#hurt me in more ways than you'd know and i've had that hc bouncing in my head FOR YEARS

[perpetuallyconfuzzled]

Yo’ can I nag and theorize about Beauty & the Beast (1991+2017) for a second???

You’re still here??? OKAY COOL CAUSE I AM NOT HOLDING BACK ANY LONGER, HOLD ON CAUSE ITS A LONG ONE SO while I can admit I did like a few things from the Live-Action remake version of Beauty & the Beast, mostly how stunning the cinematography and animation was as well as the music (I AM A SLUT FOR EVERMORE) the thing that was breaking my head was how obvious the movie was trying to justify the plot holes of the first movie like a ‘wink wink nudge nudge’ while accidentally making it seem worse???   and even more when I don’t think it was necessary cause kids either never realized or came up with their own little HCs on how that happened (And yes I will mention what my childhood interpretation was cause darn it I am actually proud of this many-year-in-the-making-theory that I keep adding on to and I refuse to be embarrassed about it any longer, heck maybe others thought the exact same thing too so I shall bite the bullet and be cringe as hell!) btw I divided this shit in case you just wanted to know why I thing the new enchantress was an asshat with her curse (The Nagging) or read the interpretation/theorizing I’ve been doing since I was a child (The Theory)

The Nagging half-

okay so first things first the new movie says that the beast would become a monster and the rest of staff living in the castle would also suffer the spell’s magic until the beast learned how to love and be loved by another, all before the last petal fell if not they would be stuck like this forever (except the staff, they’d become actual furniture and leave a mad beast all alone) mind you, ALL OF THIS was also taking into account that NO ONE would ever remember anyone that was inside this castle, including family members like spouses or siblings (heck even children or parents would forget)

Meanwhile the OG Disney movie said that the beast and those in the castle would fall for her spell until the beast learned how to love and be loved by another (same as always) BUT the last petal would fall on his 21st birthday, if he didn’t get his shit together by 21 he a monster forever.... and that was about it

Now that that’s out of the way, how is the 2017 movie’s enchantress nOT CONSIDERED A BIGGER ASSHOLE THAN THE OTHER ONE?! 

“Ah, yes! I will make you learn your lesson of compassion by making everyone that’s ever known of you forget y’all ever even existed even tho most of those villagers are your loved ones. I shall give you this magic rose whose petals will sporadically fall and you will NEVER KNOW which year will be your last of sentience. I will make you also stop aging while those outside (again, most are family members and friends) may age and die!”

and they DO outright state that MANY years passed with them waiting yet never aging, and judging by the villagers all living their life normally and having memories of time passing by I am guessing they didn’t get affected by that same magic (unless they are all trapped in a loop which is horrifying) 

“But wait!”

you may say

“Maybe that much time didn’t actually pass! all their family is there after all!”

My friend that means either the Enchantress gave the poor guy like 2 years to stop being an asshole and get himself a girlfriend somehow OR that those inside the castle felt time pass much much faster and both does scenarios sound hellish, actual faerie shit. 

How was this man suppose to do this??? Also the lady just sat there in the village waiting just for fun? to see if something did happen? Woman legit let a riot of scared villagers storm the castle of the guy she enchanted and let possibly kill/destroy a family member or friends THAT THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EXISTED and did nothing until belle finally confessed her love for beast so she could walk in all casual and lift the spell. What if it was too late huh? just take the dead rose, tip your hat to the mourning woman and dead monster you cursed and walk away never letting go of the amnesia spell? MR POTTS COULD HAVE HIS GOD DAMN CHILD AND WIFE TURN INTO EXTREMELY BREAKABLE AND INANIMATE OBJECTS AND HE’D NEVER FUCKING KNOW

HOW IS THAT NOT EXTREMELY FUCKING MESSED UP?! FAE SHIT MAN I TELL YOU!!

She is somehow making the OG enchantress seem reasonable and that one turned a poor 11 year old who called her ugly once into a monster!

The Theory half- 

“okay smartypants, do YOU have a better idea?”

I DON’T KNOW BUT I CAN TRY!! I’ve had this cooking in my head since I was a kid so let me tell you what OG enchantress was doing and what was going on!

