Belle + What is to Come Moving Forward.

Mamoru Hosoda clearly has a fascination with the internet and the connectivity it allows for people, as it is a topic he revisits every decade as the online world continues to evolve. It is in this online world where Belle takes place.

Suzu has a well defined arc, taking her from a place of perpetual grief to one where she is able to move on from the loss of her mother, making her by far the strongest character in the film. The supporting cast helps her grow into who she has the potential of being. As a result they do not get much development, nor do they get any progression. Meaning they remain static, while Suzu moves forward. That being said, considering this is a narrative about Suzu, and the tremendous amount of attention given to her, makes up for this lack. That is not to say the supporting cast are bad in any way, they simply function as they are meant to mechanically, while also having distinct personalities to help them all stand out on their own.

Narratively the integration of Beauty and the Beast into such a setting is done well, though it does bring up a few questions considering this is specifically in a Social Media rather than the entire internet. Certain interactions take place as a result of coincidences. There are certain locations found that would otherwise not exist considering this is a world that was built from the ground up before people inhabit it. During fight scenes, characters manage to escape, and fight to a high degree when the plot demands, leaving the antagonists less competent than they otherwise should be.

The final criticism is the emotional peak of the film, while it is tremendous, does come and go, only for the film to carry on regardless. This is necessary because of narrative threads that need to be tied up. Though that brings up the effect of having the swan song come before the finale. Almost like having Mother in the penultimate episode of Carole and Tuesday, or the Wembley concert occurring at the start of the third act rather than having it at the finale in Bohemian Rhapsody. There is also the added realization that the film went somewhere I did not expect it to go making room for the most cartoonishly not nice character to come along.

This film explores healing, people coming together and helping one another. Individuals who learn to accept themselves, and strive to move forward through whatever adversity comes their way. Thematically, visually, and musically, this is a beautiful film.

UPDATE

That concludes the segment that looks at Belle. The remainder is going to be an update on what will be developed, and what is to come. As far as the writing is concerned, what is written is what is used as the base script for the video made, so slight alterations may be present, this could be words or a line, here or there. There will be a three different pieces of writing, with video accompaniments.

The first are Mini-Diagnoses, which is what Belle is. A short review of a movie or TV show that would range an word count, but would ordinarily be under one thousand words.

The second are short ruminations on the current state of writing in mainstream media, where we take a short amount of time to go through a singular topic, what makes such a habit less than desirable, while providing examples of each.

The third are longer Diagnoses. These are likely to come annually as these take a significant amount of time to create. It would be related to a single movie or show, and would be a complete breakdown of it. Looking at the good and the bad and giving the narrative a fair shake.

As far as frequency is concerned, there would a piece coming, at minimum three times a month.