I hate her, and she's REALLY overrated

I feel neutral over her, but it might turn into dislike and maybe hate, I don't even get why people love her so much!

I don't hate her, but I just don't have the same love for her as I do for Ariel...

@sweetie-94 I know! i think it's only cause she's a mermaid

Neither are my favourites, but I have a soft spot for Ariel, and I hate Belle with a passion.

ok WHOA WHOA WHOA time out
the most popular Princess, the most Iconic Princess, the Princess that is the face of all disney Princesses is missing from this, although I would still pick Belle as my least favorite (though I still love her)
your missing a vital character here gurl ;)
(Hint, shes having her blu ray premier in a few months)

I like both of them. I prefer Ariel a little bit more, though, since I feel a personal connection with her dream, and I wish I had her daring courageousness.

I think Belle is perhaps the most misunderstood of the Disney princesses. Unlike Ariel, whose qualities are bold and obvious, Belle's qualities are subtle and enigmatic.

Ariel is my favorite and Belle is my least favorite.

Ribon95 if you think people only love Ariel because she's a mermaid you're truly sad and I pity you.

ahaha really? well then tell me the great qualities that Ariel has that makes people love her. Let's see, is it the one of her leaving her family that loves her and her friends (not to mention she's the favorite child) for a guy she doesn't know? oh is it the one of her only wanting what she can't have? and don't tell me that she's "brave" and you like her because she does everything to make her dream come true, because it's ok to chase your dream, but to make the people who love you unhappy just so you can be happy, THAT'S selfishness

Can we please stop fighting this spot is supposed to bring together the disney princess fans to share our likes and yes our dislikes but we dont have to hurt other people by insulting their likes just because you dont like it so please your hurting more people than you know in KataraLover's case you are insulting Ribon95 and in Ribon95's case by proving your point your hurting all the fans of Ariel so please for everyone stop fighting <3

Ribon95 what's the big stinking deal? It means she's growing up! Every kid grows up and leaves home, forgive her for actually growing up like a normal person. I hate to break it to you girly but this is how real life works; you grow up, you move out, you follow your dreams, and if necessary you move far away from your family to follow your dream. It's not like she moved to China, she's right next door from her family! Just go above and they can see her whenever they'd like to! The way you're talking it's like she moved to Pluto. Also I don't know if you've noticed but pretty much most disney couples have love at first sight, at least Ariel and Eric got to know each other when she became human. Also you have no proof Triton loves Ariel more than his other daughters.

She has many amazing qualities. For one as you said brave and she does whatever it takes to go after her dreams. Also she's actually more selfless than you think. She saved Eric knowing she had nothing to gain and that they would never be together. She just saved him because it was the right thing, that's so selfless. She's a good friend, she saves Flounder constantly. She's realistic, every single person on earth is like her in some way, no matter if they'll admit it or not. She's fun-loving, sweet, kindhearted, and is for equality. Her father is racist against humans and she defends us humans. How is that any different from Pocahontas, Tiana, and Esmeralda? She believes in equality for ALL living creatures. She's actually heroic and isn't a damsel in distress. She saves her prince and can save herself. She learns her lesson and realizes her mistakes. Also she could've gone and begged her father to change her back but no she accepts that she must stay a mermaid. I mean come on already! I hate several characters but I can say at least one nice thing about them and admit they have some good qualities.

DsnyPrincess I don't know how long you've been here but fighting is how this club works for 35% of the time.

Ariel is my 4th favorite princess and Belle is my number 1 favorite.

@KataraLover I don't know if you've noticed but Ive been here almost a year and im one of the people that is invisible because I dont do much I just comment so I really know a lot about what goes on here. I know theres fighting but some people don't like the fighting thats why I made that comment just saying

OMG! ahahhah are you seriously comparing her to Pocahontas, Tiana and Esmeralda? You're comparing her to people who didn't have a perfect life, like hers. Oh and her father not liking humans? There's a good reason, her mother died because of humans! And yeah, she might be growing, but like she said she was already 16! She wasn't 10 or 13, her actions could've been more mature, but she acted like a child! And yeah, many couples fall in love at first sight, but they don't leave their families behind, no wait, they don't run away from their family without saying anything. Ok I'm not gonna say anything else, first cause I see it's bothering other people, and it's just not worth it

belle a little more, but thanks to this spot, i´ve grown to dislike BOTH

The people who dream of the impossible, and are daring enough to do what it takes to make those impossible dreams possible...those are the people who do great things.

