Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Appears in 3 songs
“Tale as old as time”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify 'Tale as old as time' as a direct allusion to the song from the 1991 Disney film Beauty and the Beast. Uncle Jerry notes that the phrase is sung in the pre-chorus and connects it to the film, which he praises extensively. The allusion frames Taylor's self-deprecating cycle, her vices, crises, and scheming, as an ancient, recurring pattern, borrowing the fairy-tale resonance of the Disney song to lend mythic weight to her personal failings.
“Beauty is a beast that roars down on all fours Demanding more”
Angela & Uncle Jerry note the allusion to Beauty and the Beast in the bridge's 'Beauty is a beast' line, which inverts the fairy tale title so that beauty itself becomes the devouring beast. Uncle Jerry says 'we also have an allusion to Beauty and the Beast' while discussing the bridge.
“The town said, "How did a middle-class divorcée do it?”
Angela draws a parallel between the line 'the town said' and the opening of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where the townspeople gossip about Belle as she walks through town. Angela & Uncle Jerry note the shared dynamic of a small town disparaging a woman who doesn't fit their mold.