Enthusiastic, eager anticipation and boundless expectations.

These are the sentiments that were ubiquitous leading up to the release of the 2017 movie Beauty and the Beast. The newly released remake of an age-old classical Disney movie heralds a new era in the production of fairy tales that do not only represent an iridescent source of entertainment for the general masses, but also impart crucial lessons.

In that context, it is not surprising or even minutely befuddling as to why there has been profuse hype associated with the Disney fairytale remake. Granted that the major reason underlying this hype has been the noteworthy role of Emma Watson, a most celebrated and glorious actress in today’s world. However, beneath the ostensible, glorious surface lights and the astounding movie star cast that seem to be the main sources of the movie’s hype lies the true reason behind the hype: a lesson shrouded in an age-old fairy tale, one that was once taught to young children as they grew up and broadened their horizons. Along the natural path of solidifying their moral values and ethical systems, these children were taught to value the goodness of heart and the mellowness of attitude, among other factors, ignoring the seemingly luring factors such as facial beauty and skin tones that often form the baseline standards that we use to judge individuals today. And the storyline dictating the movie does exactly that—narrates a fairytale about how love is an emotion encompassing boundless, roaring oceans, yet it is also an attribute that teaches one to forgive and remain selfless in the face of ridicule and belittling stereotypes.

In the aftermath of the movie’s release, it therefore comes as no surprise that people have been thoroughly enthused about the lessons the movie preaches so beautifully. In addition to the phenomenal star cast and stage settings that make the remake all the very more melancholic but equally heart-touching, the beautiful reunion of apparent aesthetic ugliness and prettiness, the merger of two selfless—albeit incessant—lovers of two varying sects of life, elucidates why the movie duly lives up to the standards that people were expecting to hold it against. Furthermore, it is also imperative to note that the movie, for a vast majority of critics, seems to have surpassed even the exceedingly high standards that were set before its release, presaging a new era in the production of classic remakes.

Beauty and the Beast beautifully narrates the love story of two star-crossed lovers and touches every chord of our hearts. Yet, at the same time, the movie also excels in shunning the very fabric that forms the many ideals that we praise in our worlds today—prettiness, skin color, race, genders, and ethnicities. Breaking out of the confines of insularity, the movie purports the very critical yet regretfully ignored lesson: love exceeds all bounds and is subservient to nothing and to no one.

After all, it takes more that just skin texture and creed to fulfill a love of the extent delineated in the movie.