there now. Luckily, that’s not the end of the story!
2. The Curse: “Do we still have to sleep in the cupboard”
I think it is interesting that Prince Adam (did you know that was his name? At least that’s what they call him in the broadway musicals. Interesting) was not the only one who suffered from his crime. Not only did he turn into a “hideous monster” but his castle, his servants… even his pet (poor pooch) suffered as well. A little unfair, don’t you think?
Of course, you know where I’m going with this. I can’t help but be reminded of how Adam and Eve sinned, and how “their castle” was condemned as well. Even those who had nothing to do with that sin. The Earth changed, and people would forever be different, as would nature. Everything would take on a perverted, contaminated version of itself, much like Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and the gang.
But there is still hope in these characters. Despite their curse, these characters understand their potential. It reminds me of how limited we feel by the sinful flesh and the patterns of world. It reminds me how God’s love frees us from the curse so that we can really reach the potential He created us with. Funny, the last line of the movie is Chip asking, “Do we still have to sleep in the cupboard.” No Chip. Love has made all things new again. The old things are passed away! How many of us are Chips still sleeping in the cupboard?
3. “Life is so unnerving, for a servant who’s not serving.”
This is my favorite line in the movie! This statement resonates with me every time. Life is unnerving when we are not participating in the purposes God created us for. I’ve talked about this a couple of times already here and here; this idea that our holiness is tied to our purpose, and that God expects us to do what he made us to do. God didn’t make the hand to be like the foot… though some people are quite good at walking on their hands.
Oh how I long for the days I can quit walking on my hands and start really serving God in the way I am meant to. Unnerving indeed!
4. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you have feelings for this monster…”
I imagine Satan saying this to Jesus throughout his life. Constantly telling Him how inadequate and nonsensical it is to love vermin like you and me. Gaston, the anti-beast, taunts the Beast in the end “did you honestly think she would love you, when she has someone like me…” The irony, of course, is (as Belle so keenly pointed out) that Gaston is the monster.
Satan, formerly Lucifer, was the angel of angels. The best, if there was such a thing. And yet, God insists on loving me. A ghastly creature who stumble and falls… a disgrace to the splendid and sovereignty of God. But praise God that He loves us anyway. Praise God that he went beyond what we’ve done, to who we are… and loved us anyway!
5. “… it’s not enough, she has to love him in return.”
The candle dude (I don’t know how to spell his name) seemed to think the one way love of the Beast was enough to break the spell. Mrs. Potts corrects him with this line.
This is a little role reversal, but I think many people think the same way about God. One of the things that I really was adamant about in the Love Wins series of posts was that love is a two way street. That God’s love for us does not alone save us. If it did, there would be no reason for a cross. But God wants our love in return. And when we choose to return the love God so desperately and spectacularly displayed for us, we too can break free from the spell, and return to the way God intended us to be.
These two would so win Dancing with the Stars it's not even funny!
