Poor Unfortunate Podcast: A Disney Podcast For Grown Ups

S4 E21: Daddy Issues

• Conor Perkins & Caroline Aimetti • Season 4 • Episode 21

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In this Rant/Rave episode, Conor and Caroline are seeking out some parental guidance as they put two Disney father figures under the microscope. Do you agree with Conor that we give King Stefan of Sleeping Beauty too much of a pass when it comes to being a good dad to Aurora? And are you in Caroline's corner when she claims that Beauty and the Beast's Maurice is the creme de la creme of Disney dads? Get ready because they're keeping it all in the family for this father of all rants and raves!

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Caroline Aimetti:

It's giving Shrek and Fiona.

Conor Perkins:

Honestly? Which one's Shrek and Fiona?

Caroline Aimetti:

We would be very funny in that show.

Conor Perkins:

We actually really would.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah, we would.

Conor Perkins:

We would. I think I Got You Beat would

Caroline Aimetti:

slay. Yeah, I think I Got You Beat would be so, it would be a slay.

Conor Perkins:

It would slay. We

Caroline Aimetti:

just did it just now. That was the audition.

Conor Perkins:

Hello and welcome to Poor Unfortunate Podcast. I'm Conor Perkins.

Caroline Aimetti:

And I'm Caroline Aimetti.

Conor Perkins:

This is the Disney Podcast for Grown Ups where we shoot the shit about Disney the way that you do with your friends. Welcome to all of our returning listeners and viewers. Thank you so much for joining us once again. And welcome to any new listeners or viewers. Thank you so much for hitting play. Please also remember to hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to the podcast or watching it. And then on YouTube, make sure that you ring the bell for notifications. That way all of our episodes download to your device. You don't miss out on anything. And then at the end of this episode, make sure that you hit five stars and leave a written review or comment wherever you're listening to the podcast. It's one of the best things that you can do to help us continue to grow our beautiful, poor unfortunate fam. So thanks for taking the time it takes to do that. Or you could do it right now if you want.

Caroline Aimetti:

Right now. Right now.

Conor Perkins:

Right now. Yeah, whatever. Right now. Comment something fun. I dare you. So we are now starting our final cycle of season four. So we are back to the rant and rave. Caroline, why don't you tell people what we're doing?

Caroline Aimetti:

Yes. So this is a rant rave idea I feel like we've had on the shelf for a little while. We've always considered doing. But then we were inspired by one of our beautiful members of the Poor Unfortunate Fam, Carlo, who was like, you know, you guys should totally do an episode on Disney parents. And we said, well, we're going to take it off the shelf and we're going to do exactly that. So Conor has the rant today and he is going to rant about some not so great Disney parents focusing a little bit on a not so great Disney father. And then I'm going to take the rave and I am going to rave about an incredible Disney father and actually I just realized that I'm coming back to a film that was part of our first rant and rave of the season so I'm bookending it in a way so Conor why don't you tell everyone who you're going to rant about today

Conor Perkins:

all right oh

Caroline Aimetti:

boy I oh boy oh boy all

Conor Perkins:

right you ready for it I

Caroline Aimetti:

have never been more ready I've been really looking forward to this episode and to this rant specifically so lay it on me

Conor Perkins:

alright I

Caroline Aimetti:

don't think I'm ready I

Conor Perkins:

don't think you are either but okay so throughout the 100 plus years of the Walt Disney Company we have seen some really fantastic parents in movies but every once in a while we get a couple parents who just low-key suck ass and now it's easy to rant about characters like Lady Tremaine from Cinderella or Buck Cluck from Chicken Little or King Agnar from Frozen because it's pretty obvious that they are directly creating trauma for their children. But I've got a pair that kind of flies under the radar. We give them a little bit of a pass, I think, maybe because they're royals or they didn't get to raise their child themselves or honestly, maybe it's just pretty privileged. But King Stefan and his nameless queen wife, who Disney retroactively named Queen Leah I don't know they kind of suck as far as Disney parents go and I'm gonna tell you why and I'm gonna be focused on the 1959 animated Sleeping Beauty because let's be honest if I were to bring in 2014's Maleficent you know where Stefan is literally the fucking villain it would kind of just be too damn easy and these animated royals They deserve to be knocked down a couple pegs. Oh, my God. So my sources for this are Wikipedia, watching the movie, my brain and personal experiences being a child, and also personal experiences being a child care provider to my godchildren.

Caroline Aimetti:

Oh, my God. Yes.

Conor Perkins:

Those are the sources, people. I love it. So brace yourself. It's a lot of opinion. I'm going to start with some background information. I've covered this background information in previews. because it's Sleeping Beauty. So I'm just going to give us some of the basic points just as like a refresher. It was released on January 29th, 1959. It was produced by Walt Disney, directed by Clyde Geronimi, who was the supervising director, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Les Clark. They were the sequence directors. It was adapted by Erdman Penner. The additional story is by Joe Rinaldo, Winston Hibbler, Ted Sears, Bill Peet, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. And it's based on Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, with music by George Bruns and music from the Tchaikovsky Ballet. It stars, among others, Mary Costa as Aurora, Bill Shirley as Prince Philip, Eleanor Audley as Maleficent, Taylor Holmes as King Stephen. This was his final film role, actually. Verna Felton as Flora and the voice of Queen Lena.

Caroline Aimetti:

What?

Conor Perkins:

Uncredited. Barbara Luddy as Meriwether and Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna. The budget for the film was approximately $6 million and the box office was $51.6 million.

Caroline Aimetti:

Oh, my God.

Conor Perkins:

Little plot synopsis. Filled with jealousy, the evil witch Maleficent curses Princess Aurora to die on her 16th birthday. Thanks to Aurora's guardian fairies, she only falls into a deep sleep that can be ended with a kiss from her betrothed, Prince Philip. To prevent Philip from rescuing Aurora, Maleficent kidnaps and imprisons him. The good fairies are the last hope to free Philip so that he can awaken Aurora. There you go.

Caroline Aimetti:

Thank you.

Conor Perkins:

Okay. That's all the background information we're going to get because I have a lot to say. For the purposes of this rant, I'm going to be honing in on King Stefan more so than the queen because let's face it, she's not really in this movie.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

But she's not exempt from this. Okay. At all. Because as parents, they commit more often than not the cardinal sin of parenting. Not putting your child first. Now, I know what you're going to say. But Conor, they sent their child away for 16 years to keep her safe. Oh, he's already passed. They didn't invite Maleficent to the christening because who would want the Mistress of Evil to come to an event like that? And those things are absolutely true. But listen... There is a way to look at all of this, where nearly every decision they make in this film is motivated by their own self-interest and not Aurora's. And I'm looking at it that way. When you're a parent and you're not prioritizing your child above all else, everything you do kind of either boils down to selfishness or stupidity. Selfishness in that you end up using your child as a prop to fulfill your own personal desires or ambitions, denying that they are a person who has or will grow into having agency and individuality. And then stupidity in that you're so focused on yourself that you tend not to think things through, and that can cause you to make mistakes, and then there are consequences for your child. Dangerous ones. And like, let's be real, getting your infant cursed to die by an evil sorceress fairy is pretty up there in terms of dangerous consequences for your kid. So I'm going to take you through the movie, and we're going to look at all of the things King Stefan and the Queen in her limited capacity do, and how they can be read as either selfish or stupid.

Caroline Aimetti:

Ha ha! Great. So

Conor Perkins:

we're going to start with Aurora's christening the curse. We're going to kick things off with the events of the christening, the kingdom presentation. So let's zoom out real quick on this scene. Let's put it in context because it's probably the most important thing to happen to these people. So King Stephen and Queen Leah have a baby, Princess Aurora. They have a christening and presentation to the kingdom in which people from far and wide, ranging from nobility, all the way to peasants, are invited to attend to shower the child with gifts and praise. It's a public event. The christening and presentation of a newborn royal, that's a public event. Everyone is welcome, including King Stephen's longtime friend Hubert, whose son Philip is announced to be betrothed to the infant child, and three good fairies show up to give some magical gifts to the child. And in the middle of all of this, Maleficent an evil fairy and mistress of darkness, shows up via magic and sort of feigns feeling slighted at not being invited to attend the event, to which Meriwether, one of the fairy delegation, says that she wasn't wanted. At this, Maleficent, having made her point, starts to make her way out when Queen Leia asks if she is offended that she was excluded. And Maleficent, clearly offended, then takes this as an opportunity to to punish King Stephen, Queen Leah, and the kingdom by cursing the child to live a happy life, but before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. And then she hits it and disappears before King Stefan can order his knights to seize her. So yeah, it's a big day. A lot happens. I think most of what King Stefan and the Queen do in this scene leans more towards the stupid side of things. But we've definitely got a selfish read here too. So we're going to start with that. So selfish. First off, I'm just going to get this said right out of the gate.

Caroline Aimetti:

Okay.

Conor Perkins:

I'm not sure Stefan wanted a kid.

Caroline Aimetti:

Oh my God. Or

Conor Perkins:

at least, I'm not sure Stefan wanted to have a kid in order to be a father and bring a new human into the world that he could shower with his unconditional love and support. No. It seems more likely to me that he had a kid for the appearance of it all and to unite his kingdom with his boy toy, Hubert.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah, he needed an heir. Yeah,

Conor Perkins:

yeah. Literally, they're announcing the betrothal between Philip and Aurora the same damn day that they're doing the christening and formal public presentation of the brand fucking new baby that is where the priority is for Stefan like literally tell me that Huber and Stefan are not gay lovers who can't marry each other because of the times that they're living in and they're just doing the next best thing in making their kids marry so they're always in each other's lives and their kingdoms are united like am I wrong no I don't think I am it's selfish it's selfishness he's having a kid to live out a fantasy between him is gay lover. Moving on. Another thing that happens in this scene... Oh, hold on. Hold on.

Caroline Aimetti:

No, I know that I'm not even... This is just the warm-up. Let's go.

Conor Perkins:

Another thing that happens in the scene that is kind of both selfish and stupid happens after Maleficent's arrival. So, when Maleficent gives her whole speech about being distressed at not receiving an invitation, Meriwether interjects and says, you weren't wanted. In this moment, Meriwether has taken it upon herself to speak for the king and the kingdom, and Stefan should have interjected and spoken for himself. But instead, he takes the sort of easy way out and kind of holds back instead of either eating some humble pie with Maleficent or standing his ground. Like, you either didn't want her or be like, you know what? That was wrong of us. We shouldn't have done that. You gotta pick one. You can't just do this. Stupid. he is being selfish by letting Meriwether do the heavy lifting and trying to put himself on the outside of the conflict which let's be clear he is very much a part of and is actively endangering his child now there is a deleted scene where Maleficent and Stefan have dialogue back and forth in that scene yes in that scene Stefan tells Maleficent to withdraw that sorrow Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. So you can see this moment with Meriwether and Maleficent and Stefan as being stupid because if we take away him being selfish and staying quiet and give him the benefit of the doubt, then why else is he staying silent and not answering to Maleficent? He's the one who's supposedly in charge here. He needs to take the reins on the situation before it gets out of hand unless he doesn't understand that it is getting out of hand. Maybe he just doesn't realize that this is something that he needs to get involved with to protect his family and kingdom which like if you need someone to spell that out for you woof But let's take a moment and rewind to the basis of this whole ass thing. King Stephen is the ruler of a kingdom. Said kingdom neighbors two fairies, both good and evil, including Maleficent. King Stephen and his queen decide to have a public kingdom wide and beyond really event, but choose to single out and not invite one person, Maleficent. That to me is a gross miscalculation as a ruler and as a father. You're responsible for keeping your people safe. And now as a father, you are responsible for keeping your child safe above all else. In what world is it a safe decision for your child or kingdom to essentially call out the mistress of all evil? Just say all are welcome and she probably won't show up. And if she does, at least you're not starting from a place of hostility and it's easier to diffuse the situation. It's like throwing a birthday party for your kid and a serial killer lives next door. And you put up flyers all over the neighborhood and then you put up social media invites too and then you tag the neighbor you didn't invite in the post. The serial killer neighbor probably wasn't going to show up to begin with, but now you just called their attention to the situation and laid down a challenge. King Stephan could have just said... All are welcome who come in the spirit of peace and celebration and called it a day. Because let's be real, if he did that and Maleficent came up looking to curse his baby, you know, then he would be fully right to like put her down on the spot before she could even start doing spells. But he wasn't thinking this thing all the way through. He made stupid, poorly thought out decisions and then had the audacity to act shocked when Maleficent shows up and deals cataclysmic And listen, this is one of the things that drives me nuts. Even before Maleficent got to cursing this baby, after the whole Meriwether interjection of it all and being rude, Maleficent is leaving. She legit says, quote, in that event, I'd best be on my way and turns to leave the castle. And then dumbass Queen Leah goes, you're not offended, Your Excellency? Babes. Clearly she was offended. Y'all meant offense when you excluded her and then didn't correct Meriwether when she told Maleficent straight up that she wasn't wanted. You put up a boundary and wanted her gone. You're allowed to do that. She took that as a slight, and so she's gonna leave. she's allowed to do that. You don't get to tell someone that they aren't welcome and then be like, but you don't hate me, right? Who gives a

Caroline Aimetti:

shit?

Conor Perkins:

You made a choice and you deal with the consequences. In the words of Lisa Rinna, own it. But because Queen Leah, for some stupid reason, doesn't recognize Maleficent as the threat that she is, she decides to try and be friends with Maleficent after she was just told to get the fuck out and started to leave. If you all want Maleficent gone and she is leaving, do not stop her. When the queen stops Maleficent, she opens up a direct path to her child in which Maleficent can do harm. She didn't think it through. And that is a stupid, unnecessary mistake that she couldn't afford to make for her kingdom, but most importantly for her daughter.

Caroline Aimetti:

And she gave Maleficent a Your Excellency? What? You have to own your royalty, too.

Conor Perkins:

If you're saying get the fuck

Caroline Aimetti:

out... assert your dominance.

Conor Perkins:

Say get the fuck out.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah, interesting.

Conor Perkins:

Pick one. Pick which way we're going to be here. Okay, now that I've had my moment with Leah, I'm directing things back to Stefan. This is, I think, one of the things that we overlook the most about him, and it honestly could have saved him and Aurora and the kingdom from all of this mess. The man has no concept of how magic works. He doesn't know what any of the fairy can do, what the limits of their power are, what Maleficent is capable of, the internal politics of the fairy world. He doesn't know any of it. And yet he makes huge, sweeping decisions that put his child at the center of it all. So let's break it down. This idiot man decides that he is going to accept a delegation of fairies to bestow gifts upon his child while telling another fairy that she she isn't invited and showing her the door. You know what we call that? Picking a side in a fairy conflict and you never want to do that. And what's more, in picking a side, accepting gifts and having it all go down in your castle over your infant child, you've now put that baby directly at the center of the conflict. You did that. You open this event up to becoming a battlefield. And what do you know, you bearded Slim Jim, it does. Stupid. But Stefan doesn't know how magic works. After Maleficent sentences his child to a highly specific magical death, he asks Meriwether, you can undo this dreadful curse? Honestly, Stefan, that would have been good to know before you pissed off the Mistress of Evil. So clearly he doesn't know the extent of Maleficent's magic or even that of the good fairies. And he just let two of them magic his child for free. Magic is a spectrum. It can be used for good. It can be used for bad. But what are the rules? Is there a cost of some sort? If she's going to get the gift of beauty, whose beauty standards are we using? He doesn't know. If she's getting the gift of song, are we talking Cynthia Erivo or Jojo Siwa? We don't know. And he doesn't ask. Magic is not something that you fuck with. Yeah, it can be cool, but it can also be dangerous. You should know exactly what the parameters are before you mess with it, let alone put your kid under a magic wand. To continue the analogy of your kid's birthday party, it's like someone you kind of sort of know showing up to your kid's birthday party and saying, oh, I got your kid this fun toy that lights up when they go to sleep, but it's also been known to spontaneously combust. So here you go, little Sally. It's dangerous. It's irresponsible. It's stupid decision-making.

Caroline Aimetti:

Okay.

Conor Perkins:

And then Stefan has his bonfire temper tantrum where he burns all of the spinning wheels in the kingdom, which, side note, I guess no new clothes for the next

Caroline Aimetti:

16 years. Right.

