Belle, reading and intelligence

shanyuisboss I don't think she is extremely smart but she isn't dumb either. you have to remember that this movie is set in a time when the fairytales used to be those thick and long books like the original little mermaid. that is way different then "cheap romance novels". the books they read were much higher level than that. She reads books alot that would cause her to be a better writer and in a few ways a better thinker. it also expands her vocabulary more even though it hasn't really been shown in the movie it still helps. also, belle's decision is not as dumb as most of the disney princess's decisions. it's one of the way less dumb ones and is just a big mistake that she made without thinking just as all of us have.

AudreyFreak ^I know, I just mean that people forget she does not always do or say intelligent things. she does dumb things too. Besides, the level of dumbness is purely subjective but I'd say going into a place- the level of danger you do not even care about, or consider- after being expressively forbidden to, [i]just to satisfy your curiosity[/i], is really dumb objectively. I think she was too smart to do that. At least we know Ariel isn't the sharpest and was in an emotional state when she made the deal, and Snow White is sheltered and was trying to be polite when she took the apple. What's Belle's excuse? She's smart, 17 years old, mature, and knows better. And as I said before, reading does not ALONE make you smart. Because for one thing, again, lots of unintelligent people do it. Twilight, 50 Shades, Confessions of a Shopaholic, etc. are considered pretty badly written stuff yet look how many people like them. And very young children read though their intelligence isn't fully developed yet. And back then fairy tales were written for kids, too, as moral lessons. Anyway, she is incredibly lucky that this is a Disney movie where women and girls don't get hurt or murdered. If it was an edgier company and she was a less idealized/important character the Beast might have torn her to shreds but she didn't stop to think about that. I would be more OK with her fans calling her smart if they just quit using that argument. It's very illogical. What if the other DPs also like reading (like Rapunzel, who is sometimes called dumb)? Are they also intelligent or still dumber than Belle?

Swanpride Belle's "downfall" is her curiousity....it's a totally understandable character flaw. Are all her decisions right? Not necessarily, but for me, they are understandable, because for most of them, she was between a rock and a hard place. Giving herself up or allowing her father to die in prison? Revealing the Beast or allowing her father to end up in an asylum? Running to the wolfes are staying with an angry beast? The difference to Ariel is that Belle DOESN'T bring herself into a dire situation...going into the west wing might make her situation worse, but that she is the prisoner of the beast is not her fault. Ariel for example doesn't even have to swim to Ursula (thought the main reason I consider her the dumbest of all the princesses is that she just doesn't get how to use a fork right, even after she got demonstrated what a fork is for she STILL uses one as a comb in the evening...sorry, that's just dumb! Dumb, dumb, dumb!) And, truthfully, the only people who say that "she is smart because she reads" are the one who disagree with the notion...it's one argument of the people who consider her smart (and I personally doubt that she only reads fairy tales, they are her favs, but she seems to read whatever she gets her hands on - not only the talk with the book shop owner, also her use of "big words" points to it), but not the only one why I consider her the third smartest princess (after Rapunzel, who, yes, reads too, but is also very good in figuring stuff out for herself, like charting stars, and Mulan, who has a very inventive mind)...Belle is really good in reading people and in getting what she wants or avoiding what she doesn't want by using her smarts. She doesn't start a fight with Gaston when he proposes her, instead she leads him to the door and then opens the door when he leans against it.

LupinPrincess She's not smart or dumb, she's just different and curious...open minded, which I think are good things, that's an inventors daughter for ya

shanyuisboss audreyfreak, I completely understand. just because you read that does not make you smart. you can read alot but not be in any way open minded or anything. she is just a regularly smart person, but she isn't THAT smart but not dumb either. I hate that argument, just because she reads a lot of books it does not mean anything. I also agree with a lot of what swanpride is saying.

PociandSmith This couldn't have been closer to reality. There usually is this misconception about Belle. Although we do not exactly know what kind of books she reads, based on the stuff we have, she reads fairy tales, so that doesn't make her more intelligent than the other princesses.

NemainsBrother As mentioned above, intellectuality and intelligence are not interchangeable. Intellect is your knowledge and the capacity of your mind. intelligence is the practical application of this capacity (most intellectuals are intelligent, but not vice versa). Intelligence is also defined by the quickness of your learning process. Belle is a dreamer by nature and thus we (have to) focus more on her intellectual traits (e.g. reading classic literature, ) than the practical evidences of her intelligence through deeds. . Not because she's unintelligent but because she has her head in the clouds and doesn't bother "proving" her intelligence. Belle might as well be the most intellectual DP, along with Rapunzel, Introversion and ( therefore ) Isolation are also traits found often under intellectuals. Moreover, intellectuals are more concerned with thoughts than deeds- my favourite example is Kant, a philosopher whose longest journeys took place in his mind. Interestingly, Siegmund Freud stated that Kant's repressed "hunger for life" was expressed through his unhealthy eating habits. In my point of view, "Beauty and the Beast" is not just a story about "looking beyond the surface", but also about overcoming the own isolation (both belles and the Beasts). All branches of knowledge (be it fairytales or a science book) are without meaning if you aren't able to use them. Rapunzel, for example, uses her knowledge to predict the movement of the stars- she proves both her intellect and her intelligence. The theme of overcoming isolation fits also perfectly with Rapunzel. Belle is also isolated and her books offer an escape from her narrow life (if you look closely enough, you will see a globe in every library that Belle enters. It symbolizes the journeys she did in her imagination, journey's she could never have done in the real world). The song "Stories" in the Christmas sequel shows us how rich her imagination is and how much she must have read: Daedalus and Ikarus, Viking Boats, Treasure Maps, even a heliocentric (!!!) version of the solar system. When Belles relationship with the Beast becomes more intimate, she finally overcomes her isolation and shares her knowledge .I consider teaching the Beast how to read an intelligent decision. In the sequel "The enchanted Christmas" she even writes a story book (in record time, with beautiful illustrations and in calligraphy) for the beast. Fairy tales now have a meaning, a practical benefit: Discovering that you are the hero of your own story and there is hope. Belle proves her intelligence as a teacher, she helps others to discover the value of books and the self-knowledge you can gain with them ("never judge a book by its cover", as she would say). This might be the true reason why Belles reading habits are often mentioned when asking for her intelligence. She has also a sharp tongue and knows how to defend herself with words. We can easily say that Belle is intelligent and very (!) intellectual. She’s not smart just because she reads. What she reads (no, not just cheap romance novels!!!), why she reads and her rich imagination make her smart. And no, I don't consider her only "average intelligent" - in fact, a person with a rich imagination has it easier to think "outside of the box". Moreover, it is silly to compare the intelligence of fictional (!) characters without an objective basis. It is not as if they made the same IQ test and one must only compare the results. The question "is DP x more intelligent than DP y" is highly subjective.