Visual Rhetoric in "Beauty and the Beast"

Hi! I decided to write about the visual rhetoric in the "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) movie poster :)

For most movies you will see in the theaters, they usually have a movie poster to advertise what the movie is about. They are supposed to be eye-catching, to get your attention, and hopefully go see the movie. They usually have their own meaning or purpose behind what is shown in the movie poster. In the Beauty and the Beast (2017) movie poster, the purpose is mainly to show off the actors that are playing in the movie. The meaning behind it, however, is to show the beauty within the characters. This is what will attract people to the movie and be interested.

In the Beauty and the Beast (2017) movie poster, you can see a couple tiers of actors shown. The most eye-catching are the two lead characters, Belle and Beast, played by Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. Underneath them show all the supporting characters, Gaston, LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Lumière, Cogsworth, Madame Garderobe, Featherduster, Maurice, and Cadenza, played by Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kevin Kline, and Stanley Tucci. A lot of these actors are pretty popular, which helps gain attention from the audience. They are also shown in their human form rather than object form for the same reason, so people can see the actors and be more drawn to watch the movie.

The poster also does a good job with positioning of the characters. A lot of them are looking straight forward, which makes the audience feel like they’re looking at them, which can attract them to the poster even more and make them want to go see the movie. The two leads are bigger than the other characters, so the audience knows who the story/movie is mainly about. Belle and Beast are facing away from each other to show how different they are from one another, yet connected in a way. Belle is sniffing a rose, which shows her innocence, and a rose is symbolic in the movie. It symbolizes life from the spell in the movie.

A lot of the message of the movie poster is shown through color. You can see that all the supporting characters and Belle (Belle even more so), are very bright in color which highlights the beauty within those characters. The Beast, however, is darker and more gloomy in color which represents “the beast” inside of him. The Beast is also the only one not in human form, which is another element that separates his personality from everyone else’s.

In conclusion, the Beauty and the Beast (2017) movie poster does a good job representing visual rhetoric. It includes key things such as famous actors, coloring, and positioning to attract audiences to go watch the movie. It has hidden gems inside, which tell us about the main message about the movie, which is the beauty within.