Conor Perkins:

This is a very knee-jerk, rash decision that is being driven by, once again, Stefan's lack of knowledge, understanding, or belief when it comes to magic. He thinks that in burning all of these spinning wheels, somehow a magical curse is not going to take effect, as if Malek Maleficent is going to be like, well, shit, you got me. I can curse a whole ass baby to death, but I can't magic a new spinning wheel into existence when I need it. Meanwhile, the fairies are literally watching him do this and they're like, damn, he's stupid and doesn't get it. And then they come up with a plan to save his daughter on their own. And even more, they can't involve him in the specifics of the plan because they don't trust this man to not fuck it up. Like if he was capable of making well thought out decisions for his child and had any understanding or interest in understanding magic, surely they would have involved him, right? But no. Thus far, he doesn't get what he's up against and so they're like, give us your child, we will hide her away and bring her back once the 16th birthday is here. So, yeah. Everything that goes down in this scene is pretty aggravating. King Stefan is using his fresh-out-the-womb daughter as a political pawn toward his own desires and and both he and Queen Leia provoke and escalate a situation with a magical adversary from a devastating lack of knowledge and foresight. Stefan fundamentally does not understand the nuances of magic in his world, nor the political machinations of the fairies in his realm. And despite this ignorance, he allows for his infant daughter to become a magical fairy test subject guinea pig, getting cursed to death by spinning wheel in the process. Well intentioned or not, this is grossly irresponsible parenting. Moving on. The remaining scenes involving King Stefan and or Queen Leah all center around Aurora's return. So this is his party. This is Stefan's partying with Hubert moment, Aurora's eventual return. So these all take place roughly 16 years after the events from the beginning of the film where the King and Queen have been living childless in the meantime. Now with Aurora's birthday arriving, we see King Stefan preparing and partaking in grand celebrations for Aurora's sundown return, most notable with his lover Hubert. They talk about their plans for the future now that Aurora is coming home and the curse will be behind them as they essentially get drunk with the minstrel. Then, when everything falls to shit at the 11th hour and Aurora falls under the sleeping curse, the fairies put the entire kingdom to sleep only to awake when Aurora does, so they have no idea what happened. When the fairies recover from the blunder and rescue Philip, who defeats Maleficent and wakes Aurora, the pair descend the stairs into the castle entrance hall to dance and for Aurora to reunite with her birth parents while the fairies look down on them from above. I have to say, these scenes are pretty damn revealing about the way that Stefan especially sees his daughter. We get a litany of selfish behaviors all against a backdrop of the most asinine counting your chickens before they've hatched attitude that is ill-becoming of a parent. So let's talk about selfish moments. So Stefan, he says that he is definitely sad and worried about Aurora as he looks out the window awaiting her return. But yet he's very quickly swayed into toasting and celebrating right alongside Hubert in his private dining hall chamber thing.

Caroline Aimetti:

If

Conor Perkins:

it were me and it were my child, I would be waiting with bated breath as every second goes by and would not be so fast to indulge myself when we are literally at some of the most dangerous hours of the curse.

Caroline Aimetti:

Right, right.

Conor Perkins:

He's all too quick to put his comfort above doing whatever he can to ensure that the plan— as much as he knows of it, goes off without a hitch. But also for that matter, what has he been doing these last 16 years? After Maleficent cursed his daughter and the fairies took her into hiding, it feels very much like he sat on his ass while Maleficent had her, albeit incompetent, minions out and about searching for Aurora. Did he go after Maleficent? Did he dedicate his life to trying to find another way to break or prevent this curse while the fairies were doing the heavy lifting of raising his child on their own? Did he exhaust every possible option that was available to him to save his daughter, even from afar? To To be honest, it doesn't really seem like he tried to do anything. Rather, he was content to just let the fairies come up with the things and basically just do the bare minimum and ride out the curse doing what he was told. That's not what a dad does. A dad should be ready, willing, and able to go above and beyond for their child, never resting until their child's safety is assured. But what's Stefan doing? He's partying. He's resting. That's a no-no. But now let's get into the way that Stefan is talking about Aurora with Hubert in this scumps scene. Stefan... Don't laugh at me. Stefan is still prepared to move ahead with the betrothal plans he made with Hubert. The plan he made 16 years ago involving a child that he has literally... no relationship with, and supposedly loves. He is putting his plans and interests ahead of Aurora's well-being and wants before she's even safely on the other side of this curse. And what's worse is that he knows this is wrong, but still talks about doing it anyway. What do I mean? As Hubert talks with all his gusto about the betrothal, Stefan pulls back and says, it may come as a shock to Aurora when they tell her about the betrothal. Not that they shouldn't move forward with it, just that they should probably tell her gently, as if that's any better. Now, some people may try and defend Stefan bringing up when Hubert suggests that Philip and Aurora marry the same night, move into the castle the next day that he built for them. Stefan's not happy about that. Stefan says that he doesn't want to rush things, and he hoped that he would spend some years with Aurora before she'd be wed. He's says to Hubert, quote, Now hold on, Hubert. I haven't even seen my daughter yet, and you're taking her away from me. End quote. And this ends up reducing the two gay fuck buds into having a fish and platter wielding sword fight over how and when they decide the marriage fate of their respective children. Real classy. But right after this moment, the two of them see the silliness of their fighting, concede that it doesn't really matter because they're both on the same page of still having their children wed, and start continuing Continuing to plan for the future. They fall into fits of laughter, and then this is how the scene goes. Hubert says, The children are bound to fall in love with each other. Stephan, Precisely. And as for grandchildren, I'll have the royal woodcarvers start work on the cradle tomorrow. Hubert, Splendid. King size, of course. Stephan, Certainly. To the woodcarvers' guild. And then they start toasting again. Are you fucking kidding me? You're sitting here on your daughter's 16th birthday during the last hours of a curse that will put her into an eternal death sleep. And you're moving ahead with expectations of marriage and grandchildren from a daughter you don't even know? So much so that you're going to have the Woodcarvers Guild start on cradles tomorrow, the day after her 16th birthday. She ain't even home yet. And you don't even know her. Stefan is not allowed Aurora does not owe either him or Queen Leia a relationship. Certainly not when their actions are the very ones that caused her curse to happen in the first place. And yet, here's Stefan with his buddy, toasting his ability to use his offspring as a pawn in his own personal plans of ruling and uniting kingdoms, while Aurora is literally sobbing her eyes out in a tower as her entire worldview crashes down around her. That's a selfish ass dad.

Caroline Aimetti:

And

Conor Perkins:

now let's look at this whole celebration reception of the princess as a whole. Because it's feeling very political, very performative, very keeping up appearances. King Stefan and Queen Leah are waiting to receive their daughter in the royal hall, legit in front of the entire kingdom. They're throwing the biggest birthday party slash welcome home celebration ever that has already started before they've even met their daughter. Their plan is to let the entire kingdom bear witness to their very first moments with their estranged daughter. And... I can't help but feel that this is an effort to gain sympathy from the kingdom or out of a political sense of duty that the kingdom be allowed to share in this kind of a private moment. But what about Aurora's needs? She's not a monarch. She has no royal training or concept of what would be expected of her in a public display at the grandest level such as this. As parents, receiving your biological children for the first time in 16 years, You are a stranger, starting from square one. If you want to put your best foot forward, you need to be prioritizing the child. Release them from any added pressure of the situation. Take the path of least resistance to setting the groundwork of a relationship with you. Meet them for the first time privately. Allow yourselves and your child to feel all the emotions, unfiltered, awkwardness, all of it. But that's not what King Stephan and Queen Leah do. They're more than happy to put the biggest and most emotional moment of their child's life on full display for everyone without a second thought.

Caroline Aimetti:

Now

Conor Perkins:

let's talk stupid.

Caroline Aimetti:

I'm

Conor Perkins:

going to stay with this moment, and we're going to look at it under the stupid lens. Because aside from being a selfish political decision to receive your child publicly... It's also dumb AF. Like, did they not think this through of like, what would happen if this didn't go well? Literally the last time they had a big public event with their daughter, she got fucking cursed. And in all these 16 years, they haven't killed Maleficent. They know that they haven't killed Maleficent. So did they not think that she wouldn't show up as a last resort? That like, right before sunset, she might be like alright let's do one final sweep of the castle for the girl or hell did they not think things through that if the curse didn't go off and Maleficent was still alive that she wouldn't just show up and full on like massacre the kingdom be like oh well you bested me and now kaboom because when they wake up from their magical slumber at the end of the movie they don't know that Maleficent isn't dead yet if Philly Cheesesteak hadn't yeeted the sword of truth into Maleficent's dragon titty you're in a level 3 threat level location Oh my

Caroline Aimetti:

god. I

Conor Perkins:

forgot I wrote that.

