Disney Princess Article: Why Belle Reads Fairytales

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posted by hisblueeyes

The question, "Which princess do u think is the smartest?" is asked very often and every time it is asked, there are those people who pick Belle. There are the people who not only pick Belle, but comment, "Because she reads." Then, there are the people who think that is a dumb thing to say, and begin immediately saying stuff like, "She only reads fairy-tales." Every time this process has been repeated I have wanted to say something like what I am about to say, but never got the chance. So now I'm going to say it.

I think many people forget that Beauty and the Beast is not set in 2011. It isn't set in the 1950's, either. It is set a long while back, before laptops and iPad's and cars. Before gigantic bookstores with every book genre and every book titel u could possibly think of. Belle lives in a small, provincial town, and the only "library" is a little bookshop with maybe two of three shelves. There aren't any trucks that come into town every week, with stacks & stacks of the newest books. No, in Belle's library, the boeken in there are probably the only boeken that are in there for months at a time. At the time Belle was alive, there also probably wasn't a Harry Potter of a Great Expectations. The only boeken that were probably in that bibliotheek were fairy-tales. Not thin paperback fairy-tales with pictures, no, the thick, complicated, original versions of fairy-tales. Have u ever read the original version of The Little Mermaid? It's not something just anyone can read.

Another thing I think people forget is that Belle was a dreamer, a dreamer who wanted to escape her boring town. boeken like Pride & Prejudice offer no escape. Fairy-tales? Now those are something. Reading boeken like those, of far of places, dashing sword fights & a prince in disguise were possibly Belle's only bron of comfort in that town she so wanted to leave. They offered her adventure that she couldn't have. If u think that it is very childish of Belle to read such stories, put yourself in her place. Pretend that's all your bibliotheek had. Pretend u need to flee where u are, but u can't, and unfortunately, Harry Potter doesn't exist yet. She also states that she's read all the boeken in

I'm going to end this artikel with the wise words of someone who has written a very fairy-tale like series himself:
Some day, u will be old enough to start reading fairy-tales again. - C.S. Lewis

Portia0623, Sparklefairy375 and 15 others like this

Swanpride Good argument - What people also tend to forget: Belle read all the books available in her little town. I really doubt that all of them were fairy tales (I'm sure that there were some philosophical excurses between them at teh very least). Yes, she picks out books with stories - but what kind of book would you rather reread, the book with the stories, or the sience book? My reading interests are very diverse, but for a reread, I would chose a story book too. And which book would you read to a someone else? A story book, naturally. Plus, you learn a lot, even if you read just stories - for example, I have never been to sea, but I know most of the nautic words because I had a thing for pirate stories for a while. Not just the made up ones, but also the real ones, which descripe parts of a ship.

sumerjoy11 Wow, this is very good! I really can relate to this article. I live in a boring town and my only escape for me is either reading or drawing. Of course, most of the things I read or draw are Diney related. People call me immature just because I still like Disney and I'm 16, but Disney helps me not only to escape the ridicule and boringness, it also helps me to dream. I never really looked at Belle from this perspective before, until I read your article.

DreamyGal You make a good point, but I disagree with what you said about Pride and Prejudice offering no escape. That is one of my favorite novels; one of the main reasons I love it is because it takes me to a different place; a place where men were gentlemen and women were ladies...the language was proper and elegant...people actually bowed to each other whenever they met. And actually for the longest time I have thought that Belle and the Beasts relationship is very similar to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

hisblueeyes ^Oh, I love Pride and Prejudice too, it's one of my favorite books. I just thought it wouldn't offer Belle much escape, because it might make her feel like her town is even more provincial - reading about such elegant towns.

Swanpride I think Pride and Predudice wouldn't mean much to Belle, because it carricates a society, Belle knows next to nothing about. We can understand the "jokes" and the critizism in the book, because we have enough second source material to understand it, but I'm not sure if that would apply to Belle, too.

