True Love In The Disney Movie 'Beauty And The Beast'

Beauty and the Beast

The Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast,” is perceived as a classic love story. However, this belies the fact that Belle is held captive in the Beast’s castle, where he proceeds to manipulate every aspect of her imprisoned life. The Beast forbids Belle from entering certain parts of the castle and threatens to starve her if she does not join him for dinner dates. When Belle refuses to have evening meals with the Beast or follow his other commands, he explodes in anger. Despite all of this behavior, Belle ultimately falls in love with the Beast; however, is this true love or does it simply demonstrate that she may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, a documented condition in which victims sympathize with their captors

Ultimately, Belle is the Beast’s prisoner and has to do what he says to survive. For instance, the first few nights at the castle, the Beast forces Belle to go on dates with him and bribes her with food so she must come down from her room. The first night in the castle, Belle refuses to eat with the Beast because she is not hungry. She was just told she would be imprisoned for life and would never see her father again. The Beast storms upstairs to her bedroom and bangs on her door yelling, “I told you to come down for dinner!” Belle replies, “I’m not hungry.” In response, the Beast says, in an even angrier tone, “You come out or I’ll break down the door!” His servants (i.e., the tea pot, clock and candle) tell him to ask her nicely to come join him for a meal but he does not think he should have to grovel. When he asks Belle in a more controlled tone to come downstairs for dinner, she once again refuses to follow his orders, to which he screams “Fine then go ahead and starve! If she doesn’t eat with me, then she doesn’t eat at all!” When Belle refuses to follow the Beast’s orders, he erupts in violent rages, which is a common sign of an abusive