The Beauty and The Beast

Saturday, May 8, 2010 10:44 AM by mysense literature

The ageless children's story Beauty and the Beast is one of the finest parables we have about the transforming qualities of love -- and about one of life's most important lessons: things are not always what they seem.

If I’m not mistaken, I watched this animation movie in 1991. I was carried away by the story. I was so impressed with the film even though it was only an animation movie. The camera work, the plot and all the characters were so amazing. The scenery pictures were like real pictures. They looked alive.

What I want to discuss today is about the moral value behind the film. Who’s the real beast in this movie? Is the beast the real monster? Are monsters another kind of God’s creation that forms the variety of beings in the universe? However in Beauty and The Beast , Beast ( the doomed prince) and Gastone ( the villagers’ favorite guy) are non other than human being. Thus, what contributes to the distinction between human beings and monster? There is the difference between the villagers’ perception of a monster and that of Belle (the pretty and innocent girl). The villagers take the Beast’s unpleasant look as the ticket to his monstrosity while Belle sees Gastone’s inhumanity that makes him a monster.

In real life, people are always confused by the appearances. The question of appearance, hence , relates to the idea of beauty. Perhaps, the title of the story itself – The Beauty and The Beast – and not “ Belle and the Beast” – is made to highlight the distinction between one appearance to another.

How many girls out there are as wise as Belle? How they judge people, how they see beauty, how they move beyond appearance and how they choose love? What has become a monster to some people could be a beauty to some other. Indeed, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and so as monstrosity.

Things are not always what they seem. In fact, things are almost always different from how they appear to the eyes and how they sound to the ears.

I Need a Break

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 10:11 PM by mysense literature

There comes a point in everybody's life when a thought of a getaway from the lives we live crosses our mind. For some it's just an image that pops up and quickly disappears with its unrealistic theme and others can't get it out of their mind, dwelling about it their whole life. Although, most people do think of an escape, they don't particularly know what they want. In his poem "The Lake Isle", William Butler Yeast puts down on paper the simple things he longs for in life, revealing us the picture of the lake he wants to escape to.
I am just another person who define the place I could find peace within. I wish I could just get away from the life routine for a while, escape from doing lesson plans and teaching aids for my teaching practical, escape from my never ending work at my office, escape from other people that are trying to blame others instead of their mistakes . Escape from everything that is real which is sometimes so suffocating to me and just pretend that life is ok. All the chaos, confusion, pressures, threats, I need everything to just disappear for a while, leaving me at peace to collect my thoughts, strength and maybe even find some courage to go on. I just need a break. Somehow, I have to keep going and hope that in the end I can win all the battles, if I don't then this life will indeed break me.


"Start writing a new chapter, for if you live by the book you'll never make history."....
-Ben Sobel