Melvin Udall and the Beast share many qualities.  They are both anti-social and do not spend their time associating with other people.  They also tend to lash out at the people who end up around them.  Both Melvin and the Beast are gradually transformed by the entrance of a woman into their lives.  Melvin begins to change his obsessive compulsive ways as he gets to know and like Carol.  While the Beast has Beauty in his home and through her gentle, kind manner, she manages to gain the trust and bring out the sensitivity of the beast.

            "Beauty and the Beast" and As Good As It Gets have many of Propp's functions in common.  They both contain functions: 1, 6, 8a, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 14.  This suggests that "Beauty and the Beast" has had an effect on the writers of the screenplay for As Good As It Gets.  The two stories share more than half of the functions that each contains separately.  Function 31 is left out because Melvin and Carol do not get married, but they do still end up getting together.   The basic schemes of the stories match up.  The skeletal structure includes a man who does not interact with society; he comes about a woman in his daily travels; the woman endears herself to him, slowly guiding his change toward being more social; the man falls in love with the woman; and they live happily ever after.  Obviously, with both stories there are details that are left out by a formalist analysis.  These details tend to enhance the story, and in the case of the movie, builds information about the subplots.

            The influence of de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast" is clearly seen throughout As Good As It Gets.  The movie seems to be a modern version of the tale recounted by de Beaumont, and the tale's concept now applies to more people.  As Good As It Gets has less of a fairy tale or magical element in it, which helps people identify with the characters' situations.  The audience is drawn into the stories of Melvin, Carol, and Simon, and react to what is happening to each character.  Although As Good As It Gets portrays a more modern version of the tale, the movie is still able to follow the events within "Beauty and the Beast" enough so that one could recognize the similarities.
 
 
 
 

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Beauty Analysis
As Good As It Gets Analysis