Nerd Nostalgia: 5 Reasons Why Belle from “Beauty and the Best”
is the Most Boss Disney Princess
By: Brian Cotnoir
Okay, I know that this
is totally unexpected from me; especially if you know what kind of movies I
watch/review. Even though I still haven’t
seen it (yet), I keep hearing many people saying Merida in one of Disney’s
latest films, “Brave”, is the first “Independent” Disney Princess who
challenges the norms of a typical Disney Princess, but I definitely think
there’s one Disney character who fits the roll of a “Independent” character and
she appeared long before, Merida. I of
course am talking about Belle from Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast”. “Beauty and the Beast” is not only one of
Disney’s best animated films, but is also one of the Best Animated Films of
All-Time. Hell it got nominated for the
“Best Picture” Oscar in 1991. That’s
pretty rare for an animated film to get a nomination for Best Picture. And it rightfully deserved to be nominated, because
it was a great take on a classic fairytale, it had Original Music written by
Alan Menken & Howard Ashman, and features probably Disney’s most Boss
Princess ever, and I’ve got 5 reasons why (listed in no particular order).
1.)
She’s Independent/Teaches Others Independence
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| Belle gonna do what ever she damn wants |
Belle is the first Disney heroine
we see to break the stereotype being a damsel who feels trapped. She’s not a Royal like Ariel, Jasmine,
Aurora, and Pocahontas (technically).
She’s not mistreated by her family like Cinderella, and she’s not a ditz
like Snow White. She’s an
independent. She comes from a loving
home and has a father who cares deeply about her. She knows deep down that she’s not like most
women in France, and she’s fine with it.
She doesn’t mind being different, and that she doesn’t always follow the
social norms. She even actually encourages the people
around her to try new things, and to be intellectually curious. Seriously, she’s a real positive role model
for most people (especially young girls).
She’s also strong. She has to
deal with many difficult issues: Her father is held captive (First by the
Beast) and then by an Asylum caretaker, and almost dies. She has to remain a prisoner of the Beast in
order to save him, and not to mention she is constantly being pursued by the
biggest narcissist in France. Yet,
somehow against all odds, she perseveres.
Yes, there are times she is frightened and even sheds a few tears, but
they are not tears of despair and hopelessness, they are tears of determination
and love. Her love for her father pushes
her to overcome many difficult obstacles, and she even get’s rewarded for her
perseverance, but we’ll get to that later.
2.)
She’s Already Happy with her own life
 |
| Such a Happy Family |
The second reason why Belle is the
Most Boss Disney Princess is that she is already happy with her life. Belle does fall to the typical Disney Princess
Story Arch of singing a song about “wanting more in life”, but Belle’s song is
not about waiting for Prince Charming, like Snow White and Ariel, Belle sings
about positive things like wanting to explore the world and see the place she’s
read about. As I mentioned before she
comes from a loving home, and the village she lives in also seems to be
friendly as well...well almost everyone; Gaston and his pet dwarf seem to be a
couple of tools.
3.)
She constantly seeks knowledge and likes to explore
Belle is also intelligent. Early on we see her talk (and sing) about how
much of a book worm she is. She’s always
reading, which can translate out to she’s always learning. She’s not this naïve, uneducated woman who
needs to be told or taught everything in life; she likes to figure things out
for herself. This is kind of
continuation of why/how Belle is an Independent. To me it seems like if she can’t actually go
out and see the world herself, then she can at least learn as much as she can about
it. She is not ignorant or oblivious she
is intelligent and constantly seeking knowledge. How can you not like her for being like this?
4.)
She’s Not Afraid of Other’s Who Are different
 |
| Belle aint scared'a no Beast |
Okay, so Belle is put in a very
difficult situation. Her father is being
held prisoner by the Beast who definitely is more animal like then human at
first encounter. Not to mention she
lives in a house with dozens of inanimate objects that can somehow talk and
move around. You know what that is
pretty creepy. Pee Wee’s Play House is a
terrifying enough place, now imagine having to spend all your time in a dark
Gothic Castle with a Beast and dozens of talking objects that could be watching
you at any moment. Belle is of course
frightened at first, but once she sees that most of the objects that live there
are very friendly and harmless she begins to see the positive things of the
palace. She even learns not to fear the
Beast at times to. There’s a scene where
he screams at her as she tries to take care of one of his wounds, and she fires
right back at him telling him he doesn’t need to be so rude and angry at her
for trying to help him. It really shows
that Belle hardly ever judges a book by its cover—Pun TOTALLY intended.
5.)
She wants to do more with her life other get married!
 |
| You, sir, are a tool! |
Seriously, Disney what is your deal
with trying to convince young girls that the solution to all of your problems
is marrying a prince? Do you know how
many lonely women there are in the world because you’ve encouraged them to wait for their “prince charming” to come to
them? Let’s look at the Disney Princess
Track Record, shall we: Snow Whites motivation: Marry a Prince. Aurora had to be rescued by a Prince. Cinderella same thing, but Belle is different
from all of them. She is pursued by
Gaston, the handsome, macho Adonis of the village, who is lusted after by every
woman in the village...except Belle! Belle seems to be the only one who sees Gaston for what he is: an
arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, maniacal bastard. Gaston lusts after Belle and wants her to
marry him. Belle shows no interest in
Gaston (independent thinking).
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| And just like that the "Beast" is out of the Friend Zone :p |
Even
later on when she starts to have feelings for the Beast, she didn’t decide she
liked him right away. She had to live with him and get to know him, and once
she was able to see past his outside appearance and love him for who he is on
the inside, and in the end she gets rewarded.
