Aunt Beast is a character who appears in Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Wrinkle in Time. While the character had a supporting part in the 2003 Dimension Film adaptation, the character had a limited cameo role in the 2018 Disney film adaptation.
Background[]
Personality[]
Aunt Beast is a kind, motherly creature who serves as the leader of a clan of creatures of her own kind living at the planet Ixchel. She is capable of healing victims who arrive at said planet such as the case of Meg Murry who was struggling to fight against the It. She also shows an unconditional love to Meg, telling her to put her faith in herself so that she can avoid losing hope and become determined. Like all the creatures who live on Ixchel, Aunt Beast explains that they "feel that things not as they seem but they are", showing that she and her species are of allies to Meg.
Appearances[]
A Wrinkle in Time (2003)[]
Aunt Beast in this film is depicted as a large hairy humanoid creature resembling a yeti whose eyes are not visibly seen, due to the hair covering her eyes. All the other creatures who are part of Aunt Beast's clan all take the same appearance as her.
During a battle against the It, Meg, her father, and Calvin find themselves in a planet of healing and understanding known as "Ixchel" where she is found by Aunt Beast who rescues her from the frigid weather to keep her warm while she discusses with her father about leaving Charles Wallace behind. Aunt Beast, the alien keeping her warm, comforts her as she tells Meg not to fear about losing hope. As Calvin approaches her, she discusses about not giving up in trying to rescue Charles Wallace from the It. Calvin then explains to Meg about the powerful darkness from Camazotz which attacked Meg while in the tesseract as explained by Aunt Beast herself. Aunt Beast then approaches Meg who understands her frustrations of rescuing Charles from the Man with Red Eyes to which as Meg talks to her, she explains to her that on Ixchel, the residential aliens who live there, just like Aunt Beast, they "feel that things not as they seem but they are" just as she tells Meg to lend her a hand.
Now alone, Meg looks across the letters by her house to which Meg stares at another Meg to which the other Meg in her mind berates her for being hopeless and useless to which it is known that Meg is practicing to look for anything that is unseen as part of Aunt Beast's advice. Back at Ixchel, Aunt Beast explains to Meg that the only way to fight the darkness and defeat the It and all of his evil forces is to discover all that is unseen. She also explains to Meg that all things that can be seen are temporary while all things that cannot be seen are eternal, telling her to take time and concentrate to know that what she seeks is like music so that Meg would be able to find anything that cannot be seen. Being tasked to find anything unseen, Meg wanders across the chamber and encounters Mrs. Which who tells her that she, her father, and her friends must return to Earth while she, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Whatsit will take care of Charles Wallace.
After remembering what Mrs. Whatsit said to the three, Mr. Murry tells his daughter to be herself in order to cheer her up to which Meg's father happily embraces his daughter, followed by Calvin happily praising Meg just before she approaches Aunt Beast. However, Mrs. Which explains to Meg that she prided much on her wisdom, but she has taught her much, followed by Mrs. Who explaining to Meg not to give up faith in herself in order to accomplish her plans of defeating the Man with Red Eyes and rescuing Charles. As Meg encounters Aunt Beast who embraces her, she sees Mrs. Whatsit behind her where she explains to her that she feels happiness in her mind, which the darkness does not have to which she explains that only her faith that she is to find for herself just as Meg travels back to Camazotz again via tesseract in order to help her save Charles and finish her goal in defeating the Man with Red Eyes. Aunt Beast does not appear again afterwards.
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)[]
Aunt Beast barely makes an appearance in the final version of the 2018 adaptation of the film, despite her important role throughout the original source material. In this film, she was only mentioned by the Happy Medium during Meg's encounter with the latter in the scene showcasing Ixchel where Aunt Beast is said to be the leader of a clan of her own species (large long-legged creatures) during a montage of planets where Dr. Murry stopped by. According to the optional commentary in the Blu-ray and Digital releases, the entire appearance of Aunt Beast was almost omitted except for a very brief shot in the final version of the film, unlike in the 2003 adaptation, albeit barely seen amongst the walking clan.[1]
Deleted Scene[]
Despite her extremely brief indirect appearance, Aunt Beast had a major part in a deleted scene of the same name found in the Blu-ray and digital releases where little footage of her was filmed. In the scene, Meg encounters her in Ixchel just as she heals Meg who is regaining her strength after her battle against the It. Mrs. Who tells her that she is the result of a love of thousands. When Meg asks Mrs. Who if the creature comforting her has a name, she replies to her that the name of the creature taking care of her is "Aunt Beast" just as Aunt Beast continues comforting her, showing unconditional love to her while Mrs. Who teaches Meg that she must be determined to fight her frustration to her father. Aunt Beast continues to heal her while Mrs. Who feels happy that Meg is trusting the love that Aunt Beast is showing to her. Unlike in the 2003 adaptation where she has dialogues, Aunt Beast has no spoken dialogues in this film, where she only makes purring sounds. Additionally, according to the optional commentary for this scene, Aunt Beast was featured in Jennifer Lee's original script.[1][2]
References[]
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