The Beauty & the Beast in The Shape of Water (2017): Magical Realism
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9781800793255
Year of publication: 2022
Pages: 89-98
Type: Book chapter
Abstract
This chapter analyses Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017) in order to consider how the classic love story of a beauty and a beast is reformulated within the stylistic parameters of the magical realism proposed by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Marquez. As in much of Del Toro's filmography, monstrosity is a constant presence, only in this film, the magical proposal around this figure makes it enigmatic and appealing, making it possible to fall in love with the creature in a in an unreal, strange and at the same time familiar environment.