DreamyGal Well, we all have our opinions, I think Belle would've liked it...especially the romance.

princesslullaby ^I think Belle would've like it a lot too. I don't remember where in the movie it says Belle read every book in the library. I know she says "Have you got anything new?" But that doesn't mean she read every book on the shelf. Maybe only the ones that interested her ran out, so she's hoping for a new one. I know quite a few stupid people who read a lot, and I know quite a few smart people who rarely read. I'm not entirely sure Belle reading thick fairy-tales is a concrete argument that she's smart. And I really doubt Belle would read philosophical books, not that she's not smart enough, I don't see it particularly interesting to her. I understand why Belle reads fairy-tales, I never found it frivolous of her to do so. But I think when people comment saying "Belle is smart because she reads" it is a poor argument, but what aggravates me is when people say Belle is the SMARTEST princess because she reads. Throughout the movie, I find Belle to be an intelligent, capable person, but she doesn't do anything extraordinarily genius. She has a sensible set of smarts, but I don't find her to be the most clever or the smartest.

hisblueeyes ^I completely agree, I'm not saying she's the smartest, and I do think "because she reads" is a stupid argument. But I also think saying "she only reads fairytales" is a stupid thing to say when your trying to tell people Belle isn't the smartest one. That's what this article is about.

princesslullaby My guess is Belle does only read mainly fairy-tales, but the occasional other genre. But yeah, I don't see how reading fairy-tales would give an indication of intelligence either way.

KataraLover I love that Belle reads fairy-tales and it's one of the reasons I like her. But I just don't think that sayings she's the smartest just because she reads, fairy-tales aren't meant to be educational, they're meant to make us happy. I don't think she's that smart. But I do know how she feels, I like to read my fairy-tales and other books to escape the stupidity of my town.

MrsEmmaPeel I love your article. I agree 100% and this is how I feel about Belle as well. I'm glad to see someone written an article on it. Great job.

Swanpride @princesslullaby Believe me, when you're addicted to books you will read anything you get your hands on. Since Belle doesn't has the luxury we have, she can't afford to be choosy. But yeah, I don't think that she is necessarily the smartest - there is first Mulan (who seems to be some sort of genius at times), then Rapunzel (who seems to be multitalented) and then Belle - but not because she happens to read (though it does play a part in it), but because she outsmarts Gaston (admittingly an easy thing to do), Cogsworth and Lumiere, and has the ability to beat the beast with words quite easily.

princesslullaby I don't think Rapunzel is all that smart, she makes a lot of dumb decisions. But, it depends on what kind of smart you think is the smartest. And I still think Jasmine is very smart, although lately I've knocked her down to #2 for a couple of less-than-smart things.

Swanpride I don't think that Rapunzel makes dumb decision, not when you consider the information she bases the decision on. It's easy to say that you would know better when you see the whole picture, but the question is, would you be as smart as she is in her situation? First outwitting Eugene (who isn't stupid himself), forcing him to bring her to the lights, and later figuring out Mother Gothel on her own? The only dumb thing she does is not keeping an eye on her, but that's the woman she has known as her loving mother her whole life. But I'm also impressed that she studied astronomy and chartered stars on her own. Jasmine on the other hand - well, she says that she is a fast learner, but if that's true, how did she manage to walk across the market without picking up on the simple concept of "you have to pay for what you take"? Why doesn't she pick up on the fact that it's nearly impossible that Aladdin was already killed when she reaches Jafar, and totally impossible that he was killed for kidnapping her, since nobody know that she even was with him? (and why doesn't she stay close to him to make sure that he is okay?) Why doesn't she notice Jafar hypnotising her father - Aladdin picks up on it nearly immediatly. For someone as cunning as her, she isn't perceptive at all!(And face-blind, but that seems to be some sort of desease in that movie).

ivebeendreaming I agree 100% with this article. I actually only read fairytales. It truly is an escape from everyday life. And I think I live in a pretty boring town. There's nothing magical about it. I miss living in New Jersey where there were big romantic victorian houses everywhere and real trees. Now I live in Arizona in the middle of the desert. There's no snow, no magic, and I don't really like any of the guys here. Everything is stereotypical and a year behind in fashion. Everyone acts the same (within their social groups) so there's no creativity. In fact, a lot of people are pretty judgmental when it comes to differences. Most people wear Abercrombie and Hollister tops with jeans and Vans or Toms every day. Even the Emos and Scenes are all exactly the same. I remember on the first day of 8th grade a few years ago I dressed up. And when I say "dressed up" I was wearing a babydoll style top with a skirt and leggings. The few friends I had at the time asked me why I was so dressed up. At least I'm a little different. But I feel like Belle most of the time. I have friends but most of them are like everyone else.

princesslullaby ^SEE? NEW JERSEY IS A MAGICAL, WONDERFUL LAND <3

hisblueeyes ^...I never said it was bad.

princesslullaby ^....I never said that you said that...??

heathersvan I agree with you that Belle's reading was the only place she could escape to her dreams, but I don't think that makes her any smarter. Nice article, though! Lot's of thought put it.

heathersvan @ivebeendreaming: YES! New Jersey is amazing! I love it around here ^_^

pretty_angel92 you have a good point, i read tons of fairytales and i actually consider myself a smart person. i just find it stupid how people's explanation is always "oh, she reads". that doesn't mean anything. i know a lot of people who likes to read but they're still pretty dumb. and it's frustrating to see belle always winning these kind of picks(with the exception of mulan), when rapunzel doesn't and she also reads. so what's the explanation now? simple, most of them are just being biased. i'm not saying that rapunzel makes smarter decisions, but she certainly seems to know more about general culture. she reads about botany, geology, math...

PrincessAyeka12 100% Agree with you! Reading this made me realise I'm so much like Belle.

magicfairydust Love this article! and yes, you make a very good point. :D

FlightofFantasy Good article! I never understand why adults who read fairy tales are looked down upon. I love fairy tales, always have. They are what got me into reading, into fantasy, into mythology. They were the first books I was able to read on my own, without help. Basically, they helped shape who I am. I'm now in my 20s and am a proud, unabashed fairy tale fan. I'm a fan of the "original" fairy tales (although it's basically impossible to say what the original version of any folk tale is) and of Disney's fairy tales, and I always will be. Is it a form of escapism? Yes. So is any fiction. There's nothing wrong with that. And yet adults who still love fairy tales are treated as if they're naive, or idiots, or children. I've found you actually get a lot more out of fairy tales when you revisit them as an adult. You pick up on things you never did as a child. Some might be negative (sexism, racism, etc.), but even that presents a fascinating opportunity to learn about the culture and society of the time. After all, fairy tales are really mirrors that reflect the cultural attitudes of their time. That's why they change over time, because societal attitudes change over time. What was once acceptable is now unacceptable. What was once unacceptable is now acceptable. Fairy tales are not only beautiful and magical, they are also a great learning experience and a way to introduce you to different cultures, peoples and historical periods. There's nothing childish or immature about that.

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Most Princess-Like Human Disney Heroine Countdown Results

posted by Jayden-G

I was in the mood to do another countdown, so I came up with a Disney Heroine one. This was about the Heroine (Protagonists, Deuteragonists, Tritagonists) who would fit in with the Disney Princesses (and the franchise the most), so here are the results.

These are the factors that were counted in the results:
By any factor, I mean:
-How successful the movie is
-If she is a Princess
- If she is populair
- If she is personally like some of the Princesses
- Is she too young of old

10. Nani (Lilo and Stitch)

She was definitely the obvious choice to be the first eliminated, and for many reasons....

1

My favoriete Disney Princesses as of June 2013

posted by alexon31

I've been wanting to write an artikel about my favoriete DPs for a while now, but I've been very busy lately (and still am a little, so it won't be a very long article, just a brief commentary with every princess).
This is my favoriete disney princesses' lijst as of April 2013, with the current line-up. To determine my favoriete princesses I took many things in to account: their personality, their looks, their movie, etc.
As with many other things, this lijst is subject to change. My favorieten are generally pretty consistent, but some of them might verplaats a spot of meer every once in a while.
So, without...

2

My favoriete DP Singing Voices

posted by dimitri_is_hot

I feel like people are going to disagree with me but it's my personal favorites, it's really a matter of which voice I love more.

My lijst for the Princes
10. Charming
9. Naveen
8. Beast
7. Phillip
6. John Smith
5. Eric (He doesn't sing but I like his voice)
4. Flynn
3. Aladdin
2. Prince
1. Shang

10. Snow White
Her speaking voice is cute but there are times when I cannot stand her singing voice.

9. Belle
I absolutely love her speaking voice but her singing isn't as impressive. But that's just in comparison to the other princesses.

8. Cinderella
It sounds like an angel's singing. It's so gentle and...

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Disney Princess films Reviews (Countdown)

posted by dimitri_is_hot

So Mulan is my favoriete Disney Princess movie but this is not about which movie I like more. It's about which movie is better objectively, I will try my best. I'm not going to nitpick every single little details because let's face it, no movie is really perfect. Besides, I hate going on and on because I'd rather cut to the chase. I'd love to read your agreements of disagreements.

10. Pocahontas

The film had a lot of potential, shame it did not live up to most people's expectations. I absolutely love the animatie and score. But aside from those things, a lot of stuff happened out of nowhere....

favoriete DP Hairstyle Countdown 2012: PLACES #51-42

posted by jainabieber7

hallo everyone! I know it's officially 2013, but I decided to make this the favoriete hairstyle of 2012 since the jaar just ended and January and February are when they have all the award shows for 2012 so it's kind of the same idea. Here are the last 10 places for the hairstyle countdown.

51. Ariel's Blue Riding Hat

obviously...this is ugly. No one liked it, it was not a tough decision whatsoever. Good place for this one...dead last.

She looks bad whenever her bangs are off her face, she has a pretty high forehead. - rhythmicmagic

I don't like her bangs, but she looks better with them. - VGfan30

Hideous...

Belle and Beast: Gaston’s curse part 1

posted by SarahCorine

Her heart had been angered and completely disappointed.

Snow fell in a calm way, soothing Belle. Her hart-, hart had been angered and completely disappointed. Though Beast had come a long way since his transformation, there was still a part of him that was very dark and almost hurtful. She couldn’t understand why Beast was often angry, when he had everything he could ever want.
“Maybe I’m not seeing him right. Maybe I just don’t understand.” Belle pondered. “Maybe there really is a part of him I don’t know.”
She refused to believe Beast was bad. He was human just like anyone else and Belle loved him.
“When u love someone u accept them...

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Snow White Rant

posted by JNTA1234

The Sunshine

So I decided to rant about Snow White next.

Snow White was the very first animated female to make it to the big screen. If any of the princesses were to be called legendary, Snow White would be the one. She paved the way for every Disney Herione, princess of not. Pick any other female character from Disney and I guarantee u she'll have something in common with Snow White. Cinderella, Aurora, Pocahontas, Belle and even jasmijn would probably be completely different characters had it not been for Snow.

Let's talk about the dwarfs for a second, like the fairies from Sleeping Beauty,...

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Casting The Princesses (Version 1)

posted by JNTA1234

Snow White-Christina Ricci

Cinderella-Katherine Heigl

Aurora-Kate Hudson

Ariel-Rachel McAdams

Belle-Natalie Portman

Jasmine-Kim Kardashian

Pocahontas-Nicole Scherzinger

Mulan-Zhang Ziyi

Tiana-Brandy

Rapunzel-Kristen Bell

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Getting to know sweetie-94 *Updated*

posted by sweetie-94

Me after I had ranned a 5K race, I did it in 26 minutes!

So today I decided to redo my getting to know artikel since I've gotten better at making artikels and I missed out a few things and some things has changed.

Name: My name is Teresa and I kinda like the name :)

Age: *Kinda quoting The Sound of Music* I am 17 going on 18 which means that I'm 17, but I'll be 18 on September 16th so that makes me a Virgo and I'm borned in the jaar of the dog.

Education: Right now I have summer vacation, but on the 22nd August I'll be back in school again and I'll start my last jaar in high school.

This is actually very close from where I live, it's a place where...

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My favoriete Disney Prince

posted by JNTA1234

I'm a bit reluctant to do this lijst because quite frankly no one gives a crap about the Princes. Plus this lijst is way too easy to write. I really don't enjoy talking about them. Let's just get on with it.

Are u on your period, dude?

10.Charming
The most generic character in history. Of course this dude is at the bottom of the list. It would be weird to rank him any higher. He has little to no personality and when he does toon some emotion, he comes off snarky and rude. He's also lazy if u ask me, he never makes an effort to go after of zoek for Cinderella. Seriously, what do all the...

5

Carrieicecream's favoriete Disney Princess Order

posted by carrieicecream

Since I've changed my opinion on a quite a few places, I've decided to make a new lijst for my new order. :)

These are the princesses:
Snow White(1937), Cinderella(1950), Aurora(1959), Ariel(1989), Belle(1991), Jasmine(1992), Pocahontas(1995), Mulan(1998), Tiana(2009), and Rapunzel(2010).

The adventurer

10. Pocahontas
I really like Pocahontas, but somebody has to be at the bottom, right? I love her courage and I loved it when she jumped off the cliff. I also love her hair, black is so beautiful and how it moves with the wind is just breathtaking. The reason she's at the bottom is because I...

The ages of the Disney Princesses

posted by chillyneon

Belle = 19
Ariel = 16 in the first movie, 26 in the seconde one.
Cinderella = 16 in the 1st movie, 17 in the second.
jasmijn = 16
Mulan = 14
Aurora = 16
Pocahontas = 18
Snow White = 14
Rapunzel = 18
Tiana = 19
Merida = 16

I hope this helps!!

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My favoriete Scenes

posted by blossomyumyum

This was inspired door starlight77. I thought it was be cool to make my own.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
Ah, the first Disney Classic. Now, I'll be honest. I'm not a gigantic fan of this film. I do like Snow White, she's simply adorable. However, this film is probably my least favoriete DP one and probably only because it was the first of Disney's, meaning not as good animatie as say, Aladdin. Anyway, my favoriete scene for this movie has to be the first five of so minuten before the Forest Scene. It's short, but we get to understand the true meaning of how evil the Queen really is.
This...

My Princess Lineup (Counting Anastasia from Anastasia

posted by Arielthemermaid

1. ARIEL

Ariel is a fun girl who goes for her dream. She has been my fave from age nine. Though age 3-5 was Cinderella, Ariel just reminds me of, well... me! She has red hair, my hair is almost red, (more of Anastasia's hair from the Anastasia vos, fox film) so me and Ariel are almost the same. I would love love LOVE to be her if they were going to make a remake. She has a great way of getting her man without a voice. When she fell her caught her and offered her to stay. She could even get her father to understand. Her floppy bangs are so ADORABLE. She is known to be the only disney princess (in...

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*~*~Mean Girls- Disney Princess Style: Part Two~*~*

posted by MagicPrincess

The volgende day, Ariel was in homeroom and some guy who was sitting volgende to blondie asked Ariel "Hey, is that your natural hair color?"
Ariel replied "Yeah."
"It's gorgeous." the guy replied back.
"This is Flynn of u can call him Eugene. We're dating at the mo." The blondie said.
"Hey Rapunzel, nice extensions. What's it made of?" zei a dude who walked past Rapunzel.
She quickly zei "Your mom's chest hair!!!" (Not really)
"I'm Rapunzel."
"Hi, I'm Ariel. Do u guys know where Room G is?"
Flynn took and looked at Ariel's agenda and zei "Health Tuesday/Thursday Room G"
"I think it's in the back building."...

5

Magicfairydust's Updated Full favoriete Princess lijst

posted by magicfairydust

<3 x35435469364654

So a few months ago, I decided to write a short artikel on who my favoriete princesses were. Well, that wasn't a complete lijst and my explanations weren't very clear so here we go again :)

10. Pocahontas
ok, so I don't really love her as much as I love the other princesses but I still like her. She's so brave and I admire her strength and courage. I loved her at the beginning of the movie. Before she met John Smith and became really boring...She was such a free spirit, running through the woods and paddling down that river and waterfall without a care in the world. She seemed like such a fun person!...

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sweetie-94's favoriete DP speaking voices part 2-Swedish voices

posted by sweetie-94

Here is my artikel about my favoriete DP speaking voices in Swedish. Like I did with the singing voices I will post a link to each of them, but all of them will be to a song so I will tell u where u can listen to them because they are all pretty short. This was thougher than my singing voice lijst so sorry if I'm a bit biased here. I will also write the lines and their names in Swedish and don't forget to commentaar who has the best speaking voice, which line is the best and whose name is the prettiest because it seems like u missed it on my singing voice list.

10. Tiana (voiced door Pauline...

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posted by GreatLance_30

The Disney Princesses are characters that are currently featured in the Disney Princess franchise. The franchise is now comprised of ten female protagonists from ten different Walt Disney animated films who are either royal door birth, royal door marriage, of considered a "princess" due to their significant portrayal of heroinism in their film.

The character lineup has varied since the creation of the franchise; Princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Fa Mulan and Tiana have most consistently been included. A new addition, Princess Rapunzel, made her debut in...

4

My favoriete Quotes Of The Characters from Aladdin

posted by cuteasprincie

Here they are :))

Aladdin

Perfect timing, Abu. As usual.
[After learning that Genie will grant him three wishes; to Abu] Now I know I'm dreaming.
[Jafar becomes the ultimate genie, tonen off his powers] Not so fast, Jafar! Aren't u forgetting something? u wanted to be a genie, u got it! And everything that goes with it!

Iago

Look at this! I'm so ticked off I'm molting!

Genie

[After Jafar has become a Genie] Al, u little genius, you!
Jafar, Jafar, he's our man, if he can't do it: GREAT!
Aw Al, I'm gettin kinda fond of you, kid. Not that I want to pick out curtains of anything...
Oy! Ten-thousand...

1

Melody's nanny chapter 3

posted by faya27

Melody shut her eyes tight as she held her ball in her face, preparing for the car to crash into her. But the car's aim never came. Melody felt herself being swept off her feet door a pair of slender and soft arms. Somebody saved her! When she was gently dropped onto the sidewalk on her feet, her eyes opened. Melody found herself face to face with a young woman who bended her knees to meet Melody's level. She is a petite woman with long red hair and baby blue eyes. The young woman was also, wearing a purple tank top, boven and a green rok with matching shoes.

"Are u okay, honey?" the young woman...