Disney Duster wrote:I thought you had a good point about the Beast not needing to keep prisoners, but he did have people trespass on his property.
...And your point was?
The problem here, as well you should know / remember if you saw the film, is that this act by the Beast doesn't make him any more sympathetic. The movie can't have it both ways just because that's Disney's formula to give audiences the idea that they're sitting through something heavy when in reality, it's light as a feather. Either the fact that he made a huge mistake when he insulted the Enchantress must make him genuinely mindful of the fact that he's been a douchebag (the kind of thing he needs to keep in mind when, I dunno, he thinks to TAKE prisoners in the first place) and that now he must change his ways, or he's an extreme asshole beyond all reproach and when he actually takes someone prisoner, he won't soften up 30 seconds later. After the Family Cinematic Dramatic Arc formula has kicked in. I know it sounds like I'm the one being inflexible but we are talking about some semblance of believability here. Since people claim this is a well-told story, it should be believable. At the very least, we're talking about the biggest problem of the whole movie: Why Should We Care About the Beast At All? Whether you accept that he's internally conflicted with this situation to even the smallest degree, the movie never provides us with a single thing to make us care about him. At any point during this KEY event in the story. We can't just go "oh, he's mean" and then soon as his face shows a sign of vulnerability go, "oh, he's not so bad after all. We mustn't misjudge him." That's the kind of pattern an abuse victim who isn't "ready" to break the cycle exhibits. I know, I've seen it.
Disney Duster wrote:I never understood how Belle taking her father’s place would make sense to the Beast. He was mad at her father, not her. I never got that.
You think character actions and motivations make sense in a Disney film?
Disney Duster wrote:Unless it’s about him finding someone just to take his anger out on, to feel like there was justice. I get that, it’s just still weird.
The father was bait to lure the girl in. By Disney, it had nothing to do with the characters. Maybe this dates back to the original story, but I've got my eye on Disney and they had the idea to make this screwed up story in the first place. So since it's their project now, I'm pointing the finger at them.
Disney Duster wrote:As for Belle’s emotional state being ignored…you say her life was over but what life? She was looking for something adventurous and she chose, willingly, her own fate. In a way she accepted living with a Beast in a castle over the boring provincial life she had back home.
Newsflash: the whole movie was boring. What the audience took away from the absurd, shallow story and the dramatic stakes they felt were present were self-made inventions. The movie didn't have any of that weight. The people saw that / created it themselves.
Disney Duster wrote:I just mean…maybe she wasn’t thinking her life would be over forever, either she’d have an okay life there that could get better, or she may escape some day.
You're scaring me now.
Disney Duster wrote:I will admit Lazario at first I thought you had a good point
Well, actually, since nobody here is going to read what I said as being anything other than my opinion- I not only had a good point, my whole argument was flawless.
Disney Duster wrote:The only thing that is perhaps a problem
In your opinion.
Look: it's impossible for me to watch this situation unfolding as it was written and accept the roles these characters fit into after the story's introduction to them. You tell me then why the story set Belle up as an independent, free-thinking woman only to enslave her to then become the key a man would then turn to get his looks back? Oh, but wait, you're going to tell me she got something out of the deal as well- right? "Sorry about the whole nearly dooming your father to death and making you my slave without the possibility of granting you freedom again. Here's a library. Better?" The only way anyone can rationalize this is to say that she wanted ALL the conditions this scenario came with because she was so mixed up in her stories that she couldn't tell reality from fiction anymore. Which betrays every conflict she has with Gaston in which suddenly, in certain situations (an unfortunate pattern with this movie), she has an opinion about the way she's being treated as a woman. With Gaston- she's outright offended by the sexist terms of their would-be relationship. With Beast- she's enchanted. WHAT THE...
Surely, even you can't deny this whole thing is fishy when you consider it wouldn't even be happening if this weren't a freaking period piece set in an era where women seemingly couldn't make their own living. The whole idea that women are sold into marriage in the first place makes Disney's decision to give Belle a modern attitude pointless. No matter what she did, she would have ended up living in some guy's servitude at some point. That's what the dang movie's about anyway- that her ambition and drive meant nothing. She wanted adventure but even then, she just waited until someone else threw a life or death situation in her lap. Unlike Ariel- thank you very much (if that's basically what Goliath has been arguing, he was right); at least girl got out on her own to find what she wanted. That freaking horse came and escourted Belle to her little destiny, all she had to do was a little walking and be scared by wolves. Big fat, hairy deal (in the immortal words of Garfield). The horse did all the hard stuff.