Belle (2021, dir. Mamoru Hosoda) is a beautiful and complex retelling of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. At its most simplified, a seemingly ordinary girl finds herself to be one of the most beautiful and popular performers in a virtual world known as U. Her mother taught her to sing as a child, and grief over her passing now leaves Suzu unable to sing in her everyday life. In U, she finds her voice until one of her concerts is interrupted by someone known as the Dragon. Suzu becomes determined to find out the identity of the Dragon, even as her reasons for doing so shift throughout the film. While this film combines many storylines – perhaps leaving a few behind in the process – Hosoda expertly weaves a modern version of this tale that withholds its future princesses and princes-in-disguise in favor of digital natives seeking genuine connection.
The most remarkable part of the film was the way in which the “Beast” figure is not a single figure at all. While one character is actively called “The Beast,” three different characters all fulfill this role throughout the film. The Dragon (who is actively referred to as “The Beast”), Justin, and Kei and Tomo’s father all take turns serving as a sort of Beast for Suzu to encounter. Furthermore, the order in which she encounters them serves as a reversal of the original tale.
Belle introduces the audience to the Dragon when he interrupts one of Belle’s concerts, endangering her yet destroying the self-appointed guardians of U with relative ease. He is covered in bruises that commentators find distasteful, and shortly after this encounter the people of U call him “The Beast.” People clamor to have him stopped and unmasked for his crimes, although Belle doesn’t actually reveal what he has done besides interrupt Belle’s concert. Perhaps this is enough, or perhaps his appearance alone is enough to cause distrust in U, where visuals are exceedingly important. Despite their unfortunate first encounter, Belle seeks him out and attempts to get to know him in a way that others refuse to. As they grow closer, he protects her from Justin as much as he can. Ultimately, the Dragon is revealed to be a boy named Kei, who is most clearly the Beast of the end of the original fairy tale. In learning to trust Suzu, she can see his true form unmediated by either his avatar in U nor the livestream broadcast his brother Tomo runs.
In contrast to the Dragon, Justin views himself and is viewed as a force of justice within U, backed by his many sponsors. Albeit comical when the fictional logos create a wall behind him, this seems to lend him credibility within the world of U. Armed with a weapon that can reveal the true face of any U user, he is given unquestioned power and shows no sympathy. Justin threatens to use this weapon on Belle many times, but finally she unveils herself publicly as Suzu. In willingly embodying her true self, she renders Justin powerless against her. There is nothing he can hold over her. His cruelty and inability to use honest methods keeps him from making real progress in his quest, similarly to how the fairy tale Beast’s inability to communicate prevents Belle from understanding the nature of his curse.
While Justin and the Dragon are the Beast figures of U, Kei’s father is the only Beast figure in the real world. His abuse is felt throughout the film, even before Suzu learns what is happening to Kei and Tomo. When Suzu finds her strength in the real world, she sets off to protect Kei and Tomo from their father, reflecting yet subverting the way in which Belle of the original fairy tale is expected to pay for her father’s actions. Suzu willingly risks her life for the life of people she cares about, physically standing between them and harm their father embodies.
Although not depicted, Kei and Tomo’s father is talked out of whatever act of violence he planned to commit, even if the resulting family status is left unsaid. Justin loses his sponsorships, which seems to be a fitting punishment in the digital sphere. Most drastically, the Dragon ultimately comes to believe that Suzu is who she says she is and is willing to help, tossing off his harsh exterior in order to help her help them.
It would even be fair to say that there is more than one “Beauty” figure. After all, Suzu, Bell, and Belle are rather different, only collapsing inwards into an emotionally healing Suzu when she realizes that she alone can help Kei and Tomo; however, the fundamental aspects of each face of Suzu are still Suzu. In contrast, the only Beast figure to show real transformation is Kei. While Justin and Kei’s father face consequences for their actions, they don’t have complete character arcs. As Suzu finds her strength when she realizes Kei needs help, Kei relearns how to trust others through her sacrifice. Considering the sheer amount of landscapes, worlds, and storylines going on at once in Belle, it is fitting that a modern, technological Beauty and the Beast is made up of a variety of Beasts and Beauties for the different situations being faced.
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