Beast and Beauty: Difference between revisions

The 'beast' is [[Always Male|almost always a man]], though there may be [[Beastess|exceptions]].

 

 

A common subversion is making the Beast intelligent and cynical, much like a subversion of the [[Gentle Giant]]. For a man who just ''looks'' monstrous, see [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]. See [[But Your Wings Are Beautiful]] for a [[Distaff Counterpart]]. If the "beast" part is downplayed, it may be a case of [[Interspecies Romance]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Trope Namer]] ==

* ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]'', in all of its incarnations.

** Interestingly enough, Briareos, in the manga, used to be black. Deunan is 'every ethnicity on the planet' EXCEPT Japanese. In the movie, Briareos used to be white (or not black at any rate, though he doesn't appear to be straight Caucasian either), and they had Deunan not know he was a cyborg until she arrives at Olympus, where in the manga they live happily together before she goes to Olympus.

*** Also a bit of an inversion as Deunan appears to be far more trigger-happy than Briareos.

** However, this trope is played much, ''much'' straighter with Chrono and Mary Magdalene. When Chrono met Mary, he was either a loner coping with survivor's guilt and [[Unstoppable Rage]] (manga version) or a rebellious demon who is mentioned using a woman for pleasure and discarding her when she became "boring" (anime version). Mary, however, is a pure, holy saint with [[Ingenue]] qualities whose gentle nature convinces Chrono to give humans a chance.

** Gender flipped by the parents of the Thunder brothers.

* ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'': Roberto is a Beast in every sense possible, [[Face of a Thug|not exactly the most handsome of men]], [[Ax Crazy|psychopathically violent]], and [[Psycho for Hire|capable of great rage and destruction]] without a doubt. Naturally, he deserves a Beauty and he gets the Beauty he deserves: [[Bishonen|the angelically beautiful]] and terrifyingly [[For the Evulz|amoral]] [[Monster (manga)|Johan]]. [[Psycho Supporter|From a certain perspective]], Johan ''definitely'' [[The Dragon|brings out the best in him]]. Unfortunately for Roberto, this is a slight subversion, as his love for Johan is entirely one-sided due to Johan being [[Complete Monster|completely inhuman]].

* Played with in Kyo and Tohru from ''[[Fruits Basket]]''. While he's technically a human that turns into a cat when touched by members of the opposite sex, {{spoiler|Kyo's "true" form is actually a monster}}. Furthermore, Kyo tends to consider himself a monster even when he's fully human.

** [[Lampshaded]] in the second movie, where Johnny asks Ben about the details. Ben is not amused.

* [[Swamp Thing]] and Abigail Arcane

* DC's ''[[Angel and the Ape]]''.

* Marvel's ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers: The Initiative]]'' has an inversion: Komodo and Hardball. Komodo is female and reptilian, while Hardball is an attractive blond guy with energy powers.

 

 

* Name any ''[[X-Men]]'' romance fanfiction involving Nightcrawler or the Beast. Now see how many of those feature a female protagonist who is not a mutant herself.

** Of course this may be canon, as both are stated to be handsome even ''with'' blue fur, and are usually paired off with very attractive normal girls (Nightcrawler's was revealed to be a witch, but we try to forget that. In ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' she is just plain normal).

* Lampshaded in the title of the ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' [[Crack Pairing|Murderface/Skwisgaar]] [[Slash Fic]] ''Beauty and the Bassist''. Murderface is by no means a monster, but he is an [[Ugly Cute]] Type A male [[Tsundere]] who can be awfully abrasive, and Skwisgaar is about as close to a bishonen as the show's art style gets.

** Played for humor in story's [http://pics.livejournal.com/dethfiction/pic/00010y2g/ illustration].

 

 

* [[Shrek]] and Princess Fiona, with a few interesting twists: Fiona is the one with the curse that turns her into an ogre after dark. When Shrek gives her [[True Love's Kiss]], instead of Shrek turning into a prince, {{spoiler|Fiona turns into an ogre}}. She takes this rather well considering her already ogre-like behavior. It comes back again in the first sequel when {{spoiler|Shrek takes a potion that makes him a handsome human and restores Fiona's form... and when given the chance to make this permanent, she passes it up because they were both happier as ogres.}}

** The "original" Beauty and the Beast from the fairy tale exist in this same universe too, according to a tie-in guide to the world of the films published by Dorling-Kindersley. It seems that these two had a twist to their relationship too, given that the book comments that they usually share a "glittering palace" in Far Far Away, but the Beast still has a spacious kennel to indulge his animal instincts in as well, implying that he never changed into a prince and Beauty's just fine with that.

