It all started with a quote from a precocious clock: “If it’s not baroque, don’t fix it!” Using the 1991 Disney film Beauty and the Beast, this paper assesses multiple centuries of decorative arts to trace links between gothic architecture, medieval bestiaries, French baroque and rococo interiors, Enlightenment-era literature, early-twentieth-century surrealism, late-twentieth-century computer-animated film, and twentieth-first-century perceptions of all of that. Come for the singing candlesticks and fork kick line, stay for the aristocratic proto-feminism and critical, anachronistic reassignment of contemporary gender roles on historical decorative styles.
Matthew J. Kennedy 