I think one of the great things about the show is that it doesn’t deal entirely in absolutes of black/white *or* shades of grey. While the show definitely adheres to some core, unbreakable truths- many of the rules are bendable and open to interpretation. This is fantastic! I love that there are people who disagree with my interpretation of characters and who adore characters I loathe. When I first started poking into the fandom and saw the huge amount of support within the fandom for Regina I was surprised and then overjoyed. I really dislike Regina, but the show is varied enough that other people found her relatable. HOW COOL.
I completely agree. I love that there are people on here who really despise Rumple and every time I start defending him (which I tend to do quite a bit), they come back at me and instantly we’re dialoguing. I also like that we almost always manage to keep it polite.
First of all, I want to go ahead and say that I don’t think the show is painting the story of Belle/Rumple as an ideal romantic relationship. I mean, that’s really the whole driving point of the show, isn’t it? That fairy tales have their dark sides: true love doesn’t always work out, “happily ever after” may not last as long as one would hope, innocents suffer, and everyone’s journey is a difficult one. The only thing that makes FTL different than our world is the existence of those few, shining absolute concepts (true love’s kiss etc) that are usually tied to magic.
Again, I agree. I also don’t think there is any such thing as an “ideal romantic relationship.” Even Snowing went through several problems (losing one another, Snow’s memories, disagreements over Regina and the Curse, ect) and for the show or fans to hold one relationship up as idea actually says more about the individual than it does the show itself.
However, I think the other possibility is that her “sense about people” (or however she phrased it in Lacey) was “active” from the moment she laid eyes on Rumplestiltskin, and she chose to go with him because at no point did she believe she ever had anything to fear from him. If that’s the case, then it’s more the story of her initial impression of him persevering throughout their time together (and then eventually strengthening) and that’s a different series of events all together.
Mmmh. Again, agree. We got some hints in Lacey that his reputation isn’t really as sinister as we might expect. He’s known for making deals. If he truly wanted to be embrace ALL the Darkness of being the Dark One, why deal? He could easily just kill someone to get what he wanted. I think Belle knew this. I think she saw that he was lonely. She says as much in Skin Deep, “Why did you want me here?” “Place was filthy” “I think you were lonely.” He didn’t really want “good help” I think he wanted someone to talk to, even if that talking to wasn’t really polite conversation. He has tons of magic. The man could wave is hand and his castle would be clean. The giving of the pillow, while given with Rumple’s characteristic snark, was actually kind of touching, in my opinion. RC is such a brilliant actor, he played with his face enough so that you could tell Rumple was distressed by the crying, not annoyed. And Belle sees this, that’s why she insists on his goodness and that he’s not a monster. She sees he isn’t, it’s about getting him to see that. And when the whole world tells you that you are a monster and unlovable, it’s very hard to take one person who thinks differently seriously. Especially she’s is “good.” (loaded term that I hate, but am using).
So it does really seem unfair for Belle to react to him with so much venom when she witnessed Rumplestiltskin do so much worse.
That is- unless we go ahead and assume that there is something to the whole “people sense” ability she has. (And I admit, this is dubious. Even Emma’s much toted “lie detector” skills seemed only so-so.) She didn’t have to get to know Hook because she was able to sense right away that at his core- he was evil. It’s got little to do with his actual actions- after all, someone can do good things but still have a dark heart. I imagine that in the next few episodes we’re going to see exactly what Hook is capable of.
I’ve said this other places to some Hook fans who were really upset at Belle’s “rotten heart” comment, but I think it was A) a throw away line and B) said in the heat of the moment by Belle who was staring down the barrel of a gun and trying to escape. Hook obviously doesn’t have a totally rotten heart, that just doesn’t fit with the theme of the show. And we all know that “super powers” can be unreliable when emotions are involved. What’s more emotional than impending death and fear for your True Love?
As to the female heroism things brought up by both BAMF and Myril: I agree, but I think OUaT is the opposite of traditional “anti-feminism” in terms of fighting, power, ect. Thus far, all the big baddies who truly threaten the existence of everyone have been women: Regina, Cora, Tamara. Snow White, in the classic depiction, is really helpless. Our Snow fights, shoots arrows, deals with trolls, can kill Ogres 28 years after firing a bow! Emma Swan is the SAVIOR of an entire people not to mention just flat out awesome. Ruby isn’t just the helpless little girl in a red hood, but also a wolf who can control her powers. Even Granny is a powerhouse with her cross bow at town meetings. One thing this show gets praised for time and time is the way they’ve drawn seriously strong women characters.
But um, yep! Sorry for continuing to derail the thread.I’ll try to be good, I promise. ^_^;;
Lol. Seriously, don’t worry about this. I’ll tell you now, we all go on tangents. And where the conversation goes, people follow. The point of this thread is to talk about anything Belle related, whether that’s Rumple and her or just her or just the idea of “Belle” in general.
I really like all your postings.