They're my top 2 lol :)

Ribon95 a perfect life? BULL! Her father didn't understand her and was always too hard on her, her sisters were bratty, spoiled, and always picking on her(if you've watched the series), she's treated like an outcast just because different and believes in equality, and her mother died when she was 5. How does she even know how her mom died? She was only 5 years old, she barly even remembers her mom and Triton never even talks about her. Besides there's an expression of there being good fish and bad fish, excuse Ariel for being smart enough not to discriminate humans and actually pay attention to that expression. Last time I checked that's how 16 year old girls act. Actually she handled things better than most would. So what if she ran away? Her father scared her to death and was kind of abusive. Would you stay with a parent you thought was abusive? I certainly hope not.

I can't help it. I don't like Ariel that much.

They're my 1 and 2 :D

I can't pick, they're my top two favorites

I don't think either are overrated.
1. Ariel (P.S. I don't love her "cause she's only a mermaid," I love her because of her personality)
5. Belle

Ariel was my fave when I was younger so I have a soft spot for her.

I love Belle! She's my favorite. Ariel is 9th on my list, but quite frankly I dislike her. I find her too spoiled and selfish.

By the way, I don't think these two girls are overrated, Only because they are the most popular among the fans, that doesn't mean they are overrated. Ariel is from the movie that started the Disney Renaissance, and Belle is the main heroine in the greatest animated movie of all time. So clearly they will be popular, and they deserve it.

Ariel is my 2nd favourite and Belle is my 3rd :)

Slightly. The two of them generally are very close in my rankings at 3rd and 4th.

They are not overrated, they are the most popular, but that doesn¡t make them overrated.

^Ariel is definitely overrated. she's not a good role model and i know many people who like her because she's a mermaid

I picked Belle because even though Ariel is the most popular for the 80's and 90's generation (Cinderella is the most popular for kids today). when it comes to merchandise Belle is one of the top 4. When the Disney advertisers have to choose at least 4 princesses to put on a product Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Aurora have that honor a majority of the time (and usually in that order of importance). I'm not going to lie though. Ariel was one of my favorite princesses growing up in the 90's (along with Pocahontas and Jasmine). But now that I'm older I don't see her in my top three anymore. I like her daughter Melody a LOT more. I'm not saying I hate Ariel, only that I've come to realize some things about her that I didn't see when I was younger.

Ariel is my favourite and Belle my least.

I'm mostly indifferent towards Belle, she has some qualities that I admire and relate to but in other aspects her character definitely doesn't measure up to Ariel's character, at least not to me. Belle's character doesn't have any development whereas Ariel's journey is filled with struggles. Ariel saved Eric staying around a burning ship before and after it's explosion, risking her life just to be able to save his and to me, this is much more admirable than a lot of things other princesses did. That is why, no, I don't love Ariel because she is a mermaid, I love her because she was the way she was.


Moving away from your parents at some point of your life and choosing to live in another place, a place you feel more suitable for yourself as well as not sticking to living in the same place where your childhood friends live does not equal being irresponsible or uncaring and it does not mean you don't love them. Triton crossed the line into emotional abuse when he destroyed all the Ariel's collection she worked on for her entire life putting actual effort into exploring a different culture that Triton labeled as "barbaric" seeing only negative aspects of it and not accepting any kind of a different opinion regarding it and even punishing his own daughter for having a different outlook and seeing things differently because she was open minded enough to not judge something she doesn't know and that's why she was determined to get to know the human world first. Yet Triton chose to put her through a traumatic experience of destroying everything she had been collecting for years while she was screaming and begging him to stop and this is the kind of thing that should and did backfire. He only crossed the line into emotional abuse once and he didn't mean to do it, but the only way for him to learn from it and to never repeat it again was facing the consequences of his behaviour and Ariel taking actions in her own hands and following her heart without looking back at her father's approval. And as someone who has been dealing with emotional abuse for her entire life, I completely approve of it. This is not something that should be left as it is and had Ariel not done anything to achieve her long term desire to live in a place she felt like was better for her, her relationship with her father would have consisted of nothing but hidden anger, offense and misunderstanding. Making choices that include starting a new life of your own in a different place, even if it means moving away from your parents, making mistakes alone the way, succeeding or failing is an important experience to gain and it's a part of developing as a person. Triton left Ariel no choice when he made it clear he was not going to accept her having a different opinion on the human world and despite the fact that she loved her father, she had to make an attempt to live her own life. It was pretty clear that had Triton left her any other options she would have held on to them and she wouldn't have left with a perspective of not coming back. Even before Triton destroyed her collection she was about to see Eric in her mermaid form, hoping to get to know him, wanting their relationship to develop slowly and she didn't consider going to Ursula or turning human before Triton blowing up everything she worked on for her entire life. Triton made a mistake and Ariel, yes, she made a mistake as well when she went to Ursula who was known as the sea witch in order to achieve her goal, but nothing about the terms of the deal she made with Ursula implied that her family or Eric were going to get hurt or face any consequences of this deal because Ariel was willing to face the consequences on her own if Eric doesn't kiss her within three days and she was ready to become Ursula's prisoner in that case without it having to do anything with her family. Yes, it wasn't smart, but she did not willingly subscribe to putting her father in danger and they both learnt their lesson by the end of the movie. Ariel apologized to Triton ("Daddy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to") and she did everything to protect him and fought Ursula together with Eric, whom she saved twice prior to him saving her and defeating Ursula, setting Triton and other victims of the sea witch free (by the way, Triton, being a king, for some reason never considered setting them free on his own although he was supposed to care for his people. A young human guy ended up doing his job for him, even if it wasn't intentional). And Triton realized that evil can come from places other than the human world that he used to villianize so much, in fact, it can come from the sea in a form of such individuals as Ursula whereas the human world consists of different people, some of which are horrible and some of which are like Eric who would do anything for his daughter and who would make his daughter as happy as no other person in the world ever would. And Triton gives them his approval, he realizes that he has to let Ariel go because he loves her and she loves him and because no one can take it away from them. Because she has a right to be happy with Eric the way he was happy with her mother before she died and he couldn't bear taking that away from her. THAT was the point of the movie and Ariel, Eric, and Triton are all amazing characters who went on an incredible journey.

Belle's character development is more a matter of revealing her character than changing her character. For example, at first it seems like she's making a serious sacrifice promising to take her father's place. But then, she breaks that promise only a few hours later. She's not so perfect after all. At first, it seems like Belle merely doesn't care what others think about her. But it increasingly becomes clear that she actually doesn't even know what others are thinking, and this has increasingly bad consequences. At first, Belle's avoidance of expressing herself directly just seems to be playful, but it later seems more like an outright inability. Furthermore, she seems to think others know what she thinks and she doesn't need to come out and say it. This character flaw tragically drives both of the film's climaxes, and the second one is resolved when she finally overcomes it.

That said, I think Belle is generally misunderstood by viewers. I think that Belle's character issues are generally not noticed or understood by most viewers, since she's really just acting like a pretty typical girl. This contrasts with Beast, whose features are extreme and whose character development is the focus of the story. It's ironic, really, because it's actually Belle's character features which drive forward almost every important plot point.


You give an impressive defense of Ariel's actions, and I agree that she should be praised for defying her father's unreasonable actions, rather than criticized for them. I think Ariel is also misunderstood, but mainly by critics of Ariel. I think Belle is misunderstood by her fans also.

The other day, I ran across an old poll on this site asking which father/daughter relationship was most important to the story. I was shocked that Triton/Ariel wasn't the runaway #1 choice. It should have been #1 and it shouldn't have even been close.

Belle's sacrifice was an admirable thing to do, but I don't consider it a character development. If my father was in the same situation I would do the same despite the fact that me and my father never had the kind of a loving relationship that Belle and her dad had and my father would never do the same for me. What Belle did was a good and noble thing to do, but she didn't develop as a character when she disobeyed Beast and went to West Wing, she did it out of curiosity because she was always eager to know more. It was highlighted by her song about wanting more than this provencial life, that's why, even being technically a prisoner of a person she at that point didn't know much about, she was determined to get to know more about him and his castle.

Belle knew that other people don't understand her and I don't think she didn't care, I think she just didn't think about it. She didn't feel emotionally connected to people from her village and she felt like she couldn't talk to any of them because they didn't share common interests. Then she meets Beast and he eventually turns into a challenge she so desperatelly needed in life. And watching their story progressing and Belle contributing to his development was enjoyable, but I can't consider it a development either.

