“With a dreamy, far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book”, it’s no surprise that Belle is my all-time favourite princess, so I’m very excited that this month is Beauty and the Beast-themed!
Beauty and the Beast (1991) is one of Disney’s classic Renaissance era (for anyone interested in the 9 eras of Disney, check out this great post on Odyssey) films. It’s got all that iconic princess, music, villain, ballgown, bad-guy-turned-good, animated tea cup magic you look for in an animated Disney movie. Plus, let’s be honest, the library of every book nerd’s dreams.
When I re-watched the film for this post, I still loved it of course, but I also had quite a lot of questions…
- Where are the Beast’s parents?
He’s a prince, so presumably there must be a king and queen somewhere? Why are they not there to help him? We also know that the rose starts to wilt when he’s 21, so he can’t be very old when he’s cursed by the Enchantress, which leads me to;
- Is the Enchantress overreacting when someone who is basically a kid, is rude to her?
Okay, we know the Prince/Beast is selfish and mean for not letting a stranger into his giant house, but since we can assume he is a teenager when this happens, I’m really not sure cursing him and all the people who live with/work for him, is an appropriate response?
- When we first meet her, Belle is wandering around the village reading and singing to herself, which admittedly isn’t the most normal. But the townspeople have a choreographed song themselves about how weird she is?
Is that also not slightly creepy? “But behind that fair façade, I’m afraid she’s rather odd, very diff’rent from the rest of us” IS SHE THOUGH?
- Why are Lumiere and his girlfriend, the feather duster, the only ones in the whole film with French accents?
Surely either everyone is speaking French (therefore no accents would fit) or everyone is speaking English with French accents- because they are in France?
- Belle dreams of “adventure in the great, wide, somewhere” but ends up falling in love with someone who forced her into the exact opposite of that- imprisonment. Does she ever get to go on the adventures that she dreamt of?
- Why does Belle never ask the Beast his real name?
If I was really mad about being turned into a “hideous beast” I’m not sure I’d want to be reminded of it all the time by the person I was falling in love with? Sort of ruins the romance a little.
- If the enchanted objects get broken or damaged while enchanted, are they hurt or killed?
I mean, Chip as a real boy doesn’t have a big dent in his head, thankfully.
- Speaking of Chip, are all those other cups really his brothers and sisters?
How does Mrs Potts, who seems to be an older woman, have such a young son?
Exploring the world of Disney, one film at a time. 