Caroline Aimetti:

The fuck was that sentence? Please, proceed.

Conor Perkins:

Do you need me to repeat

Caroline Aimetti:

it? No, I got it.

Conor Perkins:

It's full-on amateur hour over here. Literally the first seconds that they have their kid back, they're making the same damn mistakes. They are thinking nothing through, and it is continually jeopardizing their daughter's safety. And then just a couple minor complaints about King Stefan just being a doofus. Okay. Aurora comes down the stairs at the end of the movie and King Stefan says, it's Aurora. Bitch, you don't know that? I mean, yeah, when she gets close, you're like, okay, I can see some resemblance to the queen, but she's far away when you say that. You don't know. Also, the queen immediately embraces Aurora with tears in her eyes. And the best Stefan can do is like rub her hair and smile. He doesn't like hug her or anything. Oh,

Caroline Aimetti:

my God.

Conor Perkins:

He doesn't say anything. And then when Hubert is trying to make sense of everything that happened for Aurora and Philip to be fully in love in this moment, and it just doesn't make any sense, Stefan is there, and he's looking drunk or blazed out of his mind. He's just like...

Caroline Aimetti:

Yes, he totally is.

Conor Perkins:

Like, the man legit has shit to say to his daughter and is completely unbothered, not even able to shed a single tear. Fuck out of here. Yeah. If these scenes show us anything about King Stefan and Queen Leah, it is that in all of this time, they've learned pretty much nothing. They're foolish enough to repeat the same types of mistakes for Aurora's return, not thinking things through to ensure a safe return, but worse than that, they are unabashedly treating her as a prop. They are more interested in the appearance of having a child and what that child can do for them rather than what they can do to protect and provide for her, and that is unacceptable. In response to Stefan's need to have a child, I would say this. If you're so politically motivated and you simply have to do this whole kingdom uniting thing with Hubert, why not try to have another kid with the queen after Aurora's curse? Would it not have been slightly more fair to love and raise that child with the expectation of a betrothal so as to release your cursed and traumatized firstborn to assimilate into kingdom life at her own pace without any undue burden of expectations. Like, yeah, an arranged marriage is still shitty for this second kid. But there's a difference in being raised with that expectation from the start versus having it sprung on you like Aurora. I don't know. You could either read this as him doubling down on his selfishness or being slightly less selfish and not making Aurora submit to this will. Honestly, either read works. Take your pick. He's an ass. But I know I'm being ridiculous and harsh in all of this. I know King Stefan and the Queen have certainly been through trauma of their own, and they're not the worst Disney parents, by any means. But for us watching them, there's a better model to follow of royals who have been forcibly separated from their child, starting a new relationship with them, and bringing them into their lives. King Frederick and Queen Ariana of Corona,

Caroline Aimetti:

Rapunzel's parents.

Conor Perkins:

Upon the news that their missing daughter has returned, they greet that moment without expectation, no pomp, no circumstance. They are not receiving her before the kingdom in a grand public display. Instead, it is a private, nuanced, delicate moment between the parents, their child, and her romantic partner. All of them are free to feel the So to close this puppy out. I think it's time we knock these pretty royal parents down a few notches. They fly under the radar and get the benefit of the doubt far too often. King Stephen and Queen Leah, they aren't great parents. They're routinely doing the one thing a parent should not be doing, save when you're donning oxygen masks in the event of an airplane emergency. They're putting themselves before their child. We see them use their child both in infant form and a strange 16-year-old raised in the woods form as an extension of themselves to enact their own will. This happens with a betrothal to Prince Philip, expectations of bearing children promptly after her return to court life, and in making a habit out of hauling her before the kingdom in her most humble and vulnerable states to perform royalty to the kingdom. And by centering themselves, they continually make sacrifices. stupid mistakes. They don't fully consider the repercussions of their actions for Aurora. We see this in their interactions with Maleficent, ignorance of magic, and just general hubris in most things. King Stephen and Queen Leah sired a child into a colossal shit sandwich of their own making. And nearly everything they did put their child at risk, or at the very least, second to themselves. Honestly, the guillotine can't be invented soon enough. And that's my rant.

Caroline Aimetti:

Wow. So we've got bearded beef jerky. Bearded Slim Jim. Bearded Slim Jim and Philly cheesesteak.

Conor Perkins:

Philly cheesesteak.

Caroline Aimetti:

Fuck them. Wow. All right. Well, you know what? You did the thing that I thought couldn't happen. And you've given me more sympathy and warm feelings towards Aurora because of this. Oh. Because I'm like, yeah, what if these people who were suddenly I found out there my parents they did all these things I would be pissed I would be so upset

Conor Perkins:

the thing I will never ever be able to get to get behind is the queen going you're not offended your excellency like

Caroline Aimetti:

she's not all there no clearly she's not all there

Conor Perkins:

clearly like she's she's a beard she she's a beard but damn if that ain't a fuck up to end all fuck ups let her leave Stefan where are you in that scene like where is he he's just silent through it the queen speaks before he does

Caroline Aimetti:

yeah I mean and then I totally get like yeah it's so obvious if we go into everything from Maleficent but like looking at this through the lens of that guy that we meet in that movie oh my god he's the worst

Conor Perkins:

he's the worst he's actively terrible Like I was watching, I was rewatching some of Maleficent in preparation for this. And I'm just like, oh, he just, he just sucks ass. He doesn't care about his kid. He doesn't care about his wife. He only cares about power.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

Literally as a child, he's like, looks at the castle and he's like, someday I'm going to live there.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah. I always hated that scene with him and Hubert, even as a kid. And I didn't even know why. And now I know why.

Conor Perkins:

It's literally, it's, It's ick. Toxic. It's very ick. It's icky. It's very ick. Yeah. It's very selfish.

Caroline Aimetti:

Aurora, I'm so sorry. I need to give you a little bit more sympathy.

Conor Perkins:

Honestly, she and Philip, they just need to get the

Caroline Aimetti:

fuck out of there. They do. Immediately.

Conor Perkins:

Honestly, I could probably go a step further and just be like, he probably shouldn't be king. He's kind of a bad king. I mean, I

Caroline Aimetti:

was having that thought as you were saying all this. Yeah. I don't know if he's a very good king.

Conor Perkins:

No. No. Can you imagine being one of the, like, peasants in this? And be like, well, he... confiscated my spinning wheel and he burned it. I

Caroline Aimetti:

can't have new clothes.

Conor Perkins:

That's my job. That's my trade. I used to be a, I used to be, I used to work in textiles. I was a, I guess I don't anymore. So now I've got to learn something. Do you know how hard it is to learn a new trade in medieval France? It's a whole lot of horse shit.

Caroline Aimetti:

That's

Conor Perkins:

a villain origin story.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

All right. So now that I have completely obliterated King Stefan Queen Leah let's talk about some good parents I like good parents there are a lot of good parents there

Caroline Aimetti:

are a lot of really good parents this one jumped out at me and when we were doing our last episode of Disney hear me outs this incredible father was actually mentioned so shout out to Lauren who submitted her Disney hear me out crush which is Maurice from Beauty and the Beast

Conor Perkins:

which also side note on threads I did a little thing. I'm like, tell me who some of your favorite Disney parents are and some of your least favorite. And Maurice was consistently up there at the top.

Caroline Aimetti:

We love to see that people.

Conor Perkins:

So tell us why. I

Caroline Aimetti:

couldn't agree more. I have a lot to say. This was like, I was like,

Conor Perkins:

I'm

Caroline Aimetti:

sad. My husband passed by me typing this and he was like, I've never seen you concentrate harder on something in my entire life. So here we go. Beauty and the Beast is filled with some of the most memorable, rich, game-changing characters in Disney history. Who can forget Lumiere's charm, the Beast's soulfulness, Gaston's swagger, Mrs. Potts' warmth, and Belle's bravery and intelligence?

