I Want to Do Something Nice for Her: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Most Romantic Moment #6

Belle could

So I LOOOOOOVE this movie!

So I’m sure you all know this story-but I’ll do a quick review just in case. Belle and her father live in a small French village. Her father is an inventor and he goes off to a fair to show his latest creation, but ends up going the wrong way and enters a magical castle where all the furniture is alive and the prince was transformed into a beast.

With a miscommunication as to why Maurice is there, he gets thrown into the castle dungeon, and his horse which ran away travels to Belle. Belle, meanwhile, has been unhappy with her life, and Gaston- a total jerk who wants to marry her. When she spots the horse, she rides off to find out what happened to her father.

There she trades her freedom to free her father and settles in to life with the Beast. Will she find a way to free herself? Or will she discover that there is more to this Beast than his outward appearance?

Most Romantic Moment: I Want to Do Something for Her

So this moment comes about half way to two thirds on the movie. The Beast and Belle have been spending a lot of time together and the Beast has fallen for Belle and wants to show her how important their friendship is to him.

So he thinks and thinks about what to do and what does Belle love. Yes what does Belle love, that’s the most romantic part. He wants to just do something special for Belle-not wanting anything in return or expecting anything-and thinks of something that Belle would love. So he gifts her, her own the library.

Awwwwwwwwww, so romantic!

For more Beauty and the Beast, go to Waiter, There’s Some Disney in My Jane Austen

For more Disney posts, go to Kiss the Girl: The Little Mermaid (1989)

For more library posts, go to Happiness is Having a Library Card: Another 13 of the Best Fictional Libraries

The Little Moreland

So you all are aware I’m a Disney fan right? I mean after my 30 Days of Disney I think it’s pretty obvious.

So being female, I loved the Disney princesses, my favorite being Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Belle from The Beauty and the Beast.

Now in the past I have compared myself to Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle; but I never thought I would compare myself to Ariel.

Although now that I’m a redhead, I can see it.

In fact, I once took a quiz that said I was her, and I thought yeah right, that’s not me.

Go here to see which you belong in/are

But the other day I was full on The Little Mermaid. Although, truth be told it wasn’t really the Disney version, but the hardcore Hans Christian Anderson one.

You see in the original story The Little Mermaid was the youngest of six sisters. On her 15th birthday she is able to go up to the surface where she sees the prince and saves his life during a storm.

She visits him everyday at his palace at the seashore and falls in love.

So romantic!

She soons becomes heartbroken as she can’t be with him. Nothing makes her happy, all she wants is to be human.

The other mermaids tell her to be happy, she can live for over 300 years. But she won’t have it. She travels to the sea-witch who lives in a horrible area and is an awful crazy person. The sea-witch turns her into a human, for her voice. However, their are strong consequences. One, she can never, ever be a mermaid again. Two, every step will be agonizing pain. Three, if the prince marries another, the next morning she will die with no soul but turn into foam. The Little Mermaid agrees and her tongue is cut out.

She washes up on shore and the prince takes her into his house. He clothes her and cares for her, as if she was his little sister. He tells her of the girl that saved his life and that she will be the only one he will ever love.

Yay!

Well time comes when the prince has to marry. And the girl chosen is so beautiful he agrees. In fact, he asks the Little Mermaid to be in the ceremony.

She is in so much heartbreak as she is doomed to die while the man she loves is to be married to another.

Her five sisters come to see her. They have cut off all their hair and given it to the sea-witch. They give her a knife and tell her that if she kills the prince and sprinkles his blood on her feet then she will be a mermaid again. But she must do it before the sunrise. She goes into the room to kill him…but she can’t do it. She loves him too much.

So she dies.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

Yes she dies. But she doesn’t turn to foam. She instead is given an eternal soul because she sacrificed herself for another.

I always knew the books we read as kids strongly affect us.

But I didn’t know how much until now.

So you are probably wondering what this has to do with me? How am I like The Little Mermaid? Book or film, I’m pretty sure all of you are wanting me to get to the point.

Well for Halloween this year I decided to be Poison Ivy. She is my favorite villainess, as I think she is just amazing. I did a post on her that includes pics of the costume.

So anyways, this past summer I mentioned I was in Wyoming, and that is the land of meat + potatoes. Fruit and veggies are few and far between. So since that summer, I’ve been feeling large.

Yes I do, but I noticed I have put more weight on in the butt/thigh area, or at least that’s what it feels like. So I decided that it was time to get into shape. I started doing squats and did about 100.  I was feeling pretty good about it too.

The next day I was a bit sore, but still feeling good.

The next day that was radically different. I drove to an interview, wearing my two inch boots, preparing to change into my four-inch heels when I got there. When I reached the site, I had to park a bit away. After I parked I changed into my heels.

