I am having troubles sleeping and I’m watching Beauty and the Beast. Those two things aren’t always a super combination. But, despite the millions of times that I’ve seen this movie, there are still certain things I do not understand. I wish I could blame my sleep-adled mind that on causing me to overanalyze a children’s movie, but I’m sad to say I’m just truly this dumb.

1) It was 10 years prior when the Beast was turned into a Beast. This would make him 11 years at the time of the enchantment, as he is turning 21 in the movie. So, where the heck are (were) his parents? Obviously he has to have some sort of family, since he is prince and not king. Did they just leave their 11 or 12 year old sibling or son in a giant castle to live by himself?

2) A decade is not a long time. If there was a royal family living nearby, and I can think of no reason why the prince would want to conceal himself prior to being cursed, wouldn’t the townspeople know of it? I mean a freaking PRINCE in a CASTLE lives not-too-far-away. So, if they did know, wouldn’t they wonder what happened to the prince/castle? Or is it just normal for the royal families of France to just vanish at whim?

3) The movie takes place in France which means, theoretically, that the accents should be similar to one another. (It’s a small town, they don’t travel much.) However, Lumier and his feather duster of a girlfriend are the only ones with French accents, everyone else has English or American ones. So. What’s up with that?

4) When Mrs. Potts tells Chip to get into the cupboard she says “Go with your brothers or sisters.” (Or something like that, I’m telling you, my mind’s not working.) If they truly were his brothers and and sisters, why is Mrs. Potts constantly showing favoritism with Chip? And there are a dozen cups in there! Are they ALL his siblings? And were they ALL living in the castle at the time of the enchantment?

5) The enchantment is placed over the castle and everyone in it. Now, come the fighting scene, it becomes obvious that EVERYTHING is alive: every fork, knife, napkin. So, if they were all once human, does that mean hundreds of people lived in the castle? I mean it’s big, but not that big. And does a 11-year old living on his own truly need that many servants?? Or maybe, they aren’t all live-in servants. Maybe they just happened to all get to stuck in the castle because of the storm. But if that’s the case, why didn’t any of their families wonder where they were?

6) Given that the prince’s castle was somehow hidden prior to its enchantment, how did the townspeople know where to go in order to kill the beast? Did Belle’s dad tell them and I missed it (over and over)? Or, if they did know of a random castle hidden in the woods (within angry-mob-walking-distance no less!) why the heck didn’t they go nosy-ing about before?


My only conclusion is that Beauty and the Beast is actually full of magic and the enchantress at the beginning was a witch and she obliviated all of the townspeople who know of the castle and made it unplottable.

p.s. I also once wrote a paper for an English class about Machiavellian and Confucian thought in Beauty and the Beast. The professor gave me a 97%!