Disney reimagined stories...

Hi Reading Ninjas,

I'm venturing off the beaten track today to talk with you about something I've noticed recently and I'm curious what everyone's opinion is... Now we're NOT here to discuss the Little Mermaid movie - everyone in the world has an opinion on that and I don't particularly care either way. No, today I want to talk to you about Disney stories, and books, being reimagined by authors.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against this current trend. In fact, I'm playing with an idea for a nursery rhyme reimagined to become a short story. However, I've just read my third Beauty and the Beast reimagined in as many weeks, and I've noticed a trend I'm personally not a fan of. It seems that everyone is recreating 'Beast' as an emotionally abusive asshole. Now I get it, it's an obvious route to take. After all, Beast is a man who makes a deal to keep a young girl as his -? slave, ?toy, ?whatever. But there are so many other ways that this could play out - In my opinion.

In each of the books, Beast has been emotionally/mentally abusive and disgustingly demeaning towards Beauty. He torments her and is emotionally and mentally cruel to the extent that it really turns my stomach.

The first book, I thought - hmmm unexpected and somewhat hardcore, probably won't be reviewing the story and unlikely to read the author again but ok. Not everyone has to like every story. Then a week later, I opened my trusty kindle to find the next book in my TBR was again, a B&B retelling. Ok, let's see what this author has come up with... Again, emotional abuse/ mental cruelty and the added bonus of the young innocent, virgin ends up craving the abuse and coming back for more again and again. Not because she saw the good inBeast (like in the original) but because she saw the darkness and craved the abuse. Then again today, opened a book based solely on the front cover pic. On my kindle, I rarely check out the blurb before reading. And you guessed it, I'm assaulted yet again by a Beast whose main goal in life is to torment and hurt Beauty.

Now, I know, there are lots of readers out there who enjoy these kinds of stories. And there are people who are part of the kink community who crave and enjoy emotional abuse and being demeaned... But I'm not one of them. For me, that's not my kink - in life or entertainment. My author's mind has come up with quite a few ways this story can be told without it going this way. Why can't Beast simply be a cranky, hermit with poor peopling skills? Why can't he be shy, hiding away from the world and Beauty, despite his increasing desire to spend time in her presence? Why can't he be a dominant, a kinky as shit, fully-fledged Dom who takes control and brings things from Beauty - without being abusive but rather through skill and caring?

Why Reading Ninjas? WHY? So tell me, what do you all think? Do you like retellings? Do you like it when a Beast is as I've described? There is no right or wrong here - I'm just curious since demeaning, or mentally/emotionally tormenting/torturing has never been something that I enjoy in any books, but there's obviously a market for it out there.

So what does everyone think? I'm dying to know... And if you happen to know of retellings that are not like this - Comment, let me know, I'd love to read them.