# Looking for BEAUTY & THE BEAST type stories in which Beast wins without a makeover. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158 "2012-06-24T17:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/21 "2012-06-24T21:40:38Z")
[I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_ViIPA-Gc) Does \*Edward Scissorhands \*count? He didn’t actually get the girl, as such. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/22 "2012-06-24T22:45:48Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’m going to have to re-watch that. Because I don’t even remember the conventionally-hot blonde, but I remember having a terrible crush on the nerdy girl. 🙂 I am thinking the original poster is misremembering the scene where a hot older woman makes a play for Mitch and he runs to Jordan the Nerdy girl. The blonde only appears in that scene (until the end) and isn’t exactly chasing Mitch. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/23 "2012-06-24T23:01:48Z")
Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch has several interconnected retold fairy tales. I can’t remember how the Beauty and the Beast tale ends but I seem to remember it not ending with a transformation. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/24 "2012-06-25T00:00:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m looking for stories in which a beautiful/handsome person competes with an ugly/monstrous person for the affections of a third, in which the beloved chooses the ugly person WITHOUT the latter receiving any sort of makeover, transformation, or she-was-pretty-all-along revelation at any point. _A Civil Campaign_ in the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold, perhaps. Ekaterin Vorsoisson rejects her other better looking suitors for the dwarfish, scarred Miles Vorkosigan. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/25 "2012-06-25T00:55:02Z")
Jane Eyre, although Jane and Rochester are both somewhat beastly. Each of them wins the other from a more attractive rival. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/26 "2012-06-25T01:07:31Z")
Michael Rutherford’s (the poet, not the musician) short story, “The Tale and Its Master,” though the ending isn’t “happily ever after” (but his love is ugly throughout). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/27 "2012-06-25T08:17:31Z")
There’s no constant other suitor, but the (80s) B&TB TV series had Catherine falling for Vincent without him ever changing his form. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/28 "2012-06-25T11:17:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > _A Civil Campaign_ in the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold, perhaps. Ekaterin Vorsoisson rejects her other better looking suitors for the dwarfish, scarred Miles Vorkosigan. Whom she already found attractive while still married to her first husband, who was physically fine but mentally insufferable (_Komarr_). Then again, I’m not sure any of Miles’ ladies count… part of his problem with courting Ekaterin was that, except for Elena Bothari who he only fumbled around, his other sexual interests had merrily dragged _him_ into bed (or down to the floor, in Taura’s case). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/29 "2012-06-25T16:20:06Z")
Remembered another one: _Master of the Five Magics_, by Lyndon Hardy (a fantasy as written by a physics professor, and it shows). One of the major plotlines is that the protagonist, along with a wide variety of other suitors, is seeking the hand of the Queen. In the end, she doesn’t go with the fabulously rich man, or with the valorous hero, or any of the other “standard” suitors, but with a barbarian she met on her journeys who didn’t do anything in particular besides turning her on. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/30 "2012-06-25T16:44:39Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I am thinking the original poster is misremembering the scene where a hot older woman makes a play for Mitch and he runs to Jordan the Nerdy girl. The blonde only appears in that scene (until the end) and isn’t exactly chasing Mitch. And at the end she ends up with the other nerdy guy (Laslo), the one she had been looking for the whole time. Having sex with the smartest students was sort of her thing. ---
**Author:** ![boozilu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@boozilu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boozilu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/31 "2012-06-25T18:14:34Z")
Sleeping Ugly [http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Ugly-Jane-Yolen/dp/0698115600/ref=sr\_1\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340647902&sr=1-1&keywords=sleeping+ugly](http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Ugly-Jane-Yolen/dp/0698115600/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340647902&sr=1-1&keywords=sleeping+ugly) My kids love that one. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/32 "2012-06-25T18:35:28Z")
I’ll let the OP decide if it counts, but Lewis Skolnick is no more aesthetically appealing at the end of _Revenge of the Nerds_ than he was at the beginning. And Gwyneth Paltrow in _Shallow Hal_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/33 "2012-06-25T18:51:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’ll let the OP decide if it counts, but Lewis Skolnick is no more aesthetically appealing at the end of _Revenge of the Nerds_ than he was at the beginning. > > And Gwyneth Paltrow in _Shallow Hal_. I’ve never seen any of Nerds (or if I have I didn’t know it) and only bits & pieces of Hal. In the latter, does Paltrow’s character have a rival for her lover’s affections? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/34 "2012-06-25T19:10:00Z")
No, not specifically. It’s just that Hal expresses his preferences for female companionship in such a way that he’s not likely to give her character a second glance. So, in a sense, _every_ attractive woman is her rival. Until the end, of course, when he chooses her, even knowing that she doesn’t quite look like what he had always assumed was his feminine ideal. As far as _Revenge of the Nerds_, the hot cheerleader dumps [this guy](http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/stangable.jpg) for [this guy.](http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lewis.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/35 "2012-06-25T19:28:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I am thinking the original poster is misremembering the scene where a hot older woman makes a play for Mitch and he runs to Jordan the Nerdy girl. The blonde only appears in that scene (until the end) and isn’t exactly chasing Mitch. She has a scene earlier in the movie, where she hits on Val Kilmer’s character. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/36 "2012-06-25T19:36:46Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [this guy](http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/stangable.jpg) for [this guy.](http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lewis.jpg) After [this guy](http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lewis.jpg) rapes [this girl](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~drewg/bettyc.html) (in hi-_larious_ fashion, of course). ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/37 "2012-06-25T19:37:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’ve never seen any of Nerds (or if I have I didn’t know it) and only bits & pieces of Hal. In the latter, does Paltrow’s character have a rival for her lover’s affections? nm ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/38 "2012-06-25T19:40:14Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > After [this guy](http://bandbent.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lewis.jpg) rapes [this girl](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~drewg/bettyc.html) (in hi-_larious_ fashion, of course). :: considers asking :: :: decides he doesn’t want to know :: :: cuts self piece of coconut-cream pie :: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/39 "2012-06-25T19:53:17Z")
I’ve never seen it, but doesn’t _Shallow Hal_ end with Hal still under the curse or whatever to see Paltrow’s character as thin? It seems to me that that counts as a makeover. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158/40 "2012-06-25T19:55:56Z")
Am I understanding the premise? Would _The Truth About Cats & Dogs_ count, in which we are supposed to believe that Uma Thurman, who looks like a face painted on an egg, is more desirable than Janeane Garofolo, with whom she competes for the affection of handsome Ben Chaplin, who’s heard Janeane on the radio and is charmed by her intellect and wit? So they pull the switcheroo and in the end blah blah true love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-beauty-the-beast-type-stories-in-which-beast-wins-without-a-makeover/626158.md?page=3)