Therapist Reacts to BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Animated) 

I do like how the witch turned them into how they saw each other. Like his servants saw the prince as a beast and the prince saw his servant as objects to serve him.

Belle is forgiving to the sheep that ate part of the page of her book and is irritated by Gaston throwing her book into a mud puddle because she understands sheep eat anything, adults generally understand the concept of respecting people's properties.

And Belle didn’t directly “teach him how to love”. She is not going out of her way to “fix” him. She just held him accountable for his bad behavior and HE changed himself. She called him out, it changed his perspective, and he improved himself. Then and only then is when she started warming up to him. Thank you for pointing out that the nuance to this story.

I love the subtitles referring Gaston as “No-Belle prize winner” 🤣

You technically cannot buy love with a library, but you can show your love and appreciation to someone by giving them a deeply personal and meaningful gift. And a library to a bookworm is kind of an ultimate life goal (source: me, a bookworm)

"You cannot buy love with a library" DONT LISTEN TO HIM, GIVE US A LIBRARY

Gaston's behaviour when he enters her house is just absolutely dangerous. A man forcing himself in her house, following his prey around, trying to touch her and pin her down...that's just every woman's biggest nightmare. To me, this is the reason why she wants to flee the village at that moment. She never felt like she was in place there, but now she feels that she escaped a near rape, she has lost all feeling for safety. Nobody will defend her if Gaston does it, he is the hero of the village. Nobody will believe her. And Gaston will not doubt of telling her that. He's the Weinstein of the village. God knows how many victims there are. So when he has left, she stays inside and barrickades the door. A loooong time afterhe has left, she is brave enough to peek through the door. The emotions; humiliation, shame, anger, fear, unbelief...it is all clear as she talks to herself when going out. Then she takes a run to leave the village, but one thing keeps her from actually running away: her father. She would never want to leave her father behind. So she cannot force herself to run away, even choosing her father over her own safety, but at the same time reluctant to return to the house in which she doesn't feel safe anymore. As a woman I always felt sick to my stomach seeing this scene.

Belle is hands down the most positive Disney princess for a child to look up to. She is educated, doesn't care what people think even when it is positive like when they talk of her beauty. She rejects a handsome ass hole. She loves her father, defends him, and overtime falls for someone who isn't attractive when she gets to know him and bond with him. Gotta say though... Always thought the beast was more attractive before he was human 🤣and I'm not even a furry. Hahaha

Belle = everything Bella is not in Twilight. Beast orders him to come to dinner and she basically says she'd rather starve. I love the shot after the wolves where she's treating his wounds because he's litterally this massive, horrifying creature roar-screaming at her and she just sits, back straight, hair flying in his rage till he's done. I'd be terrified, but she just shoots back "serves you right." She has so much compassion, but she has such a healthy amount of self respect.

“Unlike Gaston who is a jerk because he loves himself too much, Beast is awful because he hates himself,” Damn, this statement hit me like a truck and I’m not even a minute in

Can we talk about how 8:22 is straight out of an abusive relationship? No greeting, only talks about what he wants her to do, no respect for her possessions/house and the most important, no respect for her consent or boundaries. Like the walk up where he throws over a chair and pins her to the wall to kiss her is exactly how abusive relationships are portrayed. It’s played as a joke but that actually happens and it’s terrifying

What particularly disturbs me about the "Beauty and the Beast is StOcKhOlM sYnDrOmE" crowd is they NEVER, NEVER, NEVER make a single objection about Gaston's behavior. They waste all their breath calling the relationship between Beast and Belle as toxic, but turn a completely blind eye to how Gaston acts around Belle. I think it reveals more about them than it does the movie itself.

The Stockholm Syndrome thing always bugged me because she didn’t start coming around to him until he genuinely stopped being a dick to her and started being nice. And when he releases her as his prisoner, she actually leaves. And she may not have come back if it weren’t for the impending danger. That’s not Stockholm Syndrome.

It wasn't so much the 'act of giving a library' that was special to Belle. It was because in spite of everyone making her feel like a freak for loving books so much it showed he was actively supporting her reading, making her feel truly heard and seen. Also because he knew she loved to read and had to give up books for the rest of her life to live with him and this broke his heart. making her 10x more valued than Gaston

Thank you for restoring my faith in this romance. I loved this movie as a kid, so it made me sad when I learned about Stockholm syndrome and made the connection with the story. Now I can love it again without feeling guilty! 😭

The library scene is AMAZING bc it's the first time someone acknowledges Belle's loves for books in a positive way. Beast isn't trying to buy her love, he's just giving this to her because he knows how much it means to her and because he wants her to feel happy.

Belle: "Dad, do you think I'm weird?" Dad: "No, darling, why would you think that?" Belle: "Well, the entire village just sang a song about it" Dad: "Oh yeah. I saw them rehearsing it, earlier today"

- Gaston: "There are no pictures" - Belle: "It has. A sheep has just eaten it"

"It's yours -- because I don't know how to read." This is why I love the film with the cut scenes added in. We get to see Belle teaching Beast to read. One of the sweetest scenes in the movie failed to make it into the theatrical release.

One thing I always loved about the scene where Belle and Beast are arguing after the wolf attack is the way she responds to beast by comparison to the servants. The servants are afraid when he yells and run to hide, she doesn't even flinch and instead goes harder into his face. That shows even more her bravery and strong will.

Something I noticed when Gaston just invited himself into Belle’s house is that she was constantly trying to put distance between herself and him, and he was constantly trying to close the distance and corner her. She was putting furniture between them- chairs, desks- and ducking under his arm when he tried to corner her. Like, talk about a red flag- dude can’t take a hint, for one thing, and it’s a nonverbal way of establishing that Gaston will never care about her boundaries or comfort, imo.

I've never felt that Belle ever had Stockholm Syndrome. Emma Watson even agrees with this stance, pointing out that Belle kept her independence the whole time, and argued with the Beast, until he showed a softer side. He even freely allowed her to leave when she saw that Maurice was in trouble.

Now that I'm older I can see that this film is actually pretty dark in certain areas. The main thing being that spell the Beast is under is not just physical but psychological as well. Its spell is slowing stripping away at his humanity and the longer he remains a beast the more beast-like he becomes. When he's first introduced, he walks on all fours like an animal, is more angry and territorial and wears only pants and a cloak for clothes but over the course of the movie he begins to regain his humanity thanks to the time he spends with Belle. The directors confirmed in an interview/commentary that if the Beast had never met Belle and the spell never broken then he would've stopped wearing clothes all together, would forget how to talk and would've run off to live in the woods like a wild animal. It's a pretty disturbing notion that the spell is turning him into a beast both on the outside and the inside.

As you guys were talking about Belle being kind of distanced from the town, the realisation hit me like a brick - all the townpeople are dressed in warm tones, the coolest tones being green tones and creams. Belle is quite literally divorced from them with her stark white blouse and skirt as well as her prominently blue apron. She is visually othered, her gestures + body language others her and the fact that even though everyone talks about her, she barely says a word to anyone. In every possible way, she was set apart from them

I think Gaston wants belle for his wife because she's the one thing he can't have. That drives narcissists insane.

I think the fact that Gaston is a prolific hunter and collector of “trophies” speaks to his character as well as his intentions towards Belle. We are introduced to him hunting, and when declares his interest in Bell he says “I’ve got my sights set on that one” while pointing his gun at her. Not very subtle. She’s the most beautiful girl in town, and so he needs to capture her, hunt her, trap her, etc. just like the animals he hunts, he doesn’t care about her for what she is, only for what she will do for the image he has cultivated for himself. The fact that she is uninterested in him doesn’t matter, and in fact I’d say that probably only makes him more interested because of the “challenge” she presents.

Well, what most don’t know is that this story is originally a French fairy tale based on an real love story. Katharina de Medici forced one of her court ladies to marry a wolf-man that they considered to be a beast. But he was actually a good hearted man and on the wedding night he didn’t force her to anything but was rather shy. So with the time they both fell in love and then had 4 kids together. So, in fact, the original story turned out to be a big love story.

I just have to comment, the voice actor/singer for Gaston has an astounding baritone timbre and as in traditional opera casting, the bass baritone is often the "villain".

*“At first I was creeped out by the talking, singing monster-house, but then the dancing BEERS showed up!”* This is the BEST fictitious Yelp review to ever exist! 😂

"Belle could be burned with acid or something and be deformed and she would still be beautiful -- a lovely person." My face being deformed on one side, that hit really close to home, even more so because I didn't expect to hear something like this. Thank you

I’m surprised that you don’t think Belle is starting to catch feelings in the snowball scene. She also wants to dance with the Beast. She may not be in love with him yet, but she’s got to have some kind of butterflies, otherwise it wouldn’t surprise her so much (new and a bit alarming) and make her feel shy and hide behind the tree to try to sort out her feelings. Maybe I relate because I’m a girl.

I love that Alan's parents didn't make him feel bad about crying at Beauty and the Beast. No one should have to feel bad about crying when they're moved by something regardless of gender, and his parents allowing him to express those feelings without guilt is so wonderful and unfortunately not always the case for boys as they're growing up.

Gaston wants Belle because, as he says in his first lines “She’s the best. And don’t I deserve the best?”. He views her as just another trophy to keep in his house. That’s not love.

The other thing about the wolf fight is that afterward, *Belle almost leaves.* She isn't just immediately like "Oh he saved me, I should take care of him now." She almost gets on the horse to leave him in the snow. She's still upset about the confrontation in the West Wing, but she CHOOSES to go back and help him anyway. It doesn't feel like Beast "bought" her sympathy or that she only did it because she owed him. He put himself at risk for her, and she decides that despite everything, that means he's deserving of compassion.

I'm so glad someone finally defended this movie. It was my favourite Disney princess when I was a kid and I still love it today. I never felt that it was Stockholm syndrome. I actually think people seeing evil in everything is getting old. It's just annoying and you can't expect something made 20+ years ago to hold to current societal standards.

"He's kind and gentle, he's my friend" 🥰. Thank you for simply, logically explaining what a beautiful movie / relationship this is!

“You can’t buy love with a library.” Well, no, but with that library, you sure can buy a lot of goodwill.

The thing that made me appreciate the animated movie’s curse upon the castle staff was realizing: “Oh. It’s a metaphor. The beast sees them as _objects_ so they turn into… objects. Neat.” (Edited “seems” to “sees”.)

I NEVER fell for the whole “stockholm syndrome” buzzfeed talking point/hot take… she was never really imprisoned or locked away besides the first 30 mins. She even describes it as “a promise she made”. She could leave at any point (which she literally DOES halfway through) but she goes back because she’s a good person and wants to save the Beast. Before he officially gave her his blessing to leave, no one was really going to stop her from leaving before that. Both the Beast, Belle, and the enchanted staff knew that.

Fun fact. While most of the Disney versions of the Grim fairy tails were made less dark by a long shot than the original, Beauty And The Beast's original story is only a little darker than the Disney movie. It is a LOT more complicated though. For one thing there were two fairies a good one and a bad one. Also Adam was a nice guy from the get-go, he wasn't cursed for being mean to an old lady, he was cursed BY an old lady (the bad fairy) for refusing to marry her. OH and she was his former nurse. She took care of him as a baby then decided he was hot once he hit his late teens and got ideas. (Herbert is that you?)

“The *nuance* is actually where Beauty and The Beast is a lovely story.” I cannot thank you enough for saying this. ❤️

YESSSS FINALLY someone actually proffesional to clarify that this movie is NOT about Stockholm Syndrome. I love you guys

I also love how Belle is not intimidated by Beast's anger. She sees his character weakness, so his aggression seems toothless to her.

I believe that we don’t get close ups of Belle in the Belle song because it’s about how the town sees her, not how she is. The town doesn’t get a closer, more intimate look at Belle so neither does the audience.

The other thing about the scene with Belle treating the Beast's arm is that she straight up doesn't take any of his crap. He's blustering and yelling and getting in her face and she doesn't let herself get intimidated but instead just yells right back. And he ends up actually realizing she's right about some things and backing off, and then answers her sincerely when she thanks him for saving her life. It's the first time he sees her as a person rather than a prisoner, and it completely changes how he behaves towards her from that point on.

I think one of the reasons why this cannot be considered as an unhealthy relationship (falling in love with a “monster”) is because Beast’s behavior and attitude towards Belle improves. He was a jerk in the beginning, but then after he saves her from the wolves, he doesn’t fall back to controlling or selfish behavior. He doesn’t hurt her, he lets her go and respects her freedom and her dreams and her choices. Edward and Christian Grey keep falling into possessive and creepy behavior, thus its unhealthy.

To me, after watching this video… the power of the story is that Belle started and continued through the story with a solid foundation of her own BOUNDARIES.

As a kid, I used to say that Belle was my favourite Disney princess because she didn't fall in love at first sight for no reason like some other princess

I want y'all to do cinderella. People think she's a passive character that's just waiting for a prince to save her but I'm reality she's an abuse victim that does what she can with what little she's given and it's a really good image of feminine strength

A lot of people gloss over the tiny scene that happens before the library scene. The one where he's with the staff thinking about what he could do/gift her that would make her happy. He's brainstorming about it, but he says he just wants to do something nice for her. He's not out to SUPER impress her, unlike Gaston or anything of the like. He just wants to do something nice and he settles on giving her this library because she adores books. During the library scene, he gets excited at HER reaction, you can even see his 'I did it!" face for a second. He's happy because SHE'S happy, and its basically here that both of them start to see the beast as human. It's this scene where he basically decides he's going to live as his best self.

One thing that suttley shows Beast becoming more human is when he starts wearing more cloths. His starting outfit was a tattered cap, and ripped pants. In the end its a clean well kept cap, none ripped pants and a clean white shirt.

I have also been turned around; I loved Belle as a kid because she was a girl that loved books as much as I did, but as I got older, I got that same idea that she was just a victim of Stockholm syndrome. You guys gave me back my love for Belle 😊

I've always loved how Belle's just thoroughly unimpressed with Beast's shouting and complaining when she's tending Beast's wound.

I like the fact that in the animated version everybody else got curse for no reason because I feel like that illustrates a very important lesson ... your bad decisions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences can spill onto other people

The bank heist in Sweden didn’t even happen in Stockholm, it was in Oslo. And the hostages of the bank refused to testify against the robbers because the police had made such a sh*tshow out of the negotiations that the hostages had lost faith in the police, where the robbers had actually done more to make sure that the hostages were comfortable than law enforcement did. And some ‘specialist therapist’ or something in Stockholm *heard* about this encounter and came up with this idea based off reports, without even meeting the victims.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favourite Disney movies. Belle is the first intelligent Disney princess and I loved it. She's nerdy and people judge her for that. They can't appreciate her mind, because they are only able to see what's on the outside. Beast was the first Disney prince with a great beard and he teaches us, that this comes with a price. If you find a man with a great beard, he usually has a hairy back ;)

"He's just awful because he hates himself" best words I've ever heard

The symbolism of the books are so important too. Through out the movie you see her love for books because to her she’s living the adventures in the books she reads. You see Gaston constantly abuse her books which essentially symbolizes Belle herself, but Beast saw her love for books and wanted to give her adventure and more stories. Beast himself knows he has nothing to offer her and in his wildest dreams at this point in the movie where he gives her the library, he couldn’t even picture her loving him. She treats him with kindness and he is learning for the first time since the curse that beauty exists inside people not the outside. Truly love the theme of the books though-out!!

13:15 ish, Beast being genuinely surprised that Belle wants to take her father's place. The incredulous tone is one of the many reasons why this film is beautiful. Beast thinks everyone is a horrible person and horrible to each other, and then theres Belle starting to rewrite his perceptions even then. Then throughout the film she continues to be accepting and courageous and fearlessly herself, which is SO unlike the people in her town who wouldnt dare do anything that would be perceived as "unacceptable" or "different". Belle's personality alone is the reason why she was able to look beyond Beast's fear tactics and bad attitude to eventually encourage him to start thinking differently about life and people and himself also.

I personally think Beast giving Belle the library is not going only giving her interests (Her love of books and reading) but a place for her *her own place with the Palace besides her bedroom* and more welcoming her as her home

If you look at it closely, you'll see the Beast is physically everything Gaston loves about himself, taken to the extreme. What separates man from beast in this story is compassion and love, which is why those are what the Beast must learn and earn to become human again. This can only be accomplished through the hard work and dedication of someone who's never cared about outwardly appearance before, but rather the compassion and love in people's hearts: Belle

The thing I love about Belle's relationship with her father is that he is equally willing to sacrifice his life for her as she is for him. He was willing to die as a captive so she wouldn't take her place, and she didn't care how old he was - she wasn't going to let that happen. I imagine she learned what love really means because of the example he set for her. For me, this movie is just as much about the legacy of love as it is about redemption.

Belle was always my favorite Disney princess because of her depth, intelligence, and strength. This movie is misunderstood. It’s a beautiful message and Belle is a great role model. I ran this VHS ragged as a kid lol.

See I hate that people say that this story is just Stockholm syndrome, it’s so much more than that. It’s seeing people for who they truly are, not for what they look like or how they present themselves to people they don’t trust or know. It’s a beautiful story of a girl giving everything for her father and a beast trying his best to make it comfortable for her and being influenced for the better by her kindness and her true heart. It’s him learning that putting those whose who you love needs before your own. Yes, he started by being selfish but her influence helps him grow and learn the lessons he needed to know; he is better for simply knowing her and her genuine self.

The captions calling Gaston a "No-Belle Prize Winner" was the cherry on top for me. I love this video.

"Gaston is a guy in his 30s, and he's still acting like a high school boy" the sad part is, there are lots of people like Gaston around :(

I am absolutely OBSESSED with Belle’s hair animation when she’s tending to the Beast’s wounds. I keep rewatching it

Fun fact: “Beauty and the Beast” lost the academy award for best picture to “Silence of the Lambs,” because without a specifically animated category of course it did. A few years later, when the show went to Broadway, Anthony Hopkins co-hosted the Tony Awards, so he narrated and introduced the “Beauty and the Beast” performance of the Broadway cast. That’s one of my favorite instances of entertainment worlds colliding.

"Gaston is a guy in his 30s, and he's still acting like a high school boy". This basically sums up Gaston's entire character arc, or lack thereof, in a nutshell.

During the song "Belle", there are so few close-ups of her because the song is about how everyone else perceives her: a pretty girl with her nose in a book. The rest of the movie is about revealing who Belle really is, her compassion and bravery and intelligence, which the Beast is the first to really see. This is important because the whole reason for his curse is that he was a shallow prince that turned away an old woman in need of help because she was ugly. He starts to see past the shallow surface of Belle as a pretty girl with her nose in a book to fall in love with the person she really is underneath.

Honestly my only real issue with this film is that I've always liked how Adam looks better when he's a beast than when he 's a person. His design was so friggin cool!

Say what you want about the "problematic" theme in beauty and the beast of Belle's imprisonment, there's something compelling about a story of falling for someone who doesn't feel like they deserve love, because the world tells them they're a monster. And them learning from the example of that person's kindness, how to be kind in turn. With no expectation of anything in return, because they're finally realising they aren't the horrible the thing they were made to feel like. I think it's a story that, when told right, can be so relatable and - in a sense - revolutionary for typical film love stories.

finally! i'm so tired of ppl just writing the whole story off as completely toxic and a total "Stockholm syndrome" thing. i've always thought of it as the first Disney princess movie to actually show the characters gradually grow to love each other, instead of the whole "love at first sight" stuff. i also disagree with the idea of Belle trying to "cure him with her love". that's just not what happened. she only started warming up to the Beast after a positive change in his behaviour.

A point that was kinda glossed over in this video is that Belle tells him that he shouldlearn to control his temper and in the end when she arrives and sees Gaston attaching the beast, there is also the realization that he finally is in control of his temper.

The scene where Belle and the Beast are dancing, that swooping shot across the ceiling and back down, is my absolute favorite scene. When you think about what it took to animate something like that, is incredible and awe inspiring.

The animated version is so much better than the live version. Timing is everything.

As to the "why 'wife' and not just 'conquest'?" question: Gaston's a hunter. An apex predator. It's literally the very first thing established about him. He doesn't just want a notch on his bedpost, he wants a permanent trophy that he can take possession of. There's also the subversion of the Disney Prince trope in this movie. In any other Disney movie, Gaston would be the love interest; good looking, has the respect and adoration of the townspeople, protects them from wild beasts, and "loves" the protagonist. In any other Disney movie, he would marry the princess. And Gaston's entitlement comes from that genre savvy viewpoint just as much as his narcissism. He doesn't understand, genuinely, what Belle's issue with him is. He's the Hero. The Hero gets the girl. The Prince marries the Princess etc.

Unrelated but I love how Alan is geeking over the movie details. It's so fascinating to listen to passionate people like Alan and Jonathan, and it's one of the reasons why I genuinely love this channel. Besides crying with Alan, of course. 😂

What I like about the scene where Beast gives Belle the library is that it’s not on him wanting to try and gain love points, he gave it to her because he was grateful. And he wouldn’t know it’d be such a major gesture because he grew up in privilege and wouldn’t know a small gift.

I love how kind you were to this movie. Belle was always one of my favorite princesses, and it is sad to see how much hate this movie gets. Thank you for pointing the beautiful and meaningful parts of the movie!

I kinda like how Belle goes about the place while reading because it shows that she's _not kidding_ when she says "every morning's just the same" in the town, it's to a point she can maneuver her way through it without once looking up from her book that she's completely absorbed in. Edit: I'm sorry but the way Beast runs in the movie sometimes is _sending_ me

8:26 something I didn't bat an eye at as a child that now as an adult makes me deeply uncomfortable... the way Gaston just let's himself into Belle's home and then continuously encroaches in on her personal space even when she makes it very clear (see: taking multiple steps back for every one step forwards Gaston takes towards her- and later even taking care to place pieces of furniture between the two of them, like the table and the rocking chair) that she isn't comfortable with him being so close to her. Nevermind that he then quite literally *pins her* into the corner, and then pins her *again* even after she dodges him the first time. It's an animated children's movie, so I know nothing bad is going to happen, but imagining being in Belle's position in a reality that isn't bound by those rules is absolutely terrifying.

This has long been my favorite Disney movie. As an adult, when everyone fell into the "yeah, but it stockholm syndrome" perspective, I never knew how to counter that. Until now! So thank you for giving me ammunition with which to defend my favorite Disney film! 😁

I always saw Belle as the most positive of the classical disney princesses in every way - but yet the most underrated as well, probably because she is just not "girly" enough, but actually challenges a lot of notions about "being a good female". What I never realized before are two things. 1) The human beast doesn't look pretty, as compared to his beast form. I always found this frustrating as a kid - I mean, shouldn't she be rewarded with a handsome guy? But now I realized that there is some meaning in it as well. Even after his resurrection it is still about the character, not the looks. They actually made a good point on that. 2) Belle really stands out in the opening song. The whole village is muddy and brown and yellow-ish. Even Gaston, who is wearing bright colors, falls with his red and black into the over-all color theme. But Belle in her blue and white dress really shines in between the villagers. Like literally. She is easy to spot in every wide shot, underlining her relationship with the town. And her dress doesn't get sullied when she is wiping the mud from the book cover. Like she doesn't let Gaston influence her at all. I don't even know if this is on purpose or not, but if then it is peak symbolism.

Cursing an entire castle for the sake of one person is an accurate representation of the hardship that having a person like beast can have on a family or community who is invested in them. Their struggles are yours and yiu go through their humbling together.

I love that Gaston's title is "No-Belle prize winner" in the captions 🤣

I used to do the read n’ walk from the library in kindergarten. A kid got in trouble for not looking where he was going, and walking into someone. When the teacher scolded him, he complained, “But Destiny’s doing it!” The teacher responded with, “Well she can do it while keeping up, and doesn’t run into anyone.” 😂😂😂

This inspired me to rewatch the film as it was one of my favourites as a child - thank you! I forgot how delightful the animation is and the acting and character design are just wonderful. A few things I noticed on the re-watch: Beast does a surprised look when Belle thanks him for saving her life... like he's suddenly thinking, "I did what? ...Did I do something good?" The "he's my friend" moment also feels really significant, because we know Belle didn't have any friends in the village (beyond that nice old bookseller, what a lovely man :) ). She really wants "to have someone understand" and she really feels Beast understands her in a way that the people from the village haven't - there's a couple of nice shots of them reading together, which suggests she's been able to share her love of books and stories with him. I think there's always a delicate line when a story could be interpreted as problematic 'but it's ok cause she likes it'... You know, there's a dark brooding hero, but the heroine is into him so it's ok? I like how Belle *doesn't* tolerate Beast's intimidating behaviour - I think she sees that she's genuinely upset him in the West Wing but while she apologises for her overstepping, she refuses to stay to be roared at, and later reminds him to control his temper. She becomes happy at the castle when he takes the time to show a softer and gentler side to her... and even then, as much as it's a lovely adventure, she misses her father. There's a heart-rending moment when Beast realises he needs to let her go because it seems like the moment he's finally achieved the goal of learning to love he realises that when you love someone, you value their happiness above your own self-interest, and no sooner does he realise this than he has to put it into action. And in general I love how tenderly and gently he treats Belle after the wolf incident and wound scene. I feel like when rewatching it's obvious that there is a vulnerable side to him even early on, but when he dares to let Belle see this side of him, everything gets better.

People, if you watch this without captions, you are missing out. The captioner has so many different nicknames for Gaston it is hilarious! Gastoff, Gastno, Gastnever, and the best is No-Belle Prize Winner!

I like how, in the library scene, Beasts' eyes are all for Belle - he doesn't look around the library, he just wants to see her happiness, because it makes him happy.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I've been so sick and tired of people saying that Belle just has Stolkholm Syndrome, COMPLETELY ignoring what the character growth ACTUALLY was!! I even took someone through the definition of what Stolkholm Syndrome is and then went over how Belle doesn't fall into those categories even if it looks like she does, and they STILL insisted that I was the one who didn't understand! Of course, this is going by the definition that people normally use, not the one that you later gave. Which I do agree with, cuz by the logic of "I don't see my captor as a one dimensional bad guy but instead as a multifaceted human for whom I can have empathy for" then yea, she has that... but I just hate how people assume that her relationship is her just being manipulated

8:24 I love this little animation moment here. Some animated movies are so lazy and only give their characters the most basic expressions needed to get the point across. But the nose wrinkles they draw for Belle in this scene are so real and I love them.

It is also possible that the objects that cannot speak were all animals. We know the ottoman was a dog, so maybe the 9,000 plates and forks are all ants or something. When the curse lifts, they're going to need pest control.

I think Gaston wanting a wife specifically is about ownership and control. Especially in this medieval-France situation, "wife" infers a degree of ownership that "girlfriend" or "conquest" don't. And he's so full of himself that he doesn't even care what she wants. It's totally fine if my wife finds me repugnant, as long as I own her and can tell her what to do. As long as she's MINE.

THANK YOU! It always bugged me so much that people labelled this relationship as "problematic" and "toxic" (but then, the internet throws around the word "toxic" way too much). If Belle started blushing or showing signs of romantic love when the Beast was being a jerk and verbally abusive then yes, that's toxic. But Belle had no qualms about setting her boundaries or escaping an unhealthy situation. I've even seen people claim that Gaston, the narcissistic misogynistic incel, was a better suitor for Belle than the Beast. Like, how could you watch the entire movie and still go "yeah, Gaston is so nice"? The Beast was an awful person at first but the whole point of the movie is to show how he redeems himself. Gaston and the Beast are foils to each other - while they both start off as selfish and aggressive, the Beast learns to show compassion, to love Belle and in turn, love himself; while Gaston digs himself deeper and deeper into the hole where he thinks he's right about everything and he deserves to snatch whatever he wants with no regards to people around him, which ultimately ends in his downfall (pun intended). People really just want to act as if older Disney movies were lame because the female characters were kind and empathetic (and hence, "not strong and independent" because we all know that strength = physical power), or because the story had a nice romance in it. Also the way books in this movie was treated took away half of my lifespan lmao

14:07 This is actually interesting. I don't know why, but I often find myself empathizing for characters that hate themselves.

On this weird starting points for animated relationships topic, Howl's Moving Castle would be so interesting to look at. Would love to see what you guys think :)

The beast did not deserve to be cursed, at least not in this version of the story. He was eleven when he was cursed. They never stated his age but some simple math reveals it. “The rose will bloom until his twenty first year” and “For ten years we’ve been rusting”. I think an eleven year old kid should refuse to let a scary stranger into his home.

Is no one going to address the fact the the sorceress cursed an 11 year old boy for not letting her into his home? Logistically a prince wouldn't be answering the door himself but for real she cursed the entire castle over a boy being an entitled brat? Also something that is never addressed in either version is what happened to the beast's father the king? I believe (while not stated in the movie but shown in the credits) his name is Prince Adam because even if he was dead regardless of age Beast/Adam should be King even with a regency until he's of age and if he's alive where is he and why wasn't he cursed with a worse fate than his son?

I'm glad you showed one of my favorite scenes in its entirety: when Beast gifts Belle the library. I love this scene because he looks so excited just to do something that he hopes she will like. And I don't think it has ulterior motives. Yes he is hoping that she might be able to break the curse, but its shown that his hopes on this are not terribly high. But in the previous scene, he's watching her interact with her horse and playing with the dog/foot rest, he touches the bandage she's put on his injured arm and declares that he wants to do something for her. I always thought that he wanted to repay her kindness for tending to his injury. He simply says "I wanna do something for her! But what?" and he gets advice. Thankfully Lumiere remembered how interested Belle was in their library. I always thought that before the reveal, Beast went with the servants to clean up the library so it would show at its best. Then he acts like a kid on Christmas morning, but it's a present for her! I also liked that when they're interacting to feed the birds, he's probably with her because he wants to spend time with her, but it's not faked interest. He actually starts trying to feed the birds himself and when unsuccessful, Belle helps him with a little encouragement and he's so happy when the birds actually start to trust him rather than fear him. Unrelated but the whole segment of the servants fighting off the angry mob of villagers is the best! Also, every time I see the transformation scene, his hand reminds me of Renaissance art, like the sculpture of the David.