Conor Perkins:

Come on, SA.

Caroline Aimetti:

Come on. This fantastic cast of characters may make it easy to overlook Maurice, Belle's inventor father who sets the events of the story in motion. But Maurice isn't just an adorkable, side character he is a truly excellent parent one who is not only responsible for raising one of the best Disney heroines in the game but a parent whose quest to love and protect his daughter as fully as possible has shaped further development of the beloved Beauty and the Beast franchise deepening its message from screen to stage and back to the screen in live action form in this essay I can't with I'm already over myself. Let's keep going.

Conor Perkins:

Oh, girl, that was me. That was me literally reading.

Caroline Aimetti:

So we are going to explore the way that Maurice's unflinching love, acceptance, and celebration of Belle for who she is has not only created one of the most secure parent-child relationships in all of Disney, but why the deepening of his role and backstory with each iteration of the story proves that a parent's love can be so powerful that it's actually more like magic.

Conor Perkins:

Hashtag the deepening.

Caroline Aimetti:

The deepening. quick quick quick background information we have talked about Beauty and the Beast on here before this was my first rant of the season was about Beauty and the Beast so you've heard about it so Beauty and the Beast was released November 22nd 1991 directed by Gary Truesdale and Kirk Weiss based on Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle Suzanne Barbeau de Villeneuve the screenplay by Linda Wolverton producer Don Hahn and starring among others Paige O'Hara as Belle Robbie Benson as the Beast and Rex So, what do we know about Maurice? Maurice is an inventor who lives in a cottage in a small French village with his daughter Belle. He is regarded by the village as quote, crazy, loony, and wacky for his unusual choice in profession. We don't know quite for how long, but he has spent some time raising Belle on his own after his wife's passing. Maurice is based on the father from the original La Belle et la Bête, but differs pretty majorly from that character. In the original fairy tale Beauty's father is a widowed merchant of 12 children he has lost his fortune but gets word that one of his lost trade ships has returned before leaving to see it he asks his children if they'd like him to bring gifts back for them and Beauty asks for a rose while her siblings ask for jewels and finery and all of that on his way home from the trip which yielded no return of his fortune the merchant takes shelter in a castle during a snowstorm he finds food and drink left for him by an invisible host and as he leaves the next day Sounds like a Stefan. Yeah. Very Stefan. Yeah, very Stefan. So Maurice's even more impressive character considering this very lackluster inspiration. So let's talk about the original animated Maurice. Clipping along at a pretty brisk 90 minutes, the 1991 animated film could cause Maurice to fade into the background, but there is so much going on and so much history and trust between him and Belle at every single interaction they have and in the way he speaks about her to other people. So let's start with what I think is the most beautiful thing about Maurice's parenting, his radical acceptance of Belle for who Let's take apart what I'm realizing might be one of my favorite Disney scenes ever, especially when we talk about it later when it gets kind of fleshed out a little bit. And that is when we first meet Maurice as Belle returns home to help him work on his newest invention. It encapsulates the features of the relationship between Maurice and Belle that prove to me that their parent-child attachment is extremely secure. So thank you to my child psychology class that I took at NYU for this. this information.

Conor Perkins:

Looking back on growing up?

Caroline Aimetti:

Looking back on growing up.

Conor Perkins:

Looking back on growing up, baby. Looking

Caroline Aimetti:

back on growing up. I took a two. It's a good class.

Conor Perkins:

It's a really good class. It's a good

Caroline Aimetti:

class. So in this scene alone, we can see that Maurice is emotionally available and responsive, that he provides Belle with a safe home base to return to after being able to explore the world, and that there is a mutual trust between them. So let's start with trust. I think this is the strongest There is a sense of camaraderie and equality between Belle and Maurice that is immediately obvious. It feels healthy for an adult-parent-child relationship. They start talking about their respective passions right away. He asks Belle if she had a good time in town while she wordlessly looks through his tools to hand him what he may need without him really needing to say anything. Maurice accepts Belle's input and knowledge, trusting that she understands his work. Belle's trust in Maurice becomes even more obvious in the way that she is able to confide in him about the way she was treated that day and probably every day in town. Just today, she heard people say about her that it's a pity and a sin she doesn't quite fit in and that the whole town's talking about it. It's not right for a woman to read. Papa, do you think I'm odd? Belle asks. And she asks it in a way that implies that she expects her father will respond truthfully with facts and reasoning. So there is that responsiveness that she can rely on. I also just have to say that every Belle delivery of this line absolutely kills me because it's so vulnerable and for someone as self-assured as Belle to ask it the way that she does always breaks my heart. Yeah. Ugh. So, emotional availability and responsiveness. Maurice allows Belle to see him in a fully human way. When she gets home, he's frustrated over his inability to get his machine to work. He never puts on airs of father knows best. He doesn't try to come off as perfect. There is a transparency and trust there. Now that's safe home base to return to after exploring the world, another part of that secure parent-child attachment. What I love about Maurice's answer to Belle's question in the animated version, because we will talk about the other versions as well, is that Maurice seems truly baffled by the question. When he says, my daughter, odd, where would you get an idea like that? He is genuinely asking where Belle heard that. Because Maurice doesn't really give a hoot what people think of him. He absolutely has privilege and his ability to live like this as a man in France during this time period but I still think he serves as an excellent example for Belle in tuning out of the gossipy ways of the village so although we see Belle's armor crack in this really touching way I think she is able to walk through town with her head held high or her nose stuck in a book perhaps because of the way Maurice raised her so there is also that freedom for Belle to explore the world that's part of this Even if Maurice knows the people in town can be judgy or cruel, he doesn't try to shelter Belle from their views, but he makes their home a safe home base for her to return to afterward. Also, on the note of Maurice's raising of Belle, I need to give him a lot of credit here, too. As evidenced by Gaston's vision of his future family with Belle, or the woman in town juggling what looks like at least five children on her own,

Conor Perkins:

And all she needs is six eggs?

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah, please. One egg each. Based on all this, men in this time are not expected to do the work of raising children. And although Maurice doesn't seem to make a lot of money, it looks like he rigged up the cottage to give Belle the best life possible within their means. There's a watermill. There's chicken, goats, books. It feels like a home. And on top of this, Belle rejects the idea of being Gaston's little wife. She was clearly raised in a way that is proven to her that there is something more in store for her than being the caretaker of the home by default just because she is a woman. Maurice gave her that. And let's face it, in this time period with its belief that women shouldn't be educating themselves, it is more than likely that Maurice is the one who first put a book in Belle's hand and taught her to read. For that alone, he is the ultimate father in my book.

Conor Perkins:

Yeah.

Caroline Aimetti:

Back to Belle's ability to confide in her father in moments of high emotion, we see Ugh. So back to their conversation in the cottage. As Belle and Maurice continue their conversation and Belle tells him she doesn't really have anyone to talk to, Maurice begins to make what we might think could be a little bit of a blunder. What about that Gaston? He's a handsome fella. And we want to be like, Maurice, what? But let's remember, this guy clearly doesn't get into town a lot, so probably doesn't know a lot about what Gaston is really like and is not naive to the fact that as radical as Belle may be, it's still a man's world and she may need to get married in order to survive in it. But then, Belle responds by saying everything that's wrong with Gaston and finishing with, Papa, he's not for me. And Maurice just doesn't push it further. When Belle tells him how she feels about something, Maurice accepts it. No questions asked. He trusts her judgment of situations and people's character without pause. And it's not that he doesn't have this tendency at times. Philippe clearly wants to lead Maurice away from the path of doom in the forest, but Maurice believes he knows best and leads them down the path that he chooses instead. But he not like this when it comes to Belle. And his ability to step back in a conversation about a potential future husband for Belle is once again pretty remarkable for a father in this time and place. A man with one daughter and not much money would usually be laser focused on marrying her off. Her preferences be damned. Maurice demonstrates this trust again at the climax of the film. Belle tells him that the Beast, the guy who took him prisoner and then separated him from his daughter, is actually kind and gentle because Belle told him so. Papa, what are we going to do? Belle asks him as the mob heads to the castle. Even after her time away, Belle reverts immediately back to her and Maurice being a team. We'll think of something, he says. We.

Conor Perkins:

Yeah, he's game for it. He's just

Caroline Aimetti:

like, yep.

