Nit picky problems I have with Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”
I have seen B&B over and over many times and certain things stand
out in my mind that just screams out as bogus. Let me explain. Ok the
premise of the story is the prince denied an “old woman”
the right to shelter in his castle three times and she becomes a fairy
who curses him. He now has until his 21st birthday to find True Love or
the curse is permanent.
Now, since obviously the occupants of the castle are not suspended in
time and are, indeed, on a tight schedule, all this is happening in one
lifetime. Now lets look at the situation’s details. He
isn’t 21 yet, but, he is Master of the castle. Since the average
age of majority is 18, this would indicate that from curse to
resolution is taking place in just 3 years. If he was younger then 18
at the curse’s start, he would have been under a Regent.
Certainly his Regent would have overruled him and apologized to the old
woman. Or for that matter, if the regent was a dick too, it would have
been the Regent who would have brought the curse on them all. And take
a look at this fairy. If she was a good fairy, why would she bring such
a curse on the innocent members of the castle. In fact, last time I
checked some of those innocents included children. In fact that brings
up a whole new wrinkle. Children. Would a “Good” fairy
bring such a curse on innocent children? The existence of the children
also brings the timeline into question. Certainly Mrs. Potts , as a
teapot, is incapable of sex and reproduction. So those children were
born and raised a bit before the curse. She had 4 or five kids, too.
How old was the youngest. This certainly supports the idea that the
curse hadn’t been in existence for very long.
Or even if not there are complications. Prior to the curse, this
was a working castle filled with people. Since those views given us of
the castle doesn’t indicate any sort of farm land for growing
food, there had to be some system of acquiring supplies from the
outside world. Food wagons, people bringing necessities as well as
interchanging news and information. Lets face it a full castle cannot
exist in a vacuum. And since he was a prince that means he ruled
someone. A relationship like that (ruler to ruled people)
couldn’t just up and vanish like that. Ok, so lets say the
outside world gets the idea that the castle is now cursed. Nobody goes
to the castle anymore. Fine that Idea is believable. However, the
castle wouldn’t be forgotten. People in all the nearby towns
would be talking about the castle for years afterward.
Now the town Belle and her father live in could very well be the
closest town to the castle. Granted dad used a horse and wagon to
travel with but, through that forest, he didn’t get very far.
Remember, the “angry mob” at the end WALKED to the castle
with torches and pitchforks and whatnot and arrived still as fresh and
angry as they left. If they were close enough to walk there, they damn
sure should have known about the castle’s existence in the first
place. And to be realistic, when faced with a castle filled with living
furniture, none of them would bravely keep fighting. They would have
lost their nerve the first time they saw the furniture and left that
braggart behind.
Now lets talk about the furniture. The furniture in the castle were all
actually servants that were transformed by the curse. So where did the
furniture that was originally in the castle go? It was suggested to me
that the servants were all fused to the furniture they were most likely
associated with. Clothes dressers with closets. The cook with his
stove. Ok maybe. But when the curse was lifted they all were changed
back to full human. So where did the furniture go? And what about the
furniture in the Prince’s room? They were all broken and torn up.
Did he murder his personal servants? Did the broken closet transform
into a gutted and rotting attendant? Granted some of the furniture
wasn’t “alive”. The table in the dining room
for instance. But most of the furniture ( including the silverware, for
God’s sake) were alive. The only piece of furniture I saw after
the curse was lifted was the maid’s duster. She had it in her
hand when she flirted with Lumiere. And let’s not forget the
painted beings on the ceiling of the ballroom. Did they transform to
human ( and possibly fallen to their deaths)?
And now that the prince is back to normal, does he have an army? Does
he send out his army to remind the nearby towns and villagers that He
is the boss again? Thus are the many questions in my mind. Ah well.
