The M6 channel broadcasts this Friday, January 3, 2024, at 9:10 p.m., Beauty and the Beast. An animation classic that is quite mysterious as to the name of one of the main characters.
Released on October 21, 1992 in cinemas, the animated film Beauty and the Beast amazed young and old. It is inspired by an initially oral tale which gave rise to several written versions during the 18th century. There are a number of film and TV adaptations of this story, but the Disney version by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise is one of the most famous. It offers colorful and endearing characters as well as a series of striking music. Celine Dion notably performed in duet with Peabo Bryson, the song Beauty and the Beast. The single was a great success and even landed theOscar for best song in 1992. Thirty-three years after its release, this film, broadcast this Friday, January 3, 2024, at 9:10 p.m. on the M6 channel, still retains certain mysteries. Among them, the name of a central character… The prince.
Beauty and the Beast : what is the name of the Beast?
Cursed by an enchantress because he refused her hospitality, the prince was transformed into a beast. Throughout the film, the character is referred to by various names such as “The Beast” or “The Prince”but at no time is he called by his first name. The animator responsible for the protagonist, Glen Keane, said that giving the characterful squire a first name was not a priority for production. The film team would therefore have been content to call the character: “The Beast”. However, the quiz video game The D Showdeveloped by Cyberflix in 1998 and licensed by Disney, named the lord: “Prince Adam”.
A biblical inspiration in Beauty and the Beast
Although Glen Keane has not confirmed the veracity of the first name Adam, the host has nevertheless made certain confidences about the construction of his character. To create the Beast, he would have taken inspiration from the Bible. Indeed, in the DVD bonus of the cartoon, the animator explains: “When I started animating this scene, I realized that, for me, it was really an expression of my spiritual life. There's a verse in the Bible that says, 'If anyone… one is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.' And I wrote these words on my exhibition sheet as I was drawing this scene because it is truly a spiritual inner transformation for the Beast. I saw it as a parable from my own life.