Now I love heels. If you remember from a previous post, I’m short. I’m only 5’3, so heels are great as they finally make me closer to my dream height. They make me feel powerful and awesome. The higher the better.

So walking in 3-5 inch heels is not unusual for me. However, this time was much different. It WAS SO PAINFUL.

No no no no no

I felt just like The Little Mermaid.

“It will feel like a sword were passing through your body…each step you take will feel like sharp knives piercing your feet. “

That’s how it felt with me. Each step was utter agony as my muscles just burned and were so inexplicably sore.

I had to take so many breaks. As soon as I could I went to my car and changed my shoes. I’ve decided to rest from squats. And heels. I’ll just have to accept my bod for what it is.

Or focus on a different exercise!

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again

For more on Hans Christian Anderson, go to Disney Lesson

For more on my fashion style, go to Fashionably Postworthy

For more on Disney, go to Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?

For more fairy tales, go to Happily Ever Aftermath

For more book-y posts, go to Conan the Librarian

For more of my favorite quotes, go to Part XI: A Movie Line List ‘s Excellent Adventure

Belle of the Ball

Day 3) Your Favorite Disney Heroine

Belle

 

Belle is so awesome! She’s beautiful, rocking her ponytail. Belle is just so sweet, smart, and able to hold her own against skeezy guys.

The best thing about Belle is that she just is herself. She loves to read and even though people find it strange is always out getting her stuff, rereading her favs. (Just like me)

Instead of settling for the “hot guy” she turns him down, set on waiting for something real. She is intelligent and okay with being that way. It can be hard to find people who “get her”, but who cares.

She is willing to give her life for her father (she didn’t know that the Beast wouldn’t hurt her).

Take me instead

She won’t allow the Beast to yell at her or order her around

But still thanks him for everything

She starts becoming the beast’s friend, overlooking everything “ugly” about him and seeing his true heart.

Belle could

When he lets her go, she comes back. Just like she promised.

And the end their love goes on. She’s awesome! So ya, Belle is awesome. She and I are so much alike.

 

To see who you are go here

Yep that’s pretty much me all over. And guess what guy is perfect for me:

If you want to see who your prince is, go here.

And looky here!

To see what your Disney relationship is go here.

For more on Beauty and the Beast, go to 25 Films of Christmas

For more on Disney Princesses, go to A True Princess

For more on Disney Princes, go to Prince of a Man

For more on Disney, go to Fashion Show

For more films based on Fairy Tales, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again

For more Quizzes, go to My New BF

For more on Avenged Sevenfold, go to Unbound (The Wild Ride)

For more Book-y posts, go to My Precious

 

 

 

Prince of a Man

Day 2) Your Favorite Disney Prince

Prince Philip

 

Favorite Prince of all time is definitely Prince Phillip. Look at him, he’s a cartoon hottie!

Prince Phillip

He is such a great guy. He is an excellent swordsman and an adventurous soul, going out and checking out his land.

He is also an amazing singer and dancer

Plus he doesn’t care whether or not Aurora is royal, he likes her for who she is.

Deal with it dad! He’s just like Mr. Tilney.

How can you not love a guy who will do that? Screw the crown and riches, she’s worth it. Plus he’s all down to meet the family right away.

When he’s captured he goes after the girl, nothing stopping him. First taking down the evil minions.

A field of thorns

And a dragon

All to get the woman of his dreams

So ya, I LOVE HIM!!!!

 

For more on Sleeping Beauty go to A Horse’s Tale

For more on Disney Princes, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again!

For more on Disney, go to A True Princess

To read more about a man giving up his inheritance for love, go to Storybook Ending

For more on films based on Fairy Tales, go to Frozen Solid

The Real Revolutionary

So I was thinking today about how everyone says that Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride and Prejudice, “is revolutionary in that she actively rejects the conventions of the time in which it is written. Her determination to choose her own husband, using “rational” Love as her main criteria, deems her as a rebel of her time.”  But you know who the real revolutionary? Emma Woodhouse from Emma.

Now I don’t want you to think that I’m denouncing the things Elizabeth stands for or her accomplishments at being a revolutionary character, but face it Emma is much more revolutionary.

Now most people forget about the revolutionary aspects of Emma’s character because they focus more on the love triangle, Emma’s meddling, etc. But in actuality Emma is a more revolutionary character.

