Candyman and Beauty and the Beast: a Comparison and Contrast of Two Fairy Tales

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As adults, we assume we know how to define a fairy tale. We understand that a fairy tale includes a love story, trials and tribulations, and a happy ending. However, a fairy tale may come to its audience under a veil of terror or even horror. In his book, The Uses Of Enchantment, child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim debunks common misconceptions of what a fairy tale is and is not. These supposed bedtime stories do not just exist to put children to sleep and at ease. Instead, as Bettelheim suggests, fairy tales also lend themselves to a dark, yet important narrative. Using Bettelheim’s discussion of a fairy tale, this essay will compare and contrast the ways that the horror film Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992) and the Disney film Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991) though different in appearance, are fairy tales based on their endings, their tone of optimism amidst terror, their ability to render “truthful” pictures of life, and their presentation of a common universal problem. As Bettelheim writes, “An even more significant difference between these two kinds of story is the ending, which in myths is nearly always tragic. For this reason, some of the best known stories found in collections of fairy tales don’t really belong in this category” (Bettelheim 37). Bettelheim uses the word “tragic” to define the ending of a myth and then reasons that some of the most popular fairy tales, because of their “tragic” endings, have thusly been miscategorized. With respect, we should reexamine what constitutes a tragic ending. For instance, in a scene near the conclusion of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast (Robby Benson), during a dual with his adversary Gaston (Richard White), dies. As the Beast lies lifeless on the ground, Belle (Paige O’Hara) weeps over his body and whispers, “I love you.” With this admission, the Beast levitates as showers of colorful

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