Ariel/Triton were the heart and soul of the movie, I think even more than Ariel/Eric or Ariel's desire to be a human. Ariel is being blamed for making mistakes here and there whereas other characters are usually given a free pass for much more significant mistakes, some of which they made intentionally, unlike Ariel who never willingly subscribed on putting anyone but herself in danger and who's intentions were never bad, ever, at any point of the movie.

Belle's sacrifice wasn't such a significant character development, sure. What was more significant was that she broke her promise to stay at the castle--and she did so really quickly, too.

Belle never made any promise to obey the Beast, nor any promise to stay away from the West Wing. Belle did nothing wrong when she went to see the West Wing. This is one of the things which is generally misunderstood about Belle's character. I think most people think she was wrong, because the audience knows how important that rose is. But Belle has no reason to trust or believe Beast's unreasonable and unexplained orders at this point of the story.

Belle's obliviousness to what others are thinking becomes more and more obvious as it has more serious consequences. She doesn't understand what Gaston is thinking, and doesn't realize that he can't take a hint. She unwittingly strings Gaston along, with bad consequences later on.

More seriously, Belle doesn't understand when Beast thinks he's saying goodbye to her forever. She doesn't understand when Beast asks if she is happy. She just thinks it's obvious. She doesn't get that Beast asking means that it isn't obvious to him! She has no idea what she's putting Beast through, just because she doesn't say what she wrongly thinks is obvious to Beast. Beast almost dies because of this.

Finally, Belle doesn't understand how the townspeople will react to seeing Beast. By that time, she thinks Beast is kind, so she thinks others will see the same in him. Never mind that her own father just expressed how the townspeople will really react! This isn't just Belle being dumb. She honestly has a mental difficulty comprehending how others don't think the same way she does. Belle is honestly surprised when the townspeople react with fear.

Like I said, this isn't character change. Belle had this issue the whole time. It didn't get worse or better. It was character development in the sense of revealing her character more and more throughout the story, rather than character development in the sense of character growth.

I never actually blamed Belle in visiting the West Wing nor could I ever dislike her for that. She did what she thought was fitting in her situation and she was basically Beast's prisoner so she has every right to do whatever she felt like doing for her own safety or to find out more about a person who held her as a prisoner in his castle.

I don't think that Belle didn't understand what Gaston needed. She clearly saw that he was interested in her romantically and she rejected him in a subtle way but at the same time couldn't take him straightly that no, she is not interested in a romantic relationship with him. I'm not saying that it justifies Gaston's stalking or later wanting to make her his wife against her will, though. I don't have anything to blame Belle for, but in my opinion, she remained exactly the same character from the beginning till the end facing no struggles and getting no development. I would consider her staying with Beast after he saved her from the wolves although she could have left and gone home a development, but it was merely her being thankful to him because after all, he got hurt because of saving her life.

She indeed did not understand what kind of emotional pain Beast was in when he let her go nor did she get that he was saying goodbye to her forever, but it was because she was more worked up about her father and his situation at that point. She simply had no time or space in her head to think about her relationship with Beast.

I'm saying that the promise Belle broke was her promise to stay at the castle.

Her actions after Beast saves her life are a bit complicated. First off, she saves his life. Beast falls unconscious bleeding exposed in a snowstorm. If Belle hadn't brought him back to the castle on Phillipe, he would have died.

So, on the one hand it's laudable that she saves his life (something he never thanks her for, since he's still too rude and mean at that point). On the other hand, it's natural for most people to help someone in need like that, especially in those circumstances. Belle would have had to be a very callous person to choose to run away when it meant letting Beast die.

Plus, Belle may have felt guilt about breaking her promise.

Belle's most important struggle is struggling with saying what she needs to. She doesn't think she needs to, and she's wrong. Only at the very end does she finally express herself properly. When Belle leaves Beast, she thinks that stroking his face lovingly is enough to express her feelings. If only she had just said what she was thinking--"I'll be back soon!"

Belle struggles with expressing her feelings to Gaston, of course, but she does finally do so in the end. She says "Never!" to his proposal. Unfortunately, she does this a bit too late. Gaston thinks it's because she has feelings for Beast, so he takes out his rage on Beast. Had Belle explicitly refused Gaston earlier, there wouldn't have been any romantic rival in the picture.

Belle is almost too late expressing her love for Beast. She actually indirectly expresses herself several times--each time more clear than the last--but the dying Beast doesn't get the message. He dies still thinking that, "It's better this way." He just can't bear living with his love of Belle knowing she only sees him as a friend. This is because if she loved him, it should break the spell.

Now, if you don't have difficulty expressing yourself, you might find Belle's main struggle to be trivial and silly. But for Belle, it's difficult. I don't think she changes, really. She probably still has the same issues at the end of the movie. But she did overcome her struggle a few times.

See, the thing is, I don't think that the situation with Gaston would have been any different had Belle said "never" earlier. It was not about him getting an "official" rejection from her, it was him being so bored out of his mind that he wanted some real challenge and the more Belle kept indirectly rejecting him previously, the more he felt like the game was going on. It was not even about Belle herself because if Gaston ever had any feelings for her, they were limited to his love for playing and winning. Then when she finally directly rejects him, he sets up a new game aka "kill the Beast". It is always about playing games for him and when one challenge expires and he realizes he has no chance with Belle at all, he gets a new challenge. That's the way he prefers to live his life. So it has nothing to do with Belle's ability or inability to express herself imo.

Belle's feelings for Beast remained friendly for a long time and it's understandable because they were progressing slowly. She did not have to confess her romantic love for him off the bat when she was not sure about her feelings at that point. She knew she liked Beast and his persoinality change, she appreciated everything he did for her, but she couldn't possibly understand her own feelings in few minutes and then when she had to say goodbye to him and run for her father's help she just didn't have time to think about it or have right words to console Beast and make him realize she is going to be back. Not because she had some specific flaw of not being able to express herself but because she simply didn't have time to think about how to do it at that point.

I don't think Gaston cared for any sort of real challenge. He seems to genuinely enjoy life when he's surrounded by fawning fans and he doesn't have to try hard for anything. He hates it when Belle resists him, and he especially hates it when she humiliates him. He doesn't get nasty with Belle because he enjoys it. He does it because he can't stand losing. He can't stand losing, and can't stand being seen as a loser. When even Lefou is laughing at his expense, that's just more than Gaston can take. That's why he goes after Beast also.

Belle did actually take the time to answer Beast in her own way, by stroking his face lovingly instead of saying "goodbye". This message isn't clear enough for Beast to understand, though. It's not actually a question of whether she is truly in love with him yet. She already likes him enough as a friend to return to the castle soon. She's already happier living with him in the castle than she was living in the village. But of course Beast doesn't know any of that. He doesn't know how Belle doesn't fit in and doesn't have any close friends. He doesn't know about her discomfort with Gaston. He doesn't know about how she wonders if she's odd.

Belle didn't have to explain all that, though. All Belle had to do was say, "I'll be back." When beast gives her the mirror, saying things that only make sense if he's saying goodbye forever, Belle could have corrected his misconception. She could have just corrected him, saying, "I'll be back." That would have changed everything.

But it's hard for Belle to say something like that. Instead, she just caresses his face.

In my opinion Gaston was incredibly bored with his life despite all his fangirls and his puppy "dog" Lefou, it was shown on more than one occasion of the movie that he was looking for a real challenge but when he had no challenge he got bored and annoyed and needed others to cheer him up singing songs about how no one does it like Gaston. Said songs gave him strength to go and try it again and again with Belle.

Stroking Beast's hand was her way of saying goodbye for now, she simply had no time thinking about HOW she has to say it because she needed to hurry to her father. It's not just Belle's trait, anyone in her situation would fail with words. It was not the kind of situation when you mumble something subltly romantic or hopefull just in order to make a person you are talking to feel better or confident about your come back. Beast was not in danger at that point, her father was and the latter was her obvious priority.

Gaston didn't expect Belle to be a challenge, though. He thought Belle would jump at the chance to make her dreams come true--her dreams of becoming Gaston's wife and bearing him six strapping boys, of course. Gaston was upset after Belle publicly humiliated him, but that wasn't because of boredom. (To be fair to Belle she had no idea that the entire town was waiting outside for their wedding. It's entirely Gaston's own fault that he was publicly humiliated.)


I don't agree that anyone in her situation would fail with words. Beast is almost as bad as Belle at expressing himself, but he was still clear enough. It isn't even about whether Belle has romantic feelings about Beast. Chip asked Belle whether she liked him and the others anymore.

But it's entirely in character for Belle to not say anything. Beauty and the Beast is well written, establishing this aspect of her character beforehand.

There were multiple points of the movie where Gaston showed how incredibly bored he was without challenges. He didn't care whether it was the entire town waiting for his wedding with Belle or just him, he had this goal and wanted to achieve that goal. Also there was nothing to suggest that he knew it would be easy with Belle, considering that everyone thought she was a freak and Gaston himself didn't quite figure her out. The more she rejected him, even if she didn't do it directly before the end, the most crazy his desire to get her became.

I agree to disagree about it anyway. I think Belle failed with words just like any person would if their parent they love was in mortal danger whereas a person they are talking to at the moment wasn't threaten by anything.

Gaston clearly expected Belle to immediately say yes to his proposal. He proudly organized the surprise wedding and openly announced to the gathered wedding crowd:

"I'd like to thank you all for coming to my wedding. But first, I'd better go in there and propose to the girl!"

Clearly, Gaston 100% expected Belle to say yes and for her to be pleasantly surprised by the wedding party waiting outside. He didn't even consider any other possibility, which would have been public humiliation.

That line was a part of Gaston's nature of a pose, of a narcissistic jerk who has to make a vision that he always gets what he wants. However, on more than one occasion of the movie it wasmade clear that things he can get easily bore him. Like those three blonde girls or his worshippers. It was all not enough for him, it did not provide a challenge.

The reason Gaston didn't care about the bimbettes was that they weren't as beautiful as Belle. The reason Gaston insisted on marrying Belle was because she was the only one in town as beautiful as himself. According to his shallow beliefs, Belle was the best because she was the most beautiful. He insisted on nothing less than the best for himself.

Gaston expected Belle to be as trivial to woo as the bimbettes would have been. Everyone in town adored him. Even Maurice thought he was a nice guy. Only Belle didn't like Gaston, but she didn't make that clear to him. Gaston thought she was being flirtatious.

And what was the reason behind him thinking that Belle was more beautiful than the bimbettes? Because objectively looking, she really wasn't, it just seemed like that to Gaston because he was blinded by the idea of having/winning her. Belle was considered a freak in town, it wouldn't have added to Gaston's reputation for him to marry someone like her but he wanted it because it provided some sort of a challenge.

Anyway, the main subject is not Gaston, but Belle and her character development. I didn't see it, I didn't see her facing any emotional struggles and conflicts. You say that not being able to express herself or to make people understand her was her struggle, but I don't consider those few times when she failed with words to be some sort of a flaw that she would even need to struggle with and even if she had that flaw, she simply did not know about it. She didn't face any emotional conflict and that is why, to me, she was less interesting than Ariel. I still prefer Belle to Snow White and Tiana who are my least favourite princesses though.

Gaston thought Belle was beautiful because he found her very beautiful from the first time he saw her. Regardless of how Belle was drawn, in the story she is considered beautiful by everyone in town. She has multiple male admirers, who spy on her in the bookstore. Other random townspeople remark on her beauty.

Gaston didn't care that Belle was odd. His only criteria for wife suitability was beauty and beauty alone.

Belle's character development was in the form of progressively exposing her character, rather than changing her character. She had some emotional struggles and conflicts, but they were less important to the story than her evolving relationship with Beast. Obviously, she had struggles with Gaston, and Beast was initially cruel with her and Maurice. She was also concerned that she didn't fit in, although she may have only started suspecting it when Gaston told her everyone was talking about her behind her back. Either way, she did know something was wrong, and it made her dissatisfied even if she didn't know exactly what it was she was searching for. These really aren't central to the story, though, even if it's expressed in her "I want" song.

Of course, I agree that Ariel is a more interesting character than Belle. I could go on and on about the reasons I find Ariel interesting, although I haven't really done so yet here on fanpop. Months ago, I had written a ridiculously long essay about Ariel, but it was mainly just for my own consumption. Lorien's the only other person who has read it. As I expected, her reaction was that I put waaaaay too much thought into it.