Conor Perkins:

He's like, oh yeah, the guy who threw me in jail and everything, you tell me he's nice?

Caroline Aimetti:

I believe you. Yeah, I believe you. Yep. He doesn't even need to like say, he just rolls with it.

Conor Perkins:

It's just great.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yep. And in a world that can make Belle feel very alone Maurice is her constant. Maurice is also an excellent responsive listener. Although he does do a little bit of fixing sometimes when Belle expresses her feelings, he doesn't shut them down or coddle them. He hears Belle's expressions of loneliness and explains to her what he's trying to do to help them start fresh, win first prize money at the fair. Just a beautiful gem of a scene, that scene, and one that is deepened in later versions of the story, and we will get there. Maurice is also just a good guy, and you can't be a good pairing if you aren't a good person. The way that Maurice behaves when he arrives at the Beast's castle is a perfect encapsulation of this. He attempts to find the castle's owner before settling in and says, please, thank you, beg your pardon. He almost got eaten by wolves and he still remembers his manners. He apologizes and assures the Beast that he meant no harm. And although he's a little spooked by the talking objects, his first real reaction is one of awe and respect. Incredible, he says of Lumiere. And he greets Chip as if he were a real human child. Just green flags all around.

Conor Perkins:

Yeah, Maurice and Chip especially, that relationship is like all green flags. Absolutely. The greenest of green flags.

Caroline Aimetti:

Absolutely. And the fact that Belle and Maurice are literally everything to each other is what sets this plot in motion. That's how powerful their love is. There's a shot of Maurice sitting in the snow after getting laughed out of the tavern, crying, will no one help me? And it fades right into a shot of Belle crying on her bed in the castle. It really makes you see how very alone in the world these two are without each other. One of the things Belle holds most dear is her freedom, and she will only put one thing in front of it, Maurice. I've lost my father, my dreams, everything, she says to Mrs. Potts. Her show of strength falters in front of the Beast for the first time when she realizes she never got to say goodbye to her father. And Maurice will literally do anything to fight for Belle. Although he can come off as a little kooky or scatterbrained maybe in the beginning of the film, he becomes an unstoppable force when it comes to protecting Belle. He allows his role as a father to make him the best version of himself. When Maurice first meets the Beast, he's understandably pretty terrified. But when Belle arrives at the castle, Maurice is firm. And for the only time, we see him tell Belle what to do. He tells her to leave. No time to explain. You must go now. And he says, no, Belle, I won't let you do this. He becomes very assertive.

Conor Perkins:

I know, he like I'm an old man I've lived my life

Caroline Aimetti:

oh my god that destroys me that I can't handle can't I also love that Maurice makes his big entrance back into town right after the song Gaston finishes it's like he's ruining all the fun he has bags under his eyes he is sick as a dog and he doesn't care what the hell kind of party was just happening in this tavern I think parents so often get shamed for this kind of like buzzkill behavior and some of the best parents I know don't give a rat ass if they come off as weird or no fun for defending their child's safety.

Conor Perkins:

It's very Joyce Byers. Yes, it

Caroline Aimetti:

is. It

Conor Perkins:

is. Like, I know my kid. I know my kid. Yes. I know what's going on. This isn't right.

Caroline Aimetti:

Absolutely. Where are you, my son? Belle! Belle! He's getting thrown to the ground and doesn't even seem to care because he is so single-minded about getting someone to help him. And even though the townspeople shrug him off and mock him, saying he's always good for a laugh, there is clearly some something about this single-minded protectiveness of Belle that is threatening to Gaston. It makes me wonder if he chose to propose when Maurice was out of town for a reason. Yes, he tries to get him carted off to an asylum in order to use him as a bargaining chip with Belle, obviously more proof of how powerful Maurice's relationship with Belle is. But it really feels like Maurice's unwavering insistence that the truth will out about Belle is a huge threat, and getting him out of the way is super Yes, Maurice is a little unique, but nothing he does really lives up to the crackpot and wacky old coot names that he gets called. And I think some of this mockery is to diminish Maurice's very real power as a father. And in that same way, I think we diminish him too. It can be kind of easy to gloss over the things Maurice says because, like I said, the film is pretty well-paced and full of a lot of vibrant characters. But at one point, Maurice says of Saving Belle, I don't care. care what it takes. That's the voice of a hero. He begins to dig his heels further and further into the ground as his efforts to find help for Belle fail, and he decides to go back for her himself alone. The guy who once told Belle that Gaston is a handsome fella says, get your hands off me to his cronies by the end of the film. Rather than drowning in fear, Maurice lets his fight for Belle's life give him power and strength. And even though we could say that the biggest obstacles between Belle and the Beast are maybe at first the Beast's initial cruelty or then later Gaston. Belle's love for Maurice is the thing that puts the most distance between the two of them, not in a bad way, but as a testament to the strength of their bond. It's the Beast's treatment of Maurice that initially makes Belle hate him. And then it's her need to protect him and her missing him that sets in motion the arrival of Gaston to the castle. She is in the midst of a love story that will litter change the fate of the kingdom and it is still not going to distract her from her love for her father. Maurice is clearly doing something very right. And let's face it, Belle doesn't need Maurice to survive. I mean, I give him all of the credit for the life he created for younger Belle, but she's intelligent and capable and definitely is not relying on Maurice for financial stability. So I think it's just love. I think about the number of times they call after each other as they're being torn apart in this film, and I see a relationship that transcends parent-child. It's just two souls who love each other deeply. Ultimately, Belle is allowed to be exactly who she is with Maurice. He never seeks to change her or impose his own or society's beliefs upon her. And this absolutely beautiful quality is taken to the next level in the Broadway musical. Let's talk about it. Quick, quick,

Conor Perkins:

quick. She got there. She's got the shirt.

Caroline Aimetti:

I'm wearing my B2B shirt. So Beauty and the Beast opened on Broadway on April 18th, 1994, directed by Robert Jess Roth, based on Beauty and the Beast by Linda Wolverton, with a book by Linda Wolverton, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, starring, among others, Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as the Beast, and Tom Bosley as Maurice. So I am going to focus here on the most important addition to Maurice's character and story, one of the new songs written for the musical. No matter what disclaimer I'm in love with this song and I think it's perfect

Conor Perkins:

also disclaimer it is not in the new version that is currently touring and pissed her the fuck off

Caroline Aimetti:

yeah I was really upset I was like I felt the moment come and I was like we passed it we passed it what's happening

Conor Perkins:

I felt it too and I was like oh

Caroline Aimetti:

yeah it's necessary this song fills in and musicalizes the moment after Belle asks Maurice if he thinks she's odd and yes this is exactly where Maurice would start singing Not only does this song offer a more explicit mention of Belle's similarity to her mother, which I think is beautiful, but it succinctly crystallizes, captures, and deepens what makes Maurice an incredible father. He accepts and celebrates Belle for exactly who she is and makes sure she knows that he is always on her side. I mean, I literally don't know how to just not like quote the lyrics of this entire song, but like here's the best moments. Here's the lyrics for the whole song. I wish I could just sit here and play it for you all because if you don't know, Go listen to it after this, but it's a perfect song. He says to Belle, talking about the townspeople, they are the common herd and you can take my word. You are unique. Creme de la creme. No matter what you do, I'm on your side. And if my point of view is somewhat misty-eyed, there's nothing clearer in my life than what I wish and feel for you. And that's a lot, no matter what. I cannot deal with this song. I can't deal with this song.

Conor Perkins:

There she goes.

Caroline Aimetti:

This song also gives Belle the chance to affirm Maurice back and tell him what she loves about him too, which is so special. And the final part of the song absolutely breaks me every single time. It's why I believe the show requires this song. It basically establishes the stakes of everything that will happen shortly thereafter when Belle sacrifices herself And Belle says, Hmm. Hmm. I

Conor Perkins:

love this song. There she goes. There she goes.

