I watched Beauty and the Beast, the live action version last weekend. I had never really watched the original. I was a bit too old when it came out.
In recent years, I've read a few articles that criticize the film for glorifying what is essentially Stolholm syndrome and normalizing abusive relationships. So I definitely watched the film with that in mind. Given that Emma Watson was protraying Belle, I expected that the new film would address some of these concerns.
So after watching it. Here's the thing that bugged me.
Enchantress my ass! Holy fuck. I think that level of power goes beyond that. This is at least demi-god level power. Transforming an entire household of people into animated objects, for years, possibly extending their lives in the process. The weather effects. Isolating the castle.
Ok, the prince was a dick. Now maybe he did much worse things than refusing a random person entry to his home, but the punishment seems extreme.
His servants, on the other hand, did nothing to deserve their fate. And their curse is worse than his. I'd much rather be a beast than an inanimate object.
Their fate is linked to his. What did the do to deserve this?
The story uses their flight to drag us along the narrative. Of course Belle and the Beast must fall in love. If they don't, these poor innocent servants will be household objects forever.
And who did this to these innocent people? That fucking enchantress.
Let's say that the Prince had deserved some horrible punishment. Ok. Do something bad to him, don't drag his servants into it. Hell, they have probably suffered enough already if he's that much of a dick.
Take the servants out of it and you have no story. Belle would have never left that cell. Hell the beast might've starved without them. (Wait, where exactly did all that food come from?)
A good portion of the emotional pressure in the story was that if they did not fall in love then these innocent servants would be doomed forever. Who was dooming them? Not the beast. Not Belle. No. It was the fucking enchantress. Cruel bitch.