Gaston showed it on more than one occasion that he kept wanting to win Belle even after a rejection and in fact, the more he was rejected, the more he wanted her. He goes and drinks with his admireres, first being annoyed to the point where he doesn't really care about them singing "No one does it like Gaston" song, then cheering up and deciding that it's a real challenge for him to win Belle and he accepts this challenge and it stops being about Belle anymore, from there on it was just about himself. About not failing again. It was the reason why at some point he becomes completely manipulative in order to make Belle marry him and sets up the deal with Belle's dad being put into mental institution. By that time he already realized that Belle is not going to just agree to be his wife. But he still wanted to have her because it was a fight he needed to win and a challenge he accepted. It was the sole reason why he went after Beast in the end. When he realized he cannot have Belle, he still needed to somehow "win" the global fight. There was no reason for him to go after Beast other than that.

I'm actually not saying that a character should change to be considered interesting or well developed. But a character should have at least some significant individual struggles outside of the main romantic or other storyline. Mulan, for example, had to struggle with wanting to prove something to someone untill the point where she realized she does not have to do it and that the person she wanted to prove something first and foremost was herself. Belle on the other hand does not have any struggles outside of her storyline with Beast whereas Beast comes out as a complex and layered character with loads of individual struggles even outside of his romance with Belle.

It's good to analyze characters, I think. It helps you see things from different angles.

I agree that Gaston had to "win" any challenge, but I don't think he enjoyed them at all. He just couldn't stand to lose. He cheers up when he devises his evil plan to force Belle to marry him, because he finally sees a way to win. Before that, he was upset because everyone was laughing at him (even Lefou) and he didn't have any idea how to make Belle marry him. He had no plan B.

Of course, his evil plan also fails. Belle doesn't give in, she says she'll never marry him. Gaston doesn't see this as a great challenge to satisfy his boredom. He doesn't start trying to think up a new plan to win her. He just rages with anger and hatred. He feels he has lost to Beast, so he sets off to destroy his rival. This isn't to satisfy his boredom, it's to satisfy his uncontrollable rage at losing again.

Belle has minor side struggles. After Gaston tells her that everyone has been talking about her behind her back, she wonders whether she's odd. Her dad insists that's nonsense, but of course he's an oddball himself. Still, it provides insight into why Belle doesn't know she's odd. Apparently her father gives her nothing but unconditional affirmation--which really isn't the healthiest thing. Belle has her struggles with Gaston, of course, but those really aren't important to the central story. She does ultimately stand up to him, but it's too little too late. Her other struggle is her vague desire for something more than this provincial life. She does get it, but more or less by accident.

I'm not sure what struggles Beast has which don't relate to his romance with Belle. He doesn't have any struggles with his friendships, like Aladdin does. His friends are supportive and consistently try to help. He struggles with his temper and his manners, of course, but those directly relate to his romance with Belle. He starts off the movie terribly depressed, but he's essentially depressed about Belle--he just hasn't met her yet. It's a pale echo of his depression after he meets Belle, of course.

The only thing that's outside of his romance with Belle, I think, is his shamefully poor treatment of Maurice--but even that is related. When Belle tells him her father is sick and dying in the cold all alone, Beast realizes what a terrible person he has been. It's his fault that Maurice is dying alone in the cold! If Belle hadn't traded places with him, he would have died alone in the cold in his tower. So, even though it's not exactly related to Belle, it still is. It makes Beast realize that he doesn't deserve Belle.

At some point, I need to find my old essay about Ariel and reread it. My feelings have evolved greatly since I wrote it.

Gaston's anger when he fails is directly linked to his inability to handle the very fact of losing, yes, but the challenge is a logical way of at some point being able to win and winning is what feeds his ego, that's why naturally he needs a challenge to be able to have a victory. It's all tied together.

Belle didn't know to what degree everyone thought she was odd, but her not knowing it and then figuring it out is not a struggle, it is merely her having to face certain facts she couldn't face earlier because she didn't pay attention. It is not an emotional conflict, not like the one that Ariel had when she wanted to be a human and explore the human world despite her own father labeling said world as barbaric and terrible and seeming to never be able to accept the fact that there are good people among humans just like there are good and bad creatures under the sea, discriminating and generalizing humans based on his wrong judgement and prejudices and punishing Ariel for being more open minded about it. This is what I consider a real conflict. I'm not saying I did not enjoy Belle's story, I'm saying that she is a much less interesting and developed character compared to Ariel.

Belle was the reason why Beast started changing, but he worked at it and realized certain things about himself along the way that would NOT have let him keep being the same as before even if Belle had never come back and Gaston never found his castle. He became a fully formed person by the end. With Belle, nothing really changed, she remained a girl who likes to read.

Awww yeah, answering this question really late.