Belle’s a Beaut of a Disney Heroine
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In his comparison of “Beauty and the Beast” to other Disney classics, Charles Solomon missed some of Belle’s more fascinating differences from the studio’s other heroines (“Disney’s ‘Beauty’ Revives Classic Flair in Story, Style,” Film Comment, Jan. 5).
She falls in love in a much more developed fashion than other heroines. It is so refreshing to see this movement away from the classic blond-haired, blue-eyed female in Disney cartoons who falls in love instantly and without reason, often at first sight.
Though Belle is drawn similarly to Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” the comparison ends there. Ariel’s prince falls in love with her after hearing her sing--hardly the gradual love of Belle and the Beast.
I applaud “Beauty and the Beast” and hope these innovations in characters will lead to others--perhaps a Latina or African-American heroine.
ELIZABETH PETERSON
San Gabriel
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