Belle is awesome because it’s not until the very end of the film where
expresses any interest in being married.
Snow White & Cinderella spout out their intentions in the first lines
of the opening song, but Belle remained true to herself, deciding to remain an
independent until she met her true prince charming.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, I'm glad you liked my post :)
DeletePerfect review. I'm freakin' in love with this movie beetween few H. Miyazaki's masterpieces!
ReplyDeleteBelle is a flat, simpering, whiny damsel a total cheap ripoff of the superior heroines Cinderella and Aurora, who already had all the good traits you guys pretend are exclusive to perfect little goody two shoes Belle, who lacks a real personality beyond omg faery tails!!!!1!! She's also a self absorbed, stuckup idiot who does two things far more stupid than any other princess. Aurora is better, more original, more admirable and unselfish, and your "reasons" for hating her are irrational and shallow, especially on the costume thing. Shallow AND shows you've never seen a little girl, as she's quite popular with them, up there with Cinderella and Punz. But hey, 14 year old Belle fans aren't known for their intelligence. I guess that's why they've latched on tight to the most overrated, boring, cliche princess ever simply because Disney incorrectly markets her as the "smart" one just for reading freaking Jack and the Beanstalk like a real philosopher. Lol.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention she's so frustratingly passive! She's not oppressed and abused like Cindy, hiding from a witch like Snow, or hiding unknowingly AND too responsible to leave like Aurora. She sits around on her butt waiting for some vague adventure to happen then accepts being a monster's prisoner. She never has the spine to tell Gaston to his face she doesn't want to marry him, and her failure to be strong enough to tell the beast she loves him nearly kills him.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJust because you like one princess more than another doesn't mean you have the right to put this person down. You have you own opinion and I respect that, but you could at least research or think about how fair your opinion is about Belle. Plus one princess's problems are no least than another. The same with a regular person. I'd like to see you try make a movie or a book.
DeleteTotally agree with your analysis! Personally my favourite Disney girl is Esmeralda, but its true Belle is great. It's so tiresome seeing the others - Ariel literally gives up her voice just for a guy she barely knows. I think Belle, Esmeralda, Pocahontas and Mulan are the best, and all the modern ones now (from Frozen and Brave and that) are all following in the 'independent mindset' foosteps rather than dreaming about prince charming.
ReplyDeleteBelle is a 17 year old girl who lives with her father Maurice who is very loving. Belle isn't just independent. She is a little shy, just like alot of people are, but reading helps her, i think, to not be so shy around others and helps express herself for who she is. She dreamt of adventure and wanted to see more than just the provincial town she grew up in all her life. The people in the village were okay, but they were also kind of mean and rude. She dident have anyone she could talk too in the village and everytime she tried to talk to someone they would just not care about anything she had to say. Belle had to be lonely with no friends i can imagine. Though, she wasent afraid to stick up for herself or her father when she needed too. The only person she really had who was there for her was her father. In my opinion, i dont think Belle is a 100% independent woman because she obviously shows that she is interested in romance. Her favorite book is Cinderella, which is the most romantic you can get when it comes to fairytales besides Snow White. Just because she turned down one man who was Gaston, did not mean that she wasent interested in love at all. The only reason she waited so long to tell the Beast she loved him was because of how he was. She was scared for her life in that castle at first, who wouldent be? The only reason she became more comfortable in the castle was because of Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Chip and all of the other objects that were alive in the castle being so friendly and kind to her. They gave her the strength to fight him and be brave, until the more she spent time with him the more she realized there was more to him than just the outside.
ReplyDeleteHe wasent just a beast, he was a man trapped in a beasts body who was trying to change his ways and fix his temper issues. Thats why she started falling in love with him because she got to know him and realized that he was actually kind and gentle, with help. Belle wasent really as introverted as everyone says either. As you can see, in the beginning, when people try talking to her, she automatically starts rambling on about her book. I think living in that village just made her very lonely and isolated. When she got to the castle she got friends and people who actually payed attention to what she said. The only person in the town who cared a little bit was the bookeeper that she visited in the evening. Anyone who reads a book looks introverted, but i dont think she was. She just needed people who cared about her as much as her father did, and who understood her. But to backup Snow White and Cinderella, they were in very abusive households and yet they still managed to stay somewhat happy through all of it. If you ask me thats a strong woman. Cinderella wasent dreaming of the prince, she just wanted to enjoy her time at the ball and have some fun. She never got to go out at all because of her evil stepmother and stepsisters. If you've forgotten, she dident even know it was the prince until her step mother talks about the prince searching for the maiden with the missing glass slipper. Cinderella wasent looking for a man, he just popped up and Snow White, bless her 14 year old heart, she just loved the prince. She had a crush, like any 14 year old would have had, but he wasent her only means of living. In the very beginning of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, she is singing to herself and then all of a sudden she sees him and runs away enbarassed by how she was dressed. She listens to him sing a song for her, smiles and closes the curtians. Snow White dident run to him and say "i love you" just like that. Disney wasent trying go make the princesses damsels in distress, he just made them have emotions like every human on this planet has. Why is it that in todays time, people only look up to strong heroines? Everyone has qualities about them that makes them different. The thing i love most about cartoon Belle is that she was strong because she was able to stand up for herself and the people that she loved most. Being independent dosent make you a strong person, being strong comes from within and your experiences.
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