Beauty and the Beast vs It’s a Wonderful Life

Cimarron Legacy Series by Mary Connealy

Bonjour, the opening song on Beauty and the Beast is classic in its musical exposition. All musicals have them, and I find Bonjour to especially charming. It portrays Belle as a dreamer, a reader<<Now the reason it’s all so perfect is because…isn’t that all of us? Who among us hasn’t dreamed of, ‘adventure in the great wide somewhere?’
So in setting up this fairy tale the song touches all of us.
And that brought me to a mental mash-up with It’s a Wonderful Life.George Bailey is all of us. He has his own grand dreams. ‘I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long...’
Now thing of Belle singing Bonjour. ‘There goes the baker with his bread like always.’
Okay, well, Belle honey, we all need bread. No matter where you travel you’re going to be buying ‘the same old bread like always?’

So those two thoughts were in my head.

Belle’s dreams of adventure, ‘I want it more than I can tell.’ 

George Bailey’s dreams of adventure, ‘I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world.’

These dreams are three things. 

1. They are universal

2. They are the dreams of youth

3. They are insulting. 

That baker’s life has value, to be up, 

with fresh bread to sell every morning. 

Those people living in that crummy little town of 

Bedford Falls make the world go on. 

Beyond the insult of youthful dreamers, though, both of these movies have deeper more powerful meanings. Belle learns that beauty is only skin deep. That the beautiful Gaston is a monster and the ugly beast is a hero with a loving heart.

In the end Belle gets her adventure

It nearly gets her killed…but she gets the prince, she gets the castle. She’s probably eating pretty much the same old ‘bread like always’ but it’s served on really pretty China plates.

Click to buy

But George Bailey, in It's a Wonderful Life learns a deeper lesson, a more powerful truth

He did not get his adventure in the great wide somewhere. Instead he did the right thing, every day, right in his own little town.
George learned that everyone (mostly) has to set aside dreams of building bridges a mile long. Instead we end up taking care of one house. We do our best to have a happy marriage. We have children and love them and hold them close.

In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast's unkindness cost him his beauty

The Beast was a wealthy, powerful young man before he was put under a spell. His unkindness cost him his beauty and cut him off from the world. The Beast actually could have built big buildings and long bridges. Instead he was a spoiled, graceless brat who got himself turned into a troll. The Beast has a lot to learn, too, but he does learn it.

George lived a quiet life of value

A wonderful life. He just didn’t see it as a dream coming true and the movie takes him and all of us on a journey to learn our lives are wonderful.

Both have a strong message. But I submit to you that It’s a Wonderful Life is far better. Because how many of us are really going to end up living in a castle? That’s the stuff of fairy tales.

But George Bailey lived as every man. He is us. That story calls to us to stay right where we are. We may be the baker in Belle’s little provincial town, but that is a wonderful life and we need to find joy in it and respect for it.

We are called to bloom where we are planted, to brighten the corner where we are. We stand up to trouble, face it, handle it with love and grace in our quiet corner of the world.

So we look at the books we are writing—ah, you had to know I was going to get to writing, right?

What if our characters keep eating the same old bread like always? What if the dreams our characters have never come true? What if they find love right where they are, and face the conflicts we throw at them with grace?

Many of our love stories are more of an Everyman story because most people find love and marriage. Most find friends and work that may be small but still helps the world go on.

Let’s talk today about giving our work power.

Real power to touch the lives of real people. Even if we write fantasy or regency or murder and mayhem. 

Even if we write about cowboys from long ago 

We can give our work real power by telling how our characters can bloom right where they are planted, how they brightened their own little corner of the world. How they can live with honor and generosity and find a wonderful life for themselves.

How about your own story? Is it a fairy tale? That’s not wrong. Fairy tales are enduring because they have deep truths. Or is it Everyman (except better looking).
Do you tap into the beauty of dreams that come true, or the beauty of reality when a life is well lived.
And are those two things the same?
Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of Long Time Gone. And if you want

Tell me how you did with Speedbo!

Long Time Gone

Enjoy Cowboys and Comedy with Mary Connealy!

The Boden clan thought their troubles were over with the death of a dangerous enemy. But with new evidence on Cole’s shooting, Justin can’t deny that the plot to take their ranch was bigger than one man. While the doctor and his distractingly pretty assistant help Cole, Justin has to uncover the trail of a decades-old secret as danger closes in.

Click to Buy