
Then again, given that Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s “Belle et La Bête,” which published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les Contes Marins, was written in French, the character’s name probably would have been Belle anyway, so… do with that what you will.Īnyway, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast actually cleaves pretty closely to de Villeneuve’s tale. Here are the real stories behind 12 beloved princesses.īelle is only called Belle in the Disney versions of Beauty and the Beast she’s just straight-up Beauty in the original. If you look a little closer, there’s much more to these seemingly familiar tales than meets the eye - and to the often remarkable women who star in them. What’s more, as the decades move on, Disney began including sources beyond the standard white European ones: Folktales from China, episodes from world history, and even some clever modern riffs on classic tales. The stories as told by Frenchman Charles Perrault have made an appearance here and there, as have the Danish fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Like many of Disney’s animated films, it was based on a German fairy tale popularized by the Brothers Grimm - but the Grimms weren’t the only ones who served as inspiration for the movies. How familiar are you with the real stories behind your favorite princesses? Did you know that some of these Disney favorites aren’t just based on fairy tales, but also on the lives of people who actually existed? It’s true - and sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.Īlthough the Disney Princess line wouldn’t officially be branded as such until the early 2000s, the very first Disney Princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1938. Watch Episode This episode is available for streaming on ViacomCBS' video streaming service Paramount+.Disney’s big screen adaptations of fairy tales and folk stories have become as well-known as the original stories on which they’re based - and, in many cases, the Disney versions of the plots are even more well-known than their older counterparts.



