From: chuck@cygnus.eid.anl.gov (Charles Cilek)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Re: Belle's Character (was Re: Sanitizing Fant
Date: 16 Nov 92 16:57:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: mcs.1992Nov16.165720.27277
Reply-To: chuck@cygnus.eid.anl.gov
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois

In article 7674@news2.cis.umn.edu, avatar@wings.micro.umn.edu (Timothy Fay) writes:
 
> I didn't see anything about Belle that indicated she was such a "strong"
> character.  Every situation she found herself in was the result of some
> _other_ character's actions.  For example, she winds up a prisoner
> after her father bungles his way into the old castle, and in order
> to manufacture a pretext for changing her attitude toward the Beast, the
> writers had her running though the forest and attacked by wolves.  (GOSH!
> Ain't that the most original story idea anyone ever had--NOT!)  A strong
> character creates situations, while a weak character only reacts to them,
> and Belle clearly was not a very "strong" character.
> 
> Belle's character reflects a very rigid, conservative view of women.
> She is, at best, a very _un_-"PC" character (though certainly not the
> worst example in that film, e.g., "The Bimbettes").
> 		Reply to:  avatar@wings.micro.umn.edu
> 			-Percival MacLeach

Wlll, where do I start...

First, the idea that Belle is not a "strong" character because she
is only reacting to other character' actions is false on its face. 
I would not consider this to be a good definition of a strong character.
By this argument, Gaston is a strong character because he is a schemer.

A better definition of a strong character is that the character is able 
to take the initiative and resolve the situation to the best possible outcome.
Belle takes the initiative in a number of scenes. First, she is the only 
character in town to stand up to Gaston and to see him for the pig he is.
Second, she chooses to take her father's place in the castle, against his
objections.  Third, she is able to fight the wolves off long enough to be
rescued.  Fourth, she takes the Beast back to the castle when she could 
have left him for dead and finished her escape (that would have been the 
action of a STRONG character -- NOT!).
Fifth, she is the only one in the castle to stand up to the Beast's yelling,
and sixth, she almost prevents her father from being locked up, save only for
Gaston's quick thinking.  

There are no places in the film where she falls into Damsel in Distress mode.
The closest is when she is standing by the horse when Beast is fighting the 
wolves; but seriously, what is she supposed to do here? She had been fighting
the wolves with the tree branch, but the wolves broke that weapon, so she's 
supposed to commit hari-kari by fighting the wolves bare-handed? As a matter
of fact, her reaction after the wolves flee and the Beast falls is very
undamsel-like. She doesn't immediately run to Her Hero's side.  She takes a
moment to decide what to do.  The only other place she is not able to beat the
situation is when she and her father are locked in their basement.  To her 
credit, however, it should be noted that the men-folk of the town are in
a Gaston-induced frenzy by this point, and she almost stopped her father
from being taken away.

Overall, I think that Belle is a very strong character, and not at all
reflective of a conservative view of women.  Obviously there is some 
disagreement, and any comments would be welcome.
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