First point, yes I am a firm believer that the “Ten years we’ve been rusting” was not an exaggeration cause, at least in my kiddy mind, it made absolute sense cause it would explain why the beast was so nasty with Belle and acting like an animal, he’s lived like a beast since he was a kid! His table manners are absolutely the result of 10 years without needing hold a spoon to eat. The other thing that made me think he was actually a kid when he got cursed was the fact that he couldn’t read that well, he even admits that he knew little and that it was a long time ago since he had done so! Imagine being 11 and turning into a monster with your only guardians all becoming talking objects, don’t think anyone could really sit him down to help him read!  That and I remember watching a Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie years ago and believe me that prince does NOT look or behave a day older than 13 year old but that's mostly extra It could also explain why no one pay any mind to that weird castle on the hills. Admittedly I also thought as a child that the only logical conclusion was that the spell made everyone forget there was a castle with a prince nearby but after more thought (and falling out of love for the idea after considering the implications and how little that would actually help towards the beast since the curse was so he’d learn a lesson) it really doesn’t need such a specific or convoluted explanation like, if you see a big big castle that has no one going in and out for years you would assume it was abandoned and/or haunted right? most people would have stirred away from the clearly abandoned and creepy place! They were a tiny peasant village at the other side of the woods that was a day or so away from a cross road that either led to a main road towards more villages and the capitol or more woods and the lonely palace (judging by Belle’s dad’s navigating scene), and its also royal property so its not far fetched that most villagers wouldn’t be going anywhere near their so it makes sense the weren’t really up to date with the prince, do you know what your president, their brother or youngest son is doing right now and where they are living without using your phone, TV or newspaper? “okay but then the Enchantress was just legit evil, she saw some rude kid and cursed him! That was a kid!” Oh I am with you on that one but I can kind of think of her (fairy?) logic as to why she’d decide to curse such a young child. An old lady knocks at your door, it is a cold dark night, wolves are known to roam nearby, you know its about a day’s travel to the nearest village by horse how well would an old frail lady fair on such journey by foot? It’s a miracle she’s made it here and all she asks of you is a place to sleep for the night and in exchange she will give you her only possession: 1 single rose. Now imagine how self-centered and cruel the person must be to take a look at that person, scoff in disgust at how ‘ugly and old’ they are “how dare you ruin my evening!” and slam the door to her face. And somehow a child did that. Cared so little that they didn’t even let her sleep in the stables, didn’t even offer a scrap of food or a blanket, not even a “sorry but I cannot”, he scoffed, mocked her and closed the door, dooming the old lady to die in the cold or be eaten by wolves. How can a child this young already be this rotten? If this is his behavior as a child, what would happen once he’s an adult? No, he still has time to change and so she sets the curse, a curse that can only be broken once someone who’s never known love or been unconditionally loved must learn now before its to late, he’d have plenty of time to learn and reflect but if by the time he’s an adult he’s still the same cruel boy, then so be it. “okay but the staff! They also had nothing to do with this and she still turned them into objects, curse them by no fault of their own!” Yet they let the child grow ever more vain and cruel, fear his step and bend to his demands, he was a prince after all and a bratty one at that, obviously he doesn’t need adult supervision or help or love or guidance or sOMETHING. In the 2017 remake I felt bad for those in the castle who ended up turned into objects, their only sin was being at the wrong place at the wrong time while in the 1991 (and this realization started coming to me in middle school) they were put to serve and look after this young prince and somehow they let him become so badly behave that a literal magical being had to step up to stop this brat from becoming a monster, they were merely acting as tools, furniture, accessories to the prince’s palace. They were so afraid of a child they dare not anger him and let his temper go as wild as he pleased, so the kid less as an 11year old and more as just some prince that payed for their wage. The kid viewed them as nothing more than objects for HIS domain since that’s all they were good for in his eyes. And what if that was just the spell? To look exactly as how prince/the palace perceives you? The prince saw nothing but objects that’d always serve him so they became ageless objects while the palace saw nothing but a future monster so he became a beast (honestly the idea that everyone just saw this kid as a monster is pretty fucking sad) And it would make sense right? It makes sense the enchantress not only saw the child as a problem but also the servants, so she would cast a spell to show them all, now their lives are at the princes’ heart’s mercy, now they really had to step up and discipline the child if they wished to be saved from an eternal life as tools under the eyes of a monster