Summary
- Belle's beauty is an important aspect of the Beauty and the Beast story, with her refusal of Gaston's shallow iration and ability to see past the Beast's appearance.
- The original concept of Belle portrayed her as a glamorous and perfect woman, but animators adjusted her appearance to make her more relatable and connected to viewers.
- Belle's live-action portrayals have also undergone changes, with Emma Watson and H.E.R. bringing their own interpretations and diversity to the beloved character.
Released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast is one of the most beloved Disney animated films that tells the story of a young woman named Belle known for her beauty - but her good looks were actually toned down from the original concept. In Beauty and the Beast, a witch turns a young prince into a beast and the prince's servants into various household objects with a curse that will only break if the Beast gets someone to fall in love with his personality in spite of his looks. When a village girl named Belle replaces her father as the Beast's prisoner, the opportunity for the curse to break presents itself.
While Beauty and the Beast's Belle is so much more than her good looks, and loves to read and dream of adventure, her beauty is a key part of the story. Gaston, the villain, is obsessed with his good looks, and wants to marry her purely because she is so gorgeous. Her refusal of this, and her ability to see past the Beast's appearance to his good heart, make the idea of physical beauty central to the film.
How Belle's Face Was Changed In Beauty And The Beast
In 2022, Emily Zemler published a book called Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara. In the book, Zemler explores the making of a dozen different Disney princesses through interviews with directors, voice actors, and others knowledgeable of Disney's animation success. In the book, it is revealed that Beauty and the Beast's Belle almost looked quite different from the animated character fans know in love. According to Insider, an excerpt from the book reads, "Original concept art for Belle shows her as a glamorous woman, but the animators quickly adapted the character's look to ensure viewers could connect to her."
In the animated Beauty and the Beast, Actress Paige O'Hara voiced Belle, and she was interviewed in Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara. Insider reports that when speaking about Belle's original appearance, O'Hara said, "You'd look at her and put her on a pedestal. Mark and James changed the look of her. She was a little too perfect." Animators then made Belle a more classic beauty versus a show-stopping beauty to fit match Belle's personality and the Beauty and the Beast storyline. Given how popular the character is among Disney princesses, the creatives surely made the right call.
Beauty And The Beast's Belle Changed Again In Live-Action
In 2017, Disney released a live-action adaptation of the 1991 animated version. In the live-action remake, Emma Watson plays Belle and Dan Stevens plays the Beast. With her classic beauty, philanthropy efforts, and her experience playing the book-smart Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise, Watson closely resembles what Beauty and the Beast fans think of in regard to Belle, and most of the changes made to this version were to the story, making her an inventor as well as a reader.
In 2022, her live-action looks were changed again, in a TV special called Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration. The show aired on ABC with the singer H.E.R. cast in the role of Belle. With the casting, H.E.R. became the first African-Filipino woman to play not just Belle, but any official Disney princess in live-action onscreen. With this, Belle became a character that is relatable to a more widespread and diverse audience in a similar way the animated character of Belle was monumental when the animated Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991.
