The Beauty of Transcendence in Film Depiction

Sem. John Paul D. Olea, SSP

In todays world of multi-faceted perspective and overwhelming creativity and ideas, a

simple picture, moving or not, can be subjected to any fanciful interpretations. One cannot
undermine someones understanding of a particular depiction since it mirrors a persons
intimate structure of beliefs. The problem whether films or still pictures depicts cannot be
answered directly by yes and no, there will always be an option in the middle. This is possible
since man has a subjective and objective interpretation of things. But, what makes depiction
beautiful is mans capability to transcend: To see past the myriads of images being shown and to
submerge oneself to the profound message silently told.1

Disney Films has become one of my sources of inspiration in the arts. I cannot just
separate the wonderful memories I had with it because it brings out the happy child within me. In
this paper, I would like to share and discuss one film that contributed greatly to my spirituality
and, at the same time, will enhance further our discourse on depiction and my inclusion of
spiritual transcendence in the philosophy of film.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) (2017), based on the fairytale written by Jeanne-Marie
Leprince de Beaumont, is an animated film about a cursed prince, the Beast, and the beautiful
lady named Belle. The story begins with a royal ball in a castle hosted by a handsome Prince. An
old beggar then appears seeking shelter from the cold of winter, she offers the prince a single
rose as payment only to be turned away because of her unattractive appearance. When the Prince
ignores her warning not to be deceived by appearances, the old woman reveals herself to be a
beautiful enchantress and transforms the Prince into a hideous Beast and his servants into various
household objects. She proceeds to enchant the rose before warning the Beast that he will remain
in his cursed state unless he learns to love another and earns her love in return by the time the
last petal falls.

1
Olea, Pavlo (2017) On Depiction. Philo of Film SPSF
The depiction of the ugly and the unloved

The Beast in the film can be depicted as the symbol of the ugly and the unloved. These
are the persons that the present world doesnt want to see. A world who see things externally. A
world that has her own profitable standard of what is beautiful. In this kind of world, the ugly are
set aside and placed in a psychologically created prison the image of the castle where the Beast
resides. The first are the ugly Beasts, on the other hand, the second Beasts are the unloved.
The unloved Beast grows fiercer and dangerous every day because of its hunger and thirst
for love. These are the persons that the world doesnt want to love. The people that are so hard to
love and to be with. It is difficult to love them because we see wrong things in them that our
standard cannot be at par with. They become the monsters of our lives since our attitude towards
them pushes them to rebel against the world and against us who sets inconsistent standards.
The hatred given to the Beasts becomes its armor and sharpener of its poisonous fangs.
The snow laden castle, the darkness of winter, becomes an ominous aura of cold heartedness. We
do not realize that it is us who creates our own world full of Beasts, our own castle freezing in
the winter of indifference. If we only know how to love these Beasts, that powerful love will
tame and turn these monsters to become meek and gentle lambs; the warmth of love will unfroze
even the coldest of hearts.

The depiction of the Beast: The Sinful Man

We will look now on the spiritual character of the Beast as the Sinful Man. I will identify
the Beast with that of the humanity of Christ and recall our state beginning with the innocent
Adam. When God created the first man according to His own image and likeness he was indeed
godlike beautiful, pure and without blemish. Adam represents the Royal Prince in the film who
was turned into an awful beasts after he showed hostility toward the beggar. Hostility is a
product of pride, and pride is a displeasing sin before God. The Enchantress, a personification of
God, cursed the Prince (Man), the Castle (the Earth), and the entire household (Human Race).
Still, the Enchantress left him with a Magic Mirror (conscience) and a Rose. The Rose in the film
symbolizes hope a time given to the Beast to change so that he can return back to his glorious
state. The sign of the Rose is reminiscent of the Protoevangelium, the first gospel, that He will
send someone who will save us from our wretched state that character will now be fulfilled by
beautiful lady named Belle.
The Depiction of Belle: Christ the Beautiful

Belle is a character in the film that symbolizes beauty and wisdom. She is fond of books
and has a peculiar characteristic that may look quite weird for Gaston, her proud suitor. Belle is
the depiction of the Christ. When the Beast saw the girl on the magic mirror, this vision gave him
hope. The Beast was curious about this girl the entry of Belle into the freezing and dark castle
is significant since it reminds us of Christ coming into our own dark world; Belle imprisoned for
several days by the Beast in the cold and dark tower represents his suffering, death and
entombment; Lumiere, the three pronged candelabra, (take note of the symbolism of the three
lighted candle) escorted Belle out of prison, an imagery of the Resurrection.
Through the passing of time, the Beast is transformed by love: the unconditional love
given to him by Belle. The Beast was loved by Belle despite of his hideous appearance. This
ugly figure of the Beast mirrors our sin-stained soul. What makes the film spiritually profound
and beautiful is the truth that we are loved by the Author of Beauty himself. Belle embracing the
Beast depicts Christ embracing our sinful humanity no strings attached.

Music in Depiction

This spiritual depiction is incomplete, the author believes, without the poetic power of
music. Music is one of the factors that evokes emotion. Even if you freeze a particular moment
in the film, that musical score attached to the scene will continue to play at the back of your
head. This music will remind you the nuances of emotion stirred by the film. This simple flat and
frozen image, this simple depiction is now given depth and profound meaning. We recall the
scene where Belle and the Beast danced together there is, of course, romantic music played in the
background. Typically we will just recognize the romantic scene and thats it. But, if we will
look further for spiritual meaning we remember the image of Christ and the Soul, the harmony
between the two lovers, the fulfillment of love, the unfolding of the Song of Solomon. The
majesty of the music and the transformation of the castle, now filled with lights, is the glorious
depiction of Paradise. A foretaste of what is to come.

Beauty and the Beast, including other Disney films, has been subjected to various
interpretation. A lot of them viewed the film negatively focusing on evil depiction. Disney films
may have intentionally put disturbing depictions in their art but certainly interpretations will
always be relative to its viewer. St. Therese of Lisieux, in her Story of a Soul, wrote To the pure
all is pure, the simple and upright soul sees not evil in anything, since evil exists in impure hearts
only and not in material objects.
 The beauty of understanding depiction only comes when we understand who we are. To
encounter depiction on pictures, moving or not, is to encounter ourselves through a mirror. And
we ask ourselves what is the significance of this image to me? How come that it caught my
attention and tried to decipher it with my curiosity? For the things that our eyes feasts upon
resembles before us like a mirror, it is like observing our inner longings in an abstract and
creative way. Such a respond constitutes a network, glimpses of passages that leads to the
foundation of our beliefs: what is beautiful and what is not; what is valuable and what is just a
garbage. We ask ourselves then, Look at the things that surrounds you, the stars, the clouds, the
trees, the great waters, what do you think is Gods message for you in this wonderful depiction
of His glory?