It’s a tale as old as time: Disney’s portrayal of princesses and heroines are linked to our societal view of beauty. We’ve been having this conversation for almost 90 years, since the first time Snow White stepped onto the big screen. As American Stage brings one of Disney’s most beloved female icons to life, it’s worth asking: What makes Belle beautiful?
From her first appearance, Belle fits and subverts the Western beauty standard. Aesthetically, the original animated Belle adheres to it: she's pale-skinned, slender, with a small nose and large eyes. She is the ingénue, the type of character that made Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, and Elizabeth Taylor Hollywood icons, and Belle’s inspiration. Yet, many aspects of her personality were new for a Disney Princess. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. Her agency and self-assuredness redefined the ingénue archetype for the 1990s.
That first animated Belle was the mold from which each remake, stage version, and theme park portrayal of the character is based. Belle is beautiful in every iteration, but what we consider beautiful changes with time. As our understanding of beauty has evolved, so has Belle.
“Beauty and the Beast” hit the big screen in 1991, just as America was falling love with the rom-com genre. Disney wasted no time capitalizing on the film’s success. The Broadway version was on its feet just a few years later, with Susan Egan originating the role – and evolving Belle in the process. Though Egan fit the appearance of her animated counterpart, her departure from the classic ingénue won her the role. Egan played Belle more comedically. “I don’t know that they thought it was right for Belle to be funny, but they saw I had other interpretations,” she says in a 2011 Stagerush interview. Egan’s more comedic take on Belle accompanied the popularity of Julia Roberts, a girl-next-door beauty equally admired for her comedic chops. Egan’s Belle showed us that beauty can be earnest, but it can be funny, too.
The next evolution of Belle would come in 1998 with the addition of pop superstar Toni Braxton. Casting pop stars in Broadway productions is hardly a new concept (Ricky Martin in Les Miserables, anyone?). However, Braxton's casting was a surprise, partly due to her age and vocal range (Disney favors sopranos), but primarily due to her race. Until that point, Belle was white. While MTV music culture contributed to Braxton’s casting, it was the prominence of supermodel Naomi Campbell – and her dismantling of the 90s beauty standard – that cosigned it. Historically, the fashion industry has served as a litmus test for what society accepts as beautiful. In the 1990s, the dominant standard for beauty was tall, thin, and white. However, Campbell’s broad appeal and mainstream success proved to institutional powers that beauty was no longer synonymous with whiteness. In 1997, Campbell became the first black woman ever to open a Prada show. In 1998, Toni Braxton became the first black woman to play Belle. Through Belle, Braxton showed us the beauty of diversity.
Jade Jones' casting as Belle in the Olney Theatre's 2021 production would signal another paradigm shift. Jones– a nonbinary, black, plus-sized actor– was initially cast in their 2020 production of Beauty and the Beast before it was shut down due to the COVID pandemic. Jones' run as Belle occurred amidst the body positivity movement, which challenged the dominant culture to consider bodies and persons outside of the Western beauty standard. Calls from the public for the production to return post-lockdown affirmed that an actor no longer had to be thin or gender-conforming to be accepted as Belle. Through Belle, Jones showed us the beauty of being unconventional.
Change is inevitable, so what does that mean for future iterations of Belle? Years from now, will she even fit the “Disney Princess” mold at all?
Yes…and no.
Many things about Disney’s Belle will remain constant. Belle will always be bookish and sing about wanting more from life in her “provincial town,” always reject the fiendish Gaston, and take her father’s place at the castle. Belle will always fall in love with the Beast. However, her evolution reveals that she’s more than an archetype, she’s a compass. Belle points to how we perceive beauty and ourselves. Belle can be earnest, she can be funny, she can be thin, overweight, of any orientation or origin. In celebrating the evolution of Belle and her beauty, perhaps we can celebrate our own.
So, to answer: What makes Belle beautiful?
You do.