"Belle" is based on "Beauty and the Beast," though not the Disney version most millennials grew up with. Rather, it's based more broadly on the 1756 French fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. Audiences will find no Lumiere or Cogsworth in this anime. The story is divided between two worlds.
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare – 1623 folio
In the initial opening song, Belle tells a surprised gentleman about a book she just finished reading. The red and gold volume she carries is about “two lovers in fair Verona”.
Behind 'Belle': An 18th Century Portrait Ahead Of Its Time
One is biracial. Belle is based on the real-life story of that woman, Dido Elizabeth Belle, who was the daughter of a Royal Navy captain and the slave he met after capturing a Spanish ship.
Dido Elizabeth Belle was the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Lindsay (1737–88), an officer in the Royal Navy, and an African woman named Maria Bell(e). We do not know where or how Maria and Lindsay first met, but during 1760 his ship the HMS Trent, was sailing around the coasts of Senegal and the Caribbean.
Belle adores reading. Different stories bring her to new places, introduce her to new people, and allow her to see new perspectives. She knows it takes courage and kindness to see beauty where others don't.
Theres a prevailing fan theory that circulates around the internet that the book Belle is talking about at the beginning of the movie is Aladdin because she says it has, "far off places, magic spells, sword fights, and a prince in disguise." People think this describes the story of Aladdin, but not all of it fits.
17-year-old Suzu Naito lives in the rural Kōchi Prefecture of Japan with a lost passion for singing and writing songs. As a child, Suzu witnessed her mother rescue a girl from a flooding river at the cost of her own life.
While the two deeply care about each other, Suzu does not manage to confess her feelings to Shinobu despite repeatedly trying to gain the courage to do so, even willing to give him up to Luka, who she believes also has a crush on him since they had a minor incident.
Inside "U", Tomo takes on the form of a small angel that happens to become one of Belle's first fans. Wanting to help the Dragon connect to her, he leads Belle to his castle so she can unveil the mysteries of the dreaded beast. He remains a loyal fan and friend of Belle throughout their time together.
Belle and Sebastien is based on the popular novel of the same name by the French actress Cécile Aubry. She later wrote and directed a popular TV series based on the novel, starring her son, Mehdi El Glaoui.
Refusing to watch Jean Cocteau's 1946 film adaptation of the fairy tale, Woolverton instead based Belle on actress Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Jo March in the 1933 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's book Little Women.
Of course, if you ask Belle at a Disney theme park, she'll probably give you a different answer. But we do know of at least one other story that Belle loves. In “Human Again,” a song cut from the original film but added for the re-release, Belle is shown reading the end of Romeo and Juliet to the Beast.
The main – indeed the only – stated piece of feminism is that Belle has a job, so escapes the passivity and helplessness that has defined heroines since Disney and beyond. Eagle eyed feminist-checkers noted even before the film's release that Belle's inventing is unpaid – so it's not a job, it's a hobby.
Being humble, kind, and caring are inner qualities that result in the love between Belle and Beast and allows Beast to regain his human form and marries Belle.
The queen left him in the care of an evil fairy who tried to seduce him when he became an adult; when he refused, she transformed him into a beast. Only by finding true love, despite his ugliness, could the curse be broken. He and Beauty are married and they live happily ever after together.
In the animation, Belle reads Romeo and Juliet to the Beast and he enjoys it. But we then find out he doesn't know how to read. Belle teaches him. In the new version, they are both well-read and this is something they bond over.
Belle from Beauty and the Beast is the grandmother of Jane Porter from Tarzan. Disney movies are known for their Easter eggs and one of them confirms that Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Jane Porter from Tarzan are related.
The original Beauty of Beauty and the Beast did suffer from Stockholm syndrome. She developed feelings for the Beast under duress, alone and unsupported, rather than through genuine connection. However, as the story has been altered for modern audiences, elements of Stockholm syndrome have all but vanished.
“She kind of looked like Angelina Jolie — very beautiful,” O'Hara said in the book “Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara,” as excerpted by Insider. “I didn't see how anybody would identify with that person. You'd look at her and put her on a pedestal. [Animators] changed the look of her.
“You're adding a bit of power to the character by giving her the blue,” she told Allure. “It's a very subtle way of saying, 'Yeah, but young women, young girls, can be empowered, too. '” Eiseman described the color as “dependable. It's reliable.
