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princesssarisa · 1 year

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7 question ask: Belle

Three facts about them from my personal headcanons.

She inherited her love for stories of magic, adventure and romance from her mother, as well as her ladylike bearing and manners. I imagine that the 1991 Belle's mother died when she was between seven and ten years old. If she had never known her and Maurice had raised her alone, as in the 2017 remake, I think she would be more of a tomboy, as the 2017 Belle duly is.

Her curiosity and impulsiveness got her into all kinds of trouble when she was a little girl – since they still sometimes get her into trouble in her adulthood – which only reinforced the villagers' idea of her "oddness."

She can't cook. Maurice did all the cooking when she was growing up – he approached it as a science, just like inventing, and even though he favored eccentric ingredients, he did well. As a result, Belle would be comically hopeless in the kitchen.

A reason they suck:

She makes the mistake of revealing the Beast's existence to Gaston and the other villagers.

A reason they are great:

Her personality is such a wonderful blend of sweetness, strong will, emotion, intellect, dignity, and warmth.

A reason I relate to them:

I also spend more time reading than I do socializing.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character:

She belongs with the Beast/Prince Adam, no question.

Five things that never happened to the character that I believe should have happened:

I don't necessarily think these things should have happened, because they might have needlessly complicated the movie. But on a purely emotional level, they appeal to me.

She should have conversed with another villager besides the bookseller near the beginning of the movie – preferably with a woman for enhanced Bechdel Test-passing. She could have seen that villager doing some heavy work and helped her (showing that she isn't a lazy snob who shuns her hardworking neighbors), and then they could have talked about Belle's dreams of adventure, with her neighbor sympathizing but reminding her "We're poor people, we can't afford to dream." Belle would agree, saying that between laundry, errands, gardening, tending the animals, and taking the chickens' eggs to market, she only has an hour or two each day to read. (Again, this would make it clear that she doesn't just read all day while her neighbors work.) Then she could say something like "But maybe if we hope and wish hard enough for a better, then maybe someday..." And her resigned, practical neighbor would shut her down with some remark like "You're a kind girl, but you are odd" and walk away.

She should have conversed further with the Beast about his temper, and offered him a kind suggestion for how to control it by describing what she does to calm herself down. Visualizing something pretty and peaceful, for example, or privately venting to an imaginary friend, or going for a walk outdoors (much like she talks to the chickens and goats and then runs out onto the hill when she's angry about Gaston's proposal). I would have liked to see that, because real-world anger management requires more than being shamed.

She should have had a chance to talk about her mother. Not in the way of the 2017 remake, per se, but in some way. Maybe in the above conversation with the Beast, when she tells him her method of calming herself, she could explain that her mother taught it to her when she was a little girl.

She should have had a conversation with Mrs. Potts in her dressing room before the dance scene, paralleling the Beast's with Lumiere. Or better still, a conversation with Mrs. Potts and Fifi/Babette, giving the latter more characterization than just "flirty French maid." More female/female interaction, please!

In the final scene, she and the Prince should have been shown taking a break from ballroom dancing, and stopping to look at a mural on a wall that depicts a map of the world. (Similar to Linda Woolverton's original idea of showing her sticking pins into a map near the beginning.) The Prince could ask her where she wants to travel to now that they can leave the castle, and she would exuberantly point to all the places from her favorite books (Verona for Romeo and Juliet, England for King Arthur, etc.) while the Prince laughs at the sheer number. Then one of the servants would point out that the music is starting again and they would go back to the dance. This would let the audience know that Belle hasn't given up her dreams of adventure.

Five people that character never fell in love with and why.

Gaston. No explanation needed.

Lefou. Ditto.

Lumiere. He's a good friend, but he's slightly too old for her and a little too flamboyant and vain.

Cogsworth. He's also a good friend, but a little too old for her, and too stuffy.

Chip. He's nowhere near old enough.

#beauty and the beast #belle #disney #7 questions

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spacecadetspe · 7 months

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On this day, last year...

Oct. 7, 2022

I meant to speak a bit more about my therapy this week; I had hoped it would provide more insight, but this time was a bit strange. EMDR is strange to begin with, harrowing and emotionally exhausting. Honestly I had hoped to find out more about my triggers, and what the roots of them are, so that I can at least ameliorate their symptoms. This time, we started off with my target image, but this time focused on the nightmares that emerge from it.

Part of the reason I have nightmares isn't because I'm scared of X, but because I am rather very angry with him. My throat is tight with rage, and nothing seems to quell it. And I realized, over the course of this session, that it was because I had no agency in my marriage. Worse still, X preferred to keep it that way; so much so that he manifested what I thought was a mark of ownership on my cheekbone.