So first of all we have what Elizabeth is famous for, her decision not to marry Mr. Collins, but rather wait for love. She dreams of marrying one day to a man that completes her. As we can tell by Charlotte’s defense:

Unlike Charlotte, Elizabeth is a romantic. She has an ideal person she is waiting for. She’s waiting for a highly practical and sensible one, but still waiting for her Mr. Right. Now this is revolutionary. Women lacked any options at all, they usually did only what their parents instructed of them. They married only for security, standing, and wealth. They tended to have very little happiness as their husbands would have mistresses and spend all their time with them, or involved in so many vices (gambling, drinking, drugs) etc. The book & TV show The Buccaneers, really shows the realistic side of marriage in the time (if you have Amazon Instant Watch you can watch it free).

Emma on the other hand rejects marriage. Granted, unlike Elizabeth, she has the money and power to support herself (her estate is not entailed); but still this is extremely revolutionary. She embraces the idea of being a spinster.

I know right?

“I do so wonder, Miss Woodhouse, that you should not be married, or going to be married! so charming as you are!”—

Emma laughed, and replied,

“My being charming, Harriet, is not quite enough to induce me to marry; I must find other people charming—one other person at least. And I am not only, not going to be married, at present, but have very little intention of ever marrying at all.”

“Ah!—so you say; but I cannot believe it.”

“I must see somebody very superior to any one I have seen yet, to be tempted; Mr. Elton, you know, (recollecting herself,) is out of the question: and I do not wish to see any such person. I would rather not be tempted. I cannot really change for the better. If I were to marry, I must expect to repent it.”

“Dear me!—it is so odd to hear a woman talk so!“—

“I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall. And, without love, I am sure I should be a fool to change such a situation as mine. Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want: I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband’s house as I am of Hartfield; and never, never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man’s eyes as I am in my father’s.“

“But then, to be an old maid at last, like Miss Bates!”

“That is as formidable an image as you could present, Harriet; and if I thought I should ever be like Miss Bates! so silly—so satisfied—so smiling—so prosing—so undistinguishing and unfastidious—and so apt to tell every thing relative to every body about me, I would marry to-morrow. But between us, I am convinced there never can be any likeness, except in being unmarried.”

“But still, you will be an old maid! and that’s so dreadful!”

“Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else. And the distinction is not quite so much against the candour and common sense of the world as appears at first; for a very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper. Those who can barely live, and who live perforce in a very small, and generally very inferior, society, may well be illiberal and cross. This does not apply, however, to Miss Bates; she is only too good natured and too silly to suit me; but, in general, she is very much to the taste of every body, though single and though poor. Poverty certainly has not contracted her mind: I really believe, if she had only a shilling in the world, she would be very likely to give away sixpence of it; and nobody is afraid of her: that is a great charm.”

“Dear me! but what shall you do? how shall you employ yourself when you grow old?”

“If I know myself, Harriet, mine is an active, busy mind, with a great many independent resources; and I do not perceive why I should be more in want of employment at forty or fifty than one-and-twenty. Woman’s usual occupations of hand and mind will be as open to me then as they are now; or with no important variation. If I draw less, I shall read more; if I give up music, I shall take to carpet-work. And as for objects of interest, objects for the affections, which is in truth the great point of inferiority, the want of which is really the great evil to be avoided in not marrying, I shall be very well off, with all the children of a sister I love so much, to care about. There will be enough of them, in all probability, to supply every sort of sensation that declining life can need. There will be enough for every hope and every fear; and though my attachment to none can equal that of a parent, it suits my ideas of comfort better than what is warmer and blinder. My nephews and nieces!—I shall often have a niece with me.”

You see Emma embraces the idea of spinsterhood, the very thing that Charlotte is afraid of and what causes her to marry Mr. Collins, as a stupid man is seen as better than no man at all. Elizabeth isn’t afraid like Charlotte Lucas as she believes it will eventually happen, never considering what will happen if Mr. Right doesn’t come along. Emma on the other hand has the attitude of “forget men, I don’t need them in my life, maybe one will come around that will cause me to think differently, but if I never experience love I will be A-okay”.

Now this is HUGE for the times. Being a spinster was seen as beyond a horrible thing. It was a last result. It was the most deplorable thing a woman could amount to. But to Emma she doesn’t see it that way. She sees it an opportunity to live her life however she decides.

And when she finds out that Mr. Knightly might get with another person, she doesn’t wish that he would choose her instead, what she wishes is that nothing will change, that they will remain friends.

“Wish it she must, for his sake—be the consequence nothing to herself, but his remaining single all his life. Could she be secure of that, indeed, of his never marrying at all, she believed she should be perfectly satisfied.—Let him but continue the same Mr. Knightley to her and her father, the same Mr. Knightley to all the world; let Donwell and Hartfield lose none of their precious intercourse of friendship and confidence, and her peace would be fully secured.”

I think we have a clear winner here.

Miss Emma Woodhouse (2009)

 

Emma, the real revolutionary.

For more on Emma go to On the 10th Day ‘Til Christmas

For more on Pride & Prejudice go to Flu Season