* Quasimodo and Esmerelda in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''. {{spoiler|She ends up with Phoebus in the end, but it is indicated that she and Quasimodo remain good friends.}}

** The sequel plays it straight all the way with a girl named Madellaine hooking up with Quasimodo.

* In the film ''Mask'' (no, not ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]''), the main character Rocky has a disorder which causes his skull to be very enlarged and twisted, looking like a mask. He falls in love with blind girl Diana Adams, who he met at a summer camp for disabled teenagers. He teaches her how to "see" colours by using various objects to represent them. She still stays with him even after she feels his face and sees how deformed he is.

* ''[[King Kong]]'' and Fay Wray deserve a special mention.

** To a lesser extent, this also applies to Abe and Liz from the comics.

** There's also Abe and Nuala in the sequel. Granted she's an elf, but she still is much closer to a human appearance than he is.

* In the [[B-Movie]] spoof ''[[The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra]]'' (2004) the [[Damsel in Distress]] faints at the sight of the alien Mutant who carries her off in a [[Mars Needs Women]] fashion, only for her to be returned unharmed.

{{quote|"It looked at me, with those eyes, those ugly eyes, and they looked deep into me, deeper than any human ever has, with a kind of understanding that frightened me to my very soul.}}

* V and Evey from ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' (in both the movie and the graphic novel).

** Although, in the graphic novel it's only a subtext and more like Evey just has a crush on V (which she grows out of) after he saves her being gang raped. Their relationship is much more like father and daughter for most of the book.

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Enkidu and Shamhat in the first two tablets of ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''. She's a beautiful temple prostitute. He's an unkempt, hairy wild man who lives in the wilderness.

* Not ugly so much as ''horrifying-looking'', Gwynplaine, star of [[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' somehow managed to be a veritable babe magnet. It should be noted that Dea is blind and that Josiane is quite the (virgin) pervert. Also, Gwynplaine was pretty handsome, aside from his Glasgow Smile. The 1928 film adaptation inspired [[The Joker]].

* Cleft-palate serial killer Frances Dolarhyde, who believes he is hideously deformed but played by the handsome Ralph Fiennes in the movie, the eponymous ''Red Dragon'', had a surprisingly sweet romantic relationship with a pretty blind coworker, before his split personality decided she had to die. Hannibal Lecter thought it was hilarious.

* Played with ''and'' gender switched in [[Lois McMaster Bujold|Bujold]]'s short story ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Labyrinth]]''. An eight foot tall experimental [[Super Soldier]] complete with fangs and claws can count as 'Beast', but considering that he is a four-foot-nine fast-talking hunchback Admiral Naismith does not quite fit most objective standards of 'Beauty'.

* The Phantom and Christine from ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' in novels, movies, plays, and fan fiction. In nearly all examples of these but the last, however, the Phantom realizes he's been a murderous [[Stalker with a Crush]] and [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|lets Christine go]] so she can be happy with her handsome [[Victorious Childhood Friend]] Raoul, even after Christine has said she'll stay with the Phantom [[Scarpia Ultimatum|so Raoul's life will be spared]].

* The main plot of ''[[Quo Vadis]]'' revolves around Vinicius' transformation from a selfish, violent, lustful man to a devout Christian through his love for Lygia.

* Gender-switched in the ''[[Nightside]]'' series, where John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie eventually end up {{spoiler|sort of}} together. This is ''after'' half her face is destroyed by a blow from a spiked mace, a disfigurement the bounty huntress chooses to keep because it makes her even more terrifying.

* In the ''[[Darkest Powers]]'' series, [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl|Chloe and Derek]] fit this to a T. Chloe is a cute little blond with big blue eyes. Derek, on the other hand... Let's just say that puberty has ''not'' been kind to him ''at all''. And even if it all clears up perfectly, he'll never been male model material. 'Hulking' has been used to describe him. He ''is'' built like a linebacker, though.

* ''Heart's Blood'' by Juliet Marillier has Caitrin and Anluan in a surprisingly magic free version of the myth, considering the amount of magic present elsewhere in the book.

* In the story of ''The Nutcracker'', Claire falls in love with the titular Nutcracker and declares to him that if he would have her, she would never reject him for how he looks. {{spoiler|This is enough to break the curse and turn the Nutcracker back into a human man, as his curse could only be broken when someone loves him regardless of how he looks}}. Earlier, this trope is subverted when the Nutcracker (who is still human at the time) breaks the curse on a princess and is cursed in return, only for her to scorn him for being ugly.

* ''[[Elemental Masters|The Fire Rose]]'' by [[Mercedes Lackey]] is based on the story of ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]''.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Chloe and Davis {{spoiler|/ Doomsday}} on ''[[Smallville]]''.