I'm no stranger to such marks. Deities and entities galore have placed their markers on me to denote devotion, or to possess me in some fashion. Even some of my most favored individuals have done so. I can't say I blame them, per se, but it's time for me to recover those pieces of myself.

X never wanted that for me. So, instead of a mark, he placed a sort of funnel on me that would siphon off whatever he wanted or needed at the time. A singularity on my right cheekbone... perhaps more elsewhere. And, during crucial moments, he would use that singularity to alter the potency of my willpower. On any particular day, perhaps I would be too tired to resist, or be so confused or anxious that I lacked the capacity to make a decision, or perhaps I would just suddenly come down with a throbbing headache.

Using the power of these funnel-like spots, he forcibly removed approximately HALF of my agency, almost like a metaphysical lobotomy. And so, as I poured more and more effort into filling those empty spaces, I became more frustrated, more tired, more dependent... even more of a puppet. It was.. diabolically perfect.

But how does one get rid of something that very closely resembles a black hole? In physics, there's no clear answer to this. When a star collapses into a black hole, essentially its gravity takes over, infinitely compacting any matter and reducing light output to nil. How was I to come back from this?

I realize, somewhat belatedly, that I spend an awful lot of time asking "how" to do things when I'm HOPE. I can literally just DO ANYTHING. Why should I even bother asking "how?"

To put it in fairly simple terms, I just... reversed the polarity of the spell. Instead of drawing my energy and my agency away from me, it reversed course, spilling all my missing pieces back into me. It's quite a lot to process, and I had a good bit of help from the guides. One, an old man who called himself Basil, sat with me and patted my hand as I went through the emotional process of putting myself back together.

I'm going to have to defragment my brain again... perhaps this weekend will allow me the opportunity. I wonder if I should commune with Mother again, but this may not be the best time... when my mind is still scattered in pieces everywhere, I mean. I might not be able to process such a large quantity of information.

Oct. 7, 2023

I recall it was only recently that I lashed out at Fortitude for insisting X couldn't do anything to me. He can, and does, and I was tired of feeling invalidated, so I raised my voice at Fortitude for trying to verbally minimize X's presence.

It's one of many things I regret. Granted, what I said was not untrue, but getting upset like that seems to push him more and more into silence, when that's not at all what I want. From time to time, Fortitude will shut down and say he feels like he can't talk about anything with me because he has no idea what kinds of things will trigger me.

For the most part, my answer to this has been the same. "My triggers are not your responsibility. I would rather you trigger me, so that I know where I most need change in my life, than shut down and be silent in our partnership." Being triggered is awful, and it's hard, but it's those points when I learn what I need most, and that's incredibly important to me, as an agent of change.

I don't want or need him to solve my problems for me. Sometimes I just need someone to listen. I can pull myself out of my own mire; I just need a cheerleader on occasion. I hope he understands, but this has been something that has happened a number of times.

I don't ever want to have a stagnant relationship where we are "just okay" with each other. I want us to grow and fight and thrive together. And that means showing each other where our weak points are; doing the hard work of protecting and challenging each other.

I am glad that he is kind and cognizant of my triggers, and doesn't want to hurt me any more than he has to. But I can't go through my life avoiding the things that hurt anymore. And I frankly get upset at the way he dodges or hesitates before difficult issues, because it reminds me of X and how he practiced his relationships.

Wow, that was a sudden realization, just now... X spent so much time manipulating his way around and out of responsibility for my needs that all I want is someone who is willing to be honest. And I mean the kind of honesty that is heavy and full of love and kindness. That takes fortitude... and I wonder if it's something he's not ready for.

My tears mean so much to him, and this feels like something I've gone through, myself. I didn't want to make the people I love unhappy. I realize now that that's not something I can prevent or delay. There will be times that I can say the truth out of love, though. That's what I really want.

I want to do better, be better. And that means facing all the things that hurt me. It means taking responsibility for my own traumas and convincing others that I don't expect them to carry these heavy things for me. I just... want someone to hold my hand.

That's kind of where I am with Phobetor now; gently, lovingly making him aware of my boundaries and his own shortcomings. He's been hanging around lately, and I don't much mind. His presence doesn't frighten me anymore.

He's asked me many times now what I see when I look upon him. My answer is always the same, but I think he asks because he's not altogether sure I'm honest; that perhaps at some point my answer will change. And he's so convinced that I'm going to hurt him for the role he's played all these millennia that even his gestures toward me are stuttering, frightened.

He would likely find that insulting if I pointed it out.

#mythology and folklore #psychology #communication #shadow work

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