GFT Retrospective #14: The Beauty And the Beast Collection
Good evening, Ticketholders! Or is it morning? I don't know, but I auto-scheduled this for midnight, so a big Truman Show greeting to you all!
As I can attest, some relationships aren't meant to work out. Take the couple in today's edition of the Grimm Fairy Tales Retrospective, for example.
Jenna’s boyfriend, Drew is angry and jealous, and frequently abuses her, but she stays with him because she sees the good in him (even though he’s a white boy who wears his baseball cap sideways and his bedroom looks like a rat’s nest). Sela approaches Jenna at a bar and has her read Beauty and the Beast.
There are no musical numbers, no talking furniture, and there is no Gaston to cast in the villain role. It’s a tale as old as unrequited Stockholm Syndrome, a song as old as “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!”
Edmund (a stretch on the name Andrew, I guess?) is the prince-turned-Beast, and Jesabel (because Jenna and Belle, get it?) is the woman he takes in and nurses back to health.
When she is healthy enough to leave his castle and return to her fiance, the Beast flies into a jealous rage and kills everyone who could stand in the way of his love for her. But because of this (and because Jesabel didn’t love him to begin with), Edmund ensures that he will never have true love and is doomed to be the Beast forever.
In the first part of this two-issue arc, Jenna decides (because she only reads half of the story) to cheat on Drew, her own personal Beast, with a co-worker named Steve. This leads into part two, where Drew has almost given into rage and decided to kill Steve, but having taken Sela’s book from Jenna, he reads the story to the end and, rather than trying to control his Beastly side, takes his own life to prevent himself from killing Jenna.
As in a few past issues, Sela laments her ineffectiveness as a counselor and savior, in part criticizing her charges for not valuing their lives enough to make the right choice. This marks the first time two issues have been devoted to the same title, and the first time the reader(s) did not show signs of being sucked into the book. Jenna at one point expresses that she is simply reading a really captivating story. Drew looks sort of dazed in the few panels after he finishes reading, but that isn’t really explained in the lettering.
Beauty and the Beast is a roughly drawn but beautifully colored pair of issues, and will have some consequences in distant issues to come.
To all the ladies out there, I'm not suicidal, homicidal, or prone to violent -idals of any kind when a relationship doesn't work out. I just rhyme a lot and make mashups about how love totally sucks. I don't know if that makes me more attractive or less, but that's how I deal.
And to everyone out there who has read this far into this spoiler-laden, shallowly thought provoking post, remember to comment, like, share, subscribe, click ads, and do all those social media things you do so well. Another Retrospective is on its way. I love you guys!
Ticketmaster,
out.
As I can attest, some relationships aren't meant to work out. Take the couple in today's edition of the Grimm Fairy Tales Retrospective, for example.
GFT #13 & 14: The Beauty and the Beast Collection
Jenna’s boyfriend, Drew is angry and jealous, and frequently abuses her, but she stays with him because she sees the good in him (even though he’s a white boy who wears his baseball cap sideways and his bedroom looks like a rat’s nest). Sela approaches Jenna at a bar and has her read Beauty and the Beast.
There are no musical numbers, no talking furniture, and there is no Gaston to cast in the villain role. It’s a tale as old as unrequited Stockholm Syndrome, a song as old as “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!”Edmund (a stretch on the name Andrew, I guess?) is the prince-turned-Beast, and Jesabel (because Jenna and Belle, get it?) is the woman he takes in and nurses back to health.
When she is healthy enough to leave his castle and return to her fiance, the Beast flies into a jealous rage and kills everyone who could stand in the way of his love for her. But because of this (and because Jesabel didn’t love him to begin with), Edmund ensures that he will never have true love and is doomed to be the Beast forever.
In the first part of this two-issue arc, Jenna decides (because she only reads half of the story) to cheat on Drew, her own personal Beast, with a co-worker named Steve. This leads into part two, where Drew has almost given into rage and decided to kill Steve, but having taken Sela’s book from Jenna, he reads the story to the end and, rather than trying to control his Beastly side, takes his own life to prevent himself from killing Jenna.
As in a few past issues, Sela laments her ineffectiveness as a counselor and savior, in part criticizing her charges for not valuing their lives enough to make the right choice. This marks the first time two issues have been devoted to the same title, and the first time the reader(s) did not show signs of being sucked into the book. Jenna at one point expresses that she is simply reading a really captivating story. Drew looks sort of dazed in the few panels after he finishes reading, but that isn’t really explained in the lettering.
Beauty and the Beast is a roughly drawn but beautifully colored pair of issues, and will have some consequences in distant issues to come.
To all the ladies out there, I'm not suicidal, homicidal, or prone to violent -idals of any kind when a relationship doesn't work out. I just rhyme a lot and make mashups about how love totally sucks. I don't know if that makes me more attractive or less, but that's how I deal.
And to everyone out there who has read this far into this spoiler-laden, shallowly thought provoking post, remember to comment, like, share, subscribe, click ads, and do all those social media things you do so well. Another Retrospective is on its way. I love you guys!
Ticketmaster,
out.
Comments
Post a Comment