Caroline Aimetti:

And then Maury says, you're never strange, Belle. Don't ever change. And then together they sing, you're all I've got, no matter what. Yeah, it's just the way that he says... You're never strange. I actually can't deal with it. Okay, I have to move on. It's a perfect fit for Maurice. It starts like a little pattery. It becomes sweet and poignant, and it proves that Maurice is full of depths to mine. He isn't just odd. He's a survivor. He's a fighter, and he is a father who requires nothing from his daughter aside from her truest expression of herself in a world that discourages it. It's clear in the song that Maurice has shown Belle exactly what radical acceptance and love look like, And it's exactly what she is able to offer the Beast. A rejection of what the world deems strange or ugly and an acceptance of someone's heart. Belle's second big solo, A Change in Me, was added to the show in 1998 when Toni Braxton joined the show as Belle and has been included in the musical ever since. Bravo. It's a

Conor Perkins:

fantastic song.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yes. Belle absolutely needed an act two solo. Absolutely needed it. And her revelation about who she has become is revealed to who? Maurice. He is the person she trusts with some of her most vulnerable budding feelings and she's almost figuring out her thoughts in real time in front of him because he allows her the space to do so I could go on and on about the musical but we need to keep moving because I am going to track the final deepening Maurice via the live action film adaptation we have talked about this on the podcast as well the live action Beauty and the Beast was released on March 17th 2017 directed by Bill Condon based on Beauty and the Beast by Linda Wolverton, and the screenplay is by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Tim Rice, and starring among others Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, and Kevin Kline as Maurice! Please. By now you're probably wondering if I'm well, and the answer is probably no, but let's keep going. I want to take a look at this version of the scene between Belle and Maurice that we examined from the animated film. Not only does the dialogue deepen some of Maurice's incredible parental qualities but it introduces the song How Does a Moment Last Forever.

Conor Perkins:

Easily like the best part of that movie is that song.

Caroline Aimetti:

So good. So good. And it also introduces even more information about Belle's mother and I believe this is what ultimately moves Maurice from incredible father to the heart of the story between Belle and the Beast. We first see Maurice working in his home workshop. In this version of the story he's an artist and we see him tinkering with figurines in a music box while singing How Does a Moment Last Forever, one of the new songs for the film. And we will come back to the song in a little while. When Belle asks Maurice if he thinks she's odd, we get even more information about Maurice's parenting. This is a small village, you know, small-minded as well, he says. So there's that secure attachment, freedom to explore again. Belle can experience the cruelty of the village while knowing that she can return to her father for affirmation of her worth outside of their gossip. Small means safe, he adds. We find out later in the film that Maurice was forced to leave Paris with Babybel when his wife was sickened with and eventually killed by the plague that overtook the city. This man has some baggage. Yeah. We're gaining even more of an understanding of what the musical Maurice might have meant when he sang no matter what the pain, we've come this far. But despite this fear that must naturally live inside Maurice that something could happen to Belle too. He never limits her explorations or her dreaming but he also delicately reminds Belle why they need to live in a town that makes her feel so alone. He hears her but he wants to make sure she knows that this isn't all for nothing. Safety becomes a huge theme of this Belle and Maurice relationship. You have my word, Maurice says when Belle asks for a rose on his journey and it isn't the first time she's asked for this. Whenever Maurice tries to sell his wares, Belle asks for a rose and he brings it back the next day. They have repeated patterns that prove to Belle that she can trust and rely upon Maurice in an unpredictable world that took her mother from her. This also explains why Maurice stops for the rose at the castle. He gave Belle his word and in their relationship that is everything. Belle eventually has to find out on her own how her mother died and the circumstances of their leaving her in Paris and this kind of secrecy might seem troubling, but I wonder if it's because Maurice didn't want Belle to know that he left her mother because he didn't want her to ever fear he would leave her too. Hence, they're very predictable rituals and their wordless communication and knowing looks. It's all about that reliability, that trust, that repetition. I

Conor Perkins:

never thought of that. That's devastating.

Caroline Aimetti:

Oh my God. This man. This man. And then there's the scene when Belle trades her life for Maurice's. In this version of the scene, Belle has to pretend that she's actually going to leave Maurice there so that she can shove him out of the cell at the last second because there's no way in hell that Maurice is going to willingly let her take his place. Belle's anger in this scene also comes from the Beast daring to call Maurice a thief. Liar. She snarls back at him. This scene becomes even more heart-wrenching than the original somehow because Maurice acknowledges the loss of Belle's mother and says he will not lose Belle too. Belle Listen to me. It's all right. Now go live your life and forget me. Forget me? Of course. Maurice knows that this is impossible. But he holds Belle's freedom and ability to make her own life in the highest regard that it's probably all he can think of to say. And then this isn't even the only time Maurice is willing to lay down his life in exchange for Belle's ability to be free. Gaston fully offers to prevent him from being carted off to the asylum in exchange for Belle's hand. And it's an absolute no. no from Maurice. And he had already said no to Gaston, fixing that little issue from the animated version, even as he was threatened with being left for dead in the woods. Maurice even tries to hit Gaston. He is not playing around.

Conor Perkins:

Kevin Kline Maurice. Kevin Kline Maurice. He don't fucks.

Caroline Aimetti:

He will fight you.

Conor Perkins:

He don't fuck with Gaston.

Caroline Aimetti:

And this is all against the backdrop of this time period when, as Gaston likes to remind Belle and Maurice, Belle could be at risk of ending up in the streets without a male figure in her life. This not only heightens the stakes of Maurice's need to protect her and keep the two of them together, but it makes his unwillingness to marry her off even more impressive. Back to the dungeon scene. I'm sorry, this is filled with so many tangents, but there's so much going on. Maurice's parting words to Belle are, I love you, Belle. Don't be afraid. And as she hugs him for her fake-out farewell, he is smiling. And it nearly killed me. And I don't think it's like a putting on a brave face kind of smile, it's a relief that Belle will get to keep her life. And more than that, Belle's apparent decision to leave him to rot in this dungeon forever doesn't change how he feels about her at

Conor Perkins:

all. No.

Caroline Aimetti:

It's heartbreaking.

Conor Perkins:

Because it's the same decision that he had to make for his wife.

Caroline Aimetti:

Right.

Conor Perkins:

He's like, I know what's going on for you right now because I had to do the same thing and I'm letting you know that it's okay.

Caroline Aimetti:

It makes me want to like primal sob. I can't. It's

Conor Perkins:

a good dad.

Caroline Aimetti:

Maurice I love that in both this and the animated film, Maurice allows Belle to fight her own battles when it's time. She races into the castle to find the beast and stop Gaston on her own in both versions. And she knows that she can do it because Maurice has never made her feel otherwise. I mean, like, did Maurice write the book The Anxious Generation? Possibly. Speaking of Belle, there's the saying that we are an average of the five people we spend the most time with. And at the start of this film, Belle is basically just an average of Maurice and maybe the bookseller or Père Robert in this version. So I think it's safe to say that so many of the qualities that Belle possesses that make her one of the most iconic heroines of all time were fostered by having Maurice for a father. Now, do not get me wrong. Women are not made or unmade by their male parental figures or even lack their Belle is special because of who she chose to be. But given that this film specifically focuses on the importance of fathers, it's worth noting that Belle's attitude toward men is likely shaped by having Maurice as a father. Belle does not implicitly obey men the way women of her time are expected to. Further than that, she calls Gaston a monster, and let's be real, he's kind of a typical man of that time, and in this film is even celebrated as a hero. And Belle sees what he really is. She doesn't shrug his behavior off as like, that's how men are, because she knows what an excellent, kind man looks like. And it's also why she is unwilling to put up with the beast's shit behavior and therefore get to the heart underneath. Belle is argumentative, as Gaston says. Translation, she has opinions of her own. And I believe her raising by Maurice gave her the ability to practice speaking her mind. As I said, Belle is who she is because of her own convictions bravery, intelligence, and compassion. But I think an excellent childhood prepped her for the kind of woman that she wanted to be. So let's talk about the song, How Does a Moment Last Forever. Maurice sings this song looking at the little figurines of Belle's mother holding baby Belle the first time we see him. How can a story never die? It is love we must hold on to, never easy, but we try. Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow our time and place stands still. Love lives on inside our hearts and always will. That's what he sings. We see Maurice trying to capture every memory of of his wife through his art. His home is littered with drawings of her. His life's focus is preventing the loss of Belle and preserving her safety and her freedom at the same time. The melody of this song becomes one of the musical themes of the film with Belle picking it up later in the film as she learns about the beast's cruel father and difficult childhood. Although at this point she is singing about the inhabitants of the castle, she could almost be talking about herself and Maurice when she sings How in the midst of all this sorrow can so much hope and love endure? Shortly before this song, Mrs. Potts reminds the Beast that, quote, you can't judge people by who their father is. Now can you? The influence of fathers and childhood begin to move to the forefront of this version of the story, and the music is giving us this clue. Using the same melody, Belle continues to sing, I can't go back into my childhood, one that my father made secure. And then she sings, Don't get me started on this amazing nod to the song from the musical. But it is Belle's knowledge of the Beast's father and her recognition of the ways their childhoods were vastly different that allow her to begin to open her heart to him despite his thorniness and his cruelty. This softening is what begins their love story. And they come to know each other even more deeply when the Beast is sort of the first real witness to Belle's realization of the sacrifice Maurice had to make for Belle by leaving his wife to die. And all of these realizations begin with the melody of Maurice's song. Maurice's life revolves around preserving and capturing his love for the wife he lost. The question his song asks, how does a moment last forever, is answered in the Celine Dion cover of the song during the end credits. Still our song lives on. That song is Belle and her picking up of the melody of her father's song is what sets her on the And so Maurice and his love for his family becomes the heart of this story. Belle is able to move beyond the hurt of her past because of the boundless love given to her by her father and is able to love the beast's wounds into healing because of it. And he is then able to heal his own wounds himself by letting Belle go, by putting someone else ahead of himself, all because of her love for her father.