** This mini also subverts the trope on a routine basis, but the nastiest example is with the character of Robin Maxwell. Long story short, she falls for one of the aliens, but it turns out she was only being manipulated into sleeping with him to conceive a hybrid child and their night together technically counts as rape. After she gives birth to two children, one mostly human and the other mostly reptilian, she murders the father with a bio-weapon engineered from the blood of the less human child.

* In the third season episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', ''Beauty and the Beasts'' a fledgling [[Mad Scientist]] takes a [[Psycho Serum|potion]] which results in him transforming into a monster. His girlfriend is the only one who can calm him down. In a subversion, he's a murderer and the relationship is abusive.

 

== [[Mythology]] ==

** In one version of that story, ''she'' chose ''him''. In another version, Hephaestus built a chair that trapped Hera in it, and he refused to free her unless he could marry Aphrodite. The only thing all versions agree on is that she was totally unfaithful.

** In yet ANOTHER version, Hera set Hephesteus up with Aphrodite to make up for throwing him from Olympus. And, being the goddess of marriage, she told him what to tell her so that she'd agree to marry him when she wouldn't marry any of the other gods: 'I work late.' So really, he had to know what he was getting into...

* Another fits most of the same elements of the tale, but acts as a whopping subversion: Psyche was considered to be as pretty as/prettier than Aphrodite. But, she finds it difficult to find a husband. An oracle deemed that she was to be left on the side of a mountian as a bride to a winged monster. Psyche was taken to a beautiful palace, attended to by invisible servants, and her husband would come by night, but not stay until morning. In the darkness, she could not see his face. Her sisters convince her that her husband is a terrible beast that means to devour her and their unborn child, and to hide an oil lamp and a knife for the next time he comes to visit. Turns out, her unseen husband was anything ''but'' a beast - Aphrodite's own son [[Winged Humanoid|Eros]] had [[Prophecy Twist|decided to marry her]].

 

** There's also the more canonical example of Thrall and Tabetha Foxton.

** Also played with Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage. He's starting to grow antlers, but she's the more zealous one.

* A variation in ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'': Daxter meets a girl who falls in love with him, despite him presently being a two-foot-tall [[Weasel Mascot|Ottsel]] (he was originally a [[Human Aliens|humanoid]] just like her). Inverted in that ''she'' does most of the protecting, indirectly by giving the powerful weapons she makes to his partner Jak. In the third game, {{spoiler|even though Daxter finally gets the chance to become normal again, he decides against it. But it works out, when the girl in question gets turned into an Ottsel herself shortly afterward.}}

* ''[[Chibi-Robo!]]'' has Mort and Princess Pitts. Mort is a shy, melancholy mummy action figure who literally kills every plant he touches, and who dearly wishes he could properly express his feelings for the princess doll Pitts. Unfortunately, Pitts is ''terrified'' of anything even remotely monstrous. {{spoiler|However, she's so touched by the kindness Mort shows her that she begs Chibi to help her overcome her fears. In the end, they get [[Happily Married]], and live happily in Mort's shoebox under the bed with their children.}}

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* The [[Furry Fandom]] in general reverses this trope. The humans are the scary ones in many cases.

* The original ''[[Drowtales]]'' had this set up with Ariel and Rik, with Rick eventually growing [[Yandere|selfish and possessive]] and betraying everyone so he can have Ariel for himself. The remakes retconned this, turning Rik into a [[Stalker with a Crush]], who tried to rape Ariel twice, and had a [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|bridge dropped on him]] the second time, taking all potential future plot he was meant to be implied in, with him.

* Pictured above are Goliath and Elisa Maza from ''[[Gargoyles]]''. During a Halloween episode, Elisa even dresses as Belle from the Disney version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. However, while they were good friends, they didn't really notice that other options might present themselves until Elisa was mystically changed, briefly, into a Gargoyle (and then, later, Goliath and the others became humans, also for a short time). Interestingly, it was Goliath (the "beast") who didn't find Elisa physically attractive at first, not the other way around. Elisa had always been attracted to him.

{{quote|'''Goliath:''' I never realized, when you were human, how beautiful you are.

'''Goliath:''' Well, uhh... Careful! Updraft! }}

** Amusingly, a number of other characters notice it long before their first kiss. When Elisa was pretending to be a corrupted cop to get close to a slippery criminal and Goliath played along, the criminal instantly assumed that they were together and congratulated Goliath on his good taste.

** [[Word of God]] [http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/archives.php?lid=128&qid=7559 holds] that Goliath finds Elisa's hair to be an attractive feature, and the lack of wings or tail or horns were not, but he had his eyes opened when she turned into a gargoyle. The main thing he's attracted to about her is her soul.

* Marsala and Nara Burns on ''[[Exo Squad]]''.

* In ''[[X-Men: Evolution|X-Men Evolution]]'', the demon-like Nightcrawler becomes the boyfriend of pretty-girl Amanda Sefton.

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]