#batb 2017

i've not been actively involved in the fandom for a few years but it seems to me that in the last couple years there's been a new crop of fans putting out new content ( @stuckasmain in particular has been writing lots of good metas/thinkpieces). especially right after the movie came out things were VERY lively and I don't think it's reached those heights again, but seems like the fandom is still active and engaged with art and headcanons—just different!

one thing i would say about writing fanfics is, well, if you want to write them maybe don't worry about what to expect—like do it for the love of If I Don't Write This My Brain Is Literally Going To Catch On Fire, not for popularity. of course it's natural and normal to be devastated when you work hard on something and it doesn't get a lot of feedback, but i think to sustain this in the long run you gotta just be like fuck it, if nobody else reads this it's their loss! I will write amnesiac crack fanfic because if nobody else does I will go insane. And then glory in whatever amount of notes you get instead of feeling bad if it doesn't really take off. one of the lasting rules of Lumiereswig is you must be brassy and loud and unashamed about fucking with your own work, and I stand by that. Write something absolutely insane. Reblog it 17 times. Revel in being the best writer of anything ever. You gotta be a little nutso to have a good time.

Adam is semi canonical, and 2017 gave us Beatrice Potts and Henri Cogsworth… so now I’m wondering for the others. I believe I asked before if there were any out there- or maybe some line in a comic I absolutely missed than may make more canon, lol. I’ll probably end up coming up with my own anyway, but still.

I’m a bit back and forth on how I feel about Maurice in the 2017 telling of the story. Over time I’ve actually quite softened to the portrayal, shifting from an inventor to a tinkerer. Making music boxes and potentially automatons is a great way to give more of a nod to the time period, while keeping him a mechanical craftsman(and a much steadier cash flow being able to sell a lot of product v potential prize money). Belle still serves that caregiving role and he is absent minded … but far far more grounded.

To have someone understand

More than anything else what Belle desires is connection with another person, someone who understands her or will talk about her interests. While she has her father, she is in more of a caregiving role- and while he is kind not even he fully understands her. She’s a dreamy, curious, person in a village deeply set in its own routines. Monotony to Belle is life to them.

Sweep up the years

Of sadness and tears

And throw them away!

Some of the way he moves comes from his form, a teenager growing into a man in a far larger and lumbering form then he should. Then after the wolves there’s extra cuts and bruises to his legs that may make it harder. Even in the end when he is fighting with Gaston he is still in some form of recovery. And after all… how fitting is it for Gaston to go for his prize and it be a wounded animal? Only further wounded emotionally…