Conor Perkins:

Yeah, it's because of Maurice. It's because of Maurice. When she's like, I miss him, and then he's like, you should go to him. The whole crux of his arc also revolves around Maurice and changing his perspective on Maurice as well.

Caroline Aimetti:

It's true. It's so true. So to wrap this up.

Conor Perkins:

I kind of don't want you to.

Caroline Aimetti:

Maurice.

Conor Perkins:

I love Maurice Land.

Caroline Aimetti:

It's literally, I have like a lump in my throat this all time. I love that both Beauty and the Beast films end with some sort of shot of Maurice. In the animated version, he wipes his happy tears and in the live action, he's painting a scene of the not quite wedding but sort of wedding celebration. He isn't interfering. He's not inserting his feelings in any way. He is simply bearing witness, knowing that his daughter has always had the tools to be her own person and make her own decisions. And Maurice appears fourth in the end credits of the live action film and I don't think it's just because of the Kevin Kline of it all. I mean, what a gorgeous performance though. I think there's also a reason that each new iteration of Maurice becomes deeper. He is a character and father whose love for his child ripples out to affect so many lives beyond his own. I always used to lament the fact that No Matter What didn't make it into the live action film, but now I see that the only logical next step for Maurice was for him to be the Ooh. Ooh.

Conor Perkins:

That really got me. Oh, that just really got me right now. No. No. Not this.

Caroline Aimetti:

No.

Conor Perkins:

Not you putting respect on the live-action Beauty and the Beast for me. Why are you doing that?

Caroline Aimetti:

Let me tell you. Let me tell you something.

Conor Perkins:

Oh, no.

Caroline Aimetti:

Watching that film through this perspective of, like, latch on to Maurice, latch on to How Does a Moment Last Forever, I was like, wait.

Conor Perkins:

Better movie.

Caroline Aimetti:

Better movie. Because, seriously, like, They took that song and they were like, this is the song of the movie. And you really have to be like, why? Why? And it's

Conor Perkins:

because of this. That's the thing that got Celine at the end because she wasn't going to do it. She wasn't going to do it because she was like, oh no, I did the first one. That was such an important thing. It was between me and my husband. And then she heard the song and she was like, I need to sing this song for him. Because that song is the crux of that version of the movie.

Caroline Aimetti:

I can't. Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

That was a dissertation. You have your doctorate, Maurice.

Caroline Aimetti:

Put No Matter What back. This is my plea. If nothing else comes from this, please, Disney Theatrical. Where's the camera? There. Disney Theatrical, please put No Matter What back into the musical. I know that Act 1 is longer than Act 2, but we will sit. We're sat.

Conor Perkins:

We're sat. We

Caroline Aimetti:

need it.

Conor Perkins:

We're already here.

Caroline Aimetti:

Because Maurice isn't just a silly old man. He's so much more than that. Please, please put the song back in.

Conor Perkins:

Thank you.

Caroline Aimetti:

Maurice.

Conor Perkins:

He's the best. He literally is the thing that everything hinges on.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

Everything hinges on him.

Caroline Aimetti:

Everything hinges on him. He raised this girl alone. He put a book in her hand and was like, I'm going to show you how to read this. Everyone else be damned. Like... What?

Conor Perkins:

And storytelling wise, every time that it feels like the story is starting to swerve from the sort of like destiny path that it needs to get, the happy ending,

Caroline Aimetti:

who

Conor Perkins:

is there to nudge the story? It's Maurice. In every version. He's there at all the pivotal moments to sort of like knock it one way, knock at the other so that the happily ever after happens.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah. And this man's worst nightmare comes comes true his daughter gets taken from him the thing he's been trying to avoid if we're moving forward with the the backstory from the live action let's say and then when she turns back up she wants to leave again and is also like by the way the person who who did that to me is a good person and he's like okay what what

Conor Perkins:

yeah and also like she shows back up and then she's like I'm showing back up because I love you and I want to take care of you but I also want to let you know that I can love you and want to take care of you and all of that and still say that I'm leaving and you taught me how to do that like that's a parent's that's the parent's dream to have your child say to you I love you unconditionally and I will always be here for you and you have raised me so well that I am okay on my own and I have things that I want and I have things that I'm going to chase after and I'm going to do it that's the dream of a parent and she does it Alright.

Caroline Aimetti:

Okay.

Conor Perkins:

What a way to close out the saison.

Caroline Aimetti:

The saison.

Conor Perkins:

In terms of Ransom Raves.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yeah.

Conor Perkins:

Beginning and ending with Beauty and the Beast.

Caroline Aimetti:

Yes. I'm so sorry. I do have a bad habit of going back to the well of like the movies that I cannot stop thinking about and obviously Beauty and the Beast is one of them. I'm sorry. I know there are so many Disney movies in the world.

Conor Perkins:

I can't imagine what this rave would be if it wasn't Maurice as as like this is my parent that I need to shout out he's too special

Caroline Aimetti:

yes

Conor Perkins:

well I hope you all enjoyed that that's gonna do it for us for this episode thank you all so much for listening and watching please make sure that you hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to the podcast make sure that you get notifications on YouTube all that good stuff and then this is that moment where you're gonna hit five stars leave a written review leave a comment even if it's just like one word if it if you vibed with this and you're on YouTube and whatever and you're like Maurice comment Maurice comment Maurice heart okay just do that it seriously does so much in terms of like helping us get seen in algorithms and all that bullshit so thank you for doing that and then share this episode with somebody that you love share it with your parents like if you have a good relationship with your parents and you don't mind sending this them weird Disney podcasts that do what we do share it with them but thank you so much for doing that for us

Caroline Aimetti:

please also follow us on social media we are at porn fortunate podcast everywhere Instagram Facebook take talk threads blue sky all of that we would love to hear what you feel about these two dads we just love hearing from you in general and every follow every comment every share it just helps more people find us we see it happen in real time so thank you when you send somebody something and you're like oh they you know maybe you'd like this podcast that's everything to us so thank you for that and if you want even more poor unfortunate podcast in your life please join our private Facebook group the poor unfortunate fam we have over 100 members in there and that is why this episode got bumped to the top of our list if you're in the fam like you're a real one and we want to give you what you want we really do it's also a great way for Conor and I to find out who's out there listening and to tailor this to you because we just want to give you what you want we want to make you happy so please join us there I know Facebook is whatever we're kind of researching maybe some more options of ways to connect with you all but in the meantime please find us there because we would love to meet you

Conor Perkins:

and if you're looking for merch the poor unfortunate shop is open poor unfortunate podcast.com slash shop tons of different merch items for you and more on the way soon and as I always say it does take us a Thank you. Thank you. Okie dokie. Well, we will be back soon with some more Caroline What's New and then a showdown episode as we keep trucking along steadily towards the end of season four. Yeah. So until then, Beluga Savruga.

Caroline Aimetti:

Beluga Savruga.

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