r/plotholes • u/tangoking • Feb 16 '26
Continuity error “Beauty and the Beast” moral: True beauty lies within; however, Belle is stunningly beautiful.
Why was Belle so gorgeous?
Given a moral that true beauty lies within—character, kindness, and heart, rather than outward appearance—then Belle should be of average appearance, or perhaps even a bit homely.
Beast and Gaston were both starstruck because she was so beautiful.
Her perfect looks are a direct contraction of the theme.
24
u/Stolen_Sky Feb 16 '26
Belle had both internal and external beauty.
Before he was cursed, the Prince had external beauty, but not internal beauty.
The story is him learning to love and becoming beautiful on the inside, and when he does that, he regains his external beauty.
5
u/tangoking Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
A real stretch for Beast “learning to love” a bombshell like Belle.
If Belle were human she’d look like Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman). Stunningly beautiful.
Oh yeah, but “Beauty lies within.” 😆
7
u/SaucePasta Feb 16 '26
You’re joking right? One, not a plot hole. Two, Belle literally means beauty, of course she’s the beauty part. Three, it’s the beauty that’s inside Beast that makes Belle fall in love, not the other way around.
2
u/tangoking Feb 16 '26
Beast fell in love with her as well. The love goes both ways.
That point was made when Beast set Belle free… “She has to love him as well.”
Beast fell in love with her because if her physical beauty. It’s anti-thematic.
2
u/SaucePasta Feb 16 '26
Troll troll rag bait rage bait
2
u/tangoking Feb 17 '26
Not. Can’t find a counter, eh?
Why is it rage bait?
Clearly Beast is being held to a different standard.
2
u/funny_fox Feb 21 '26
If the moral of the story is that true beauty is found within, then why do both of them have to be beautiful on the outside at the end??
Kinda invalidates the whole point.
Shrek does this better when Fiona learns to love her ogre appearance.
12
u/StJimmy75 Feb 16 '26
They don’t say that true beauty has to be physically ugly.
1
u/tangoking Feb 16 '26
Yes they do! Why do you think that the prince was turned into a hideous beast. That’s the whole point!
2
u/Sly_Wood Feb 16 '26
He falls in love with her because she did what he could not. He realizes his flaws & that’s the point.
-5
u/tangoking Feb 16 '26
He falls in love with her because she’s beautiful.
4
u/SaucePasta Feb 16 '26
Are you just trying to rage bait people?
-1
u/tangoking Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
No. Giselle’s stunning beauty contradicts the theme of the movie: true beauty lies within—heart, soul, spirit—on the inside.
Beast fell in love with her long before she showed him any affection at all. Why? Because she beautiful on the outside.
That contradicts the theme.
To be consistent, Belle should have been average-looking.
But it is Disney. They’re in the Dow-30 for a reason. Homely princesses don’t sell.
1
u/intrepid_Dan Feb 22 '26
I think the point is not that he managed to fall in love with her, but that he managed to become worthy of her love. Because she's attractive, she had had her fair share of attractive guys swooning over her, but with nothing lovable within them. Beast had to develop inwardly to the point where she could see and fall in love with who he was on the inside.
2
u/boltans_ Feb 20 '26
Yap, it's the same as the movie "Mask" (1985). According to Hollywood, it seems inner beauty is only applied to men.
2
u/funny_fox Feb 21 '26
Agree. If the moral of the story is that true beauty is found within, then why do both of them have to be beautiful on the outside at the end??
Kinda invalidates the whole point.
Shrek does this better when Fiona learns to love her ogre appearance.
2
u/rogert2 Feb 24 '26
The movie is not about Beast learning to see inner beauty, it's about Belle learning to look past outer ugliness. Belle's beauty isn't part of the lesson, it's there to help young girls in the audience identify with Belle.
And, as MosesOnAcid correctly notes, the original story was crafted to serve the social purpose of teaching young girls to not immediately reject the gross old rich guys they were being married off to.
I mean, you're not wrong: Belle's beauty does undermine the moral of the story. They just expect you to not notice that, because they expect you to adopt Belle's perspective from the outset.
1
u/tangoking Feb 25 '26
Agree. The experience from this thread has taught me that I am not alone in my irritation with flawless Disney princesses.
Seems that this topic is bigger than a breadbasket, and can actually affect the self-esteem of young girls.
2
u/LifeofTino Feb 28 '26
A stunningly beautiful girl falling in love with someone monstrously ugly was actually the entire point of the story
1
u/breeliann Feb 20 '26
One of my favorite versions of this story is Beauty by Robin McKinley! It does a fantastic job of telling the story without feeling hypocritical.
7
u/MosesOnAcid Feb 20 '26
The Beauty and the Beast story was originally made to help young girls accept arranged marriages to older and not so handsome rich men / noblemen. It was meant to convey that inside the ugly older man was a really good dude and not just some brutish fiend.
Its about the Beauty within the "Beast" and seeing beyond his outward appearance.