MORGAN REILLY

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

As promised, here’s your monthly moment with Buddy!

I see a LOT of Beauty and the Beast retellings. Anyone else? I questioned why that is once, and I think it stems from our need to be accepted for our faults as well as for our virtues. Think about it:

• Despite everything “wrong” with the Beast (notice the intentional quotes), love prevails.
• The beast learns a valuable lesson, and I would argue that Belle does, too. Though in the Disney version, she’s painted as nauseatingly virtuous. (But that’s a whole other lecture. If you have an hour, I’ll get my PowerPoint ready.)
• True love and good wins out in the end, despite the odds being significantly stacked against them by those with power and privilege.

So…yeah. BatB hits a lot of marks that readers like. It’s a huge reason why ACOTAR is so successful (saying nothing of the maligned romance, which is ANOTHER PowerPoint I’ll prepare if you have an hour).

Which leads me to the point of this post: I wanted to ask YOU what your favorite fairytale retelling is and which retelling you’d like to see done next. Get specific, fam. Give me ALL the details. What retelling do you love and why? What retelling do you want to see retold and how would you like to see it done?