feministdisney:

Beast admitted that this was, indeed, a poor defense of his ideas, and he eventually realized that he was dismissing the valid and thoughtful viewpoints of many people that agreed with Belle by claiming some sort of de-sensitized superiority.

(via becauseiamawoman)

Alright, so I just reblogged and commented on a post about Belle. My comment was about how I was always sad for her because I didn’t feel like she ever got that adventure.

Now, I feel compelled to share all my feelings about Belle. I actually signed up for Jezebel in order to post this as a comment (I wasn’t really aware of how they don’t show up unless you already are approved or whatever, so I don’t think anyone ever saw it. Until now!) It is sort of written in repsonse to another comment, which might explain some of the organization issues and tangents. Or not, I don’t really remember.

Without further ado…

The story itself is the Beast’s story, not Belle’s. She is the object that breaks his spell. Her role is to make him a human again. She is given the task to teach this “beast” of man manners and how to treat people. Because…that’s a woman’s job!

I also know Belle is supposed to be smart because…she loves to read! But, and not to discredit fairy tales…the book she is reading is a fairy tale. About…a woman who meets Prince Charming (though he is disguised…spoiler!) Belle loving a book about a Prince Charming doesn’t seem all that different from Snow White wishing her prince would come.

In addition to him treating her horribly and yet her love curing him of abusive behavior, it also really bothered me that Belle wanted “adventure in the great wide somewhere” and instead…she is trapped in a castle (where, I’m guessing she’ll stay when she gets married, but who knows!)

I just feel like Belle is marketed as strong and smart, which is fine because I think in some ways she is. She is definitely more spunky than her predecessors (with the exception of Ariel). But I think hers is one of the most dangerous story lines, just because the message is sort of “oh, the guy that kidnapped you and won’t let you eat if you don’t eat with him? He just needs to be loved! If you love him, he’ll turn into a Prince!” It would be one thing if he were only physically ugly, but his initial treatment towards her is just as ugly as Gaston. At least we know upfront that Gaston is a jerk.

…Despite all this, Belle was probably my favorite Disney princess growing up (though, admittedly, this is probably because she has brown hair and loves to read… just like me! And the music is fantastic. And…now that it is no longer possible for prom, I would totally consider her yellow ballgown for my wedding dress)

I also think Gaston is one of the most interesting villains. Not having an older female who feels threatened by a younger (prettier!) one is also a nice change.