Talk:Belle/@comment-9548674-20180303193951/@comment-1672596-20180618205112

Actually, not really. Glen Keane implied in the director's commentary that the setting of the film was during the prelude to the French Revolution, or 1770s at the earliest. Considering that, France was in the midst of the Enlightenