Disney Princess Series: Belle

It has been just over a month since I last wrote. Luckily, absolutely nothing has been going on!!! I've just been continuously working and waiting for school to start. For those that care, we are on season nine of Friends.
So yeah, for the past month almost nothing has been going on, but the few things that DID happen are HUGE.
I got a job on campus! I'm a custodian in the Centrum Arena during the morning, every weekday. I've only been there for four days and it's proving to be amazing. I have one more week at Firehouse and then I am done there.
I moved in to my apartment! And I finally finished unpacking and my room is SO PRETTY. It sucks living without the fam, but I am super happy about my new place.
In the literary world, we've got some bad news: I would be done with Oliver Twist right now if it weren't for something that got in the way. But we also have some good news: the thing that got in the way was a request to review a book! I was sent a free digital copy of Countryside: The Book of the Wise by author J.T. Cope in exchange of an honest review. It was honestly really exciting to get to be a part of the literary world in some way, because I know in the near future I will be asking people for reviews as well. If you want to read my review of The Book of the Wise, you can do so here.
(Also feel free to give me a follow on Goodreads for more book reviews and things.)
Honestly, that's the most exciting thing. Ever since I moved I've been thinking a lot more about the literary world and envisioning my role in it. It's getting real, guys.
In fact, I always say to write with deadlines, right? Well, for my long-term works I don't, because I don't have any publication plans. But now that I've graduated high school and I'm getting closer to what I really want, I've started thinking about when I want to publish Story 1. So I set a goal. I have a long-term deadline. In five years, I hope you guys are all reading it.
By the end of the year, I have a goal to be done with Story 1's third (and final) draft (although there are bound to be changes once we can get accepted) and with Story 3's first draft. (Not super concerned for Story 2 right now. They can just chill, although I'd like to be done with their second draft. That would be nice.)
Alright, I'm sleep-deprived, dehydrated and without water, needing to do laundry, and there are a bunch of college students continuously screaming outside my apartment building. Let's do this.
Today's featured princess (you can reference the previous Disney Princess Series post here) was one of my favorites for a long time. She's brave and fiery and feminine and beautiful. We love Princess Belle.
An interesting thing about Belle's character is that when the makers of the film were creating her, they added her love of books because they wanted to give her characters more substance than just wanting to fall in love. Which is funny, because if you take a look at the original "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale our heroine didn't have any intention of falling in love either. However, Belle's love of literature was very intentional, to give her some depth and desire and human quality. That's the thing about fairy tales, is the characters in those are very cookie cutter, because unlike most written works, the point of the story isn't the characters, so the characters don't need to be anything special. When these stories are adapted to films or other pieces, the characters can be enhanced, leading us to the Belle we know and love today.
Belle is amazing because she shows us the diversity in beauty! Some of our other princesses were beautiful because they wanted love. Their life was at a standstill and they felt love had a lot to offer them. Belle is beautiful because she wasn't seeking love. Belle loved herself in a really vulnerable way, in that she still had insecurities about her-- wondering why the people of her town talked about her the way they did. But that didn't stop her from being herself, because while it is perfectly okay and normal to be bothered by what people think of you, you still can't let that stand in the way of you doing you.  She's herself the entire time, no matter what people think. She loves her dad and she loves her books, and that's what she lets affect her.
Belle is where you take notes on how to resist creepy and gross boys, ladies. You're worth more than a Gaston, sweetie.
Alright, but back to her loving her dad. So when Maurice gets held hostage by this giant scary beast, Belle takes his place in an act of absolute selflessness and bravery and takes his place. I think the thing that is especially noteworthy here is first her determination, because it radiates such an intense amount of strength. The second noteworthy thing is that she has a breakdown once her father is gone. Because you're allowed to feel and have heartbreak even when you're being strong and brave, my dears.
Here's what we need to understand: Belle was not in love with the Beast for a very long time. (She doesn't get to see how much of a TOTAL SWEETHEART he is like we do as viewers.) She doesn't even like him at first. Then she runs away, and when he saves her from the wolves, she knows that anyone who is willing to do what he did can't be all bad. They come to a beautiful understanding. And then they're best friends. (Aww.) Through that, they fall in love, so much that the Beast is willing to let her go. We can remember how Belle wasn't looking for love, but then she found it, and it turned out to be the right thing for her and what she wanted, and so she was willing to accept it. She accepted the good she found in her life, lifted herself from misery, and lived happily ever after.
She followed her heart!
And that is always the moral of the story on the blog. Belle is one of our princess heroines because she was willing to follow her heart throughout.
There's your daily reminder to do that, my faves. Your heart is good and it will take you good places.
Continual thanks for supporting my writing so much. It means everything to me, so all the love that any of my writing gets means the world.
With that said, thanks and much love.
--Lizzo