Yes Different From The Rest Of Us Is Belle

YES DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF US IS BELLE

Growing up in a family of disney lovers,  you get used to disney dominating the conversation.  It’s no surprise that I have seen every disney movie or that i have all my “favorites” memorized.

Favorite princess: Cinderella

Favorite Dwarf: A tie between Dopey and Doc

Favorite Villian: A tie between The Witch in snow white and Scar

Favorite fairy: Tinkerbell

Favorite Original Character (member of the gang): Daisy Duck

...and so on and so forth.

My answer to favorite princess has always been an interesting one, because i have always loved belle and identify most with her.. The thing is, I never saw her as a princess. I know I know... at the end of the movie she becomes a princess, but to me, she’s my disney reflection.

Look, there she goes
The girl is strange, no question
Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?
 Never part of any crowd
 Cause her head's up on some cloud
No denying she's a funny girl, that Belle
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Look, there she goes, that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle
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But behind that fair facade
I'm afraid she's rather odd
Very different from the rest of us
She's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, different from the rest of us is Belle

After receiving my diagnosis of aspergers, i began to realize something peculiar. The two fictional characters I was most like (Belle and Matilda) both show trademark signs of aspergers (more on Matilda later as this blog entry is all about Disney).

Belle is my Disney reflection because i understand her completely; something i can’t even say about myself. Belle never asked to be seen as odd. She never desired to be an outcast. She didn’t wake up one morning and decide it would be fun to be a nonconformist. Belle was just herself; a loving daughter who thirsted for knowledge, loved a good book, and couldn’t seem to make friends (even though she deserved them more than most).

Now I’m not saying that I feel I deserve friends more than anyone else... although i would do anything for anyone (friend or foe) and that’s a rare quality to find in anyone today. What i am saying is that i spent my life with my nose stuck in a book. I’ve been caught reading on the streets of nyc, at a nightclub, while walking, and my mother had to take my book out of my purse before prom.

In a way, my books were my friends. They were always there and never busy. They never changed. They could transport me to parts unknown and allow me a brief refuge from the life that made me so unhappy.

Belle was also seen as strange by others and therefore had difficulties making friends. I could say the same about myself. As I previously mentioned, my imagination used to get me into trouble and it led to many of my classmates remembering me as the liar who came to school one day and said I was my own robot twin sister. Others thought i was weird because i liked school. I made the mistake several different times of reminding the teacher that they had forgotten to assign homework. That certainly didn’t earn me any friends. Neither did being honest with substitutes or being the teacher’s “student reminder” to give out a test/grade/assignment at a certain time.

I don’t know if i believe belle had aspergers because of my diagnosis. I know aspergers was not really known about when the belle character emerged... but i don’t believe in coincidences this big.