I don't know about that; Rapunzel didn't really get things in motion until Flynn showed up when he entered the tower, which I wouldn't call that being "of her own agency". Flynn Rider was the "catalyst" who actually drove the story and changed as a character, not Rapunzel. I'd argue that the TV series does more for Rapunzel as a character who had actions that drove the story forward and had actual consequences/stakes than anything she did in the movie.DisneyFan09 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 2:16 pmSorry, but I have to disagree with that. Rapunzel was highly in charge of being both a catalyst and an agent to her own story. The plot revolved around her desire to get out of her prison and fulfill her wish by getting to see the device that was her calling. Belle, on the other hand, had a lesser arc, but her experience at the castle was essentially more satisfying than being in her poor, provincial life. Which called for her desire to live in an adventure. And besides, Belle essentially had an arc of her own: She came to realize that there was something good in the Beast all along, something that she didn`t realized at first.Musical Master wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:57 am I'd argue that Belle and Rapunzel are in the same position as Asha is when it comes to their stories, where they don't have an arc/plot involvement per-say, but still doesn't need one to be fine characters to watch. Wish seems to be about a battle of philosophies/ideas between Asha and King Magnifico on how wishes work and how they should be granted. Quite honestly, I find that a very interesting and engaging story to watch, you don't get Disney Animated films where the hero and the villain seems to be on the same page at first until their own certain actions put them on different paths.
As for Belle, the whole "adventure in the great wide somewhere" could be looked at by some as a vague fill-in-the-blank character function that was the writers' way to give Belle something to hold on to, when in reality the Beast was the one who had learned, changed and grew and it actually meant something. She did indeed saw something good in the Beast, but only when he stopped being a complete jerk which he was acting like in the beginning, which I wouldn't call the best arc in the world. I'll give credit that Belle did save his life when she could've left him for dead, but that was the one moment in the whole film where she did take action in her own story (and her showing the townsfolk the Beast with the magic mirror is an honorable mention). The original fairy tale is about Belle, but the Disney version is about the Beast and there is nothing wrong with that.
Both Belle and Rapunzel are not bad characters by any means, but to me, they both feel that the writers kind of struggled with how to handle their own development and amount of agency. When there were other protagonists who had stronger writing and were very focused on in comparison to the female leads. Not everyone sees it that way, and it could be chalked up to the writers just wanting the two films be fairy tales where the story drives it before anything else, which is perfectly fine.
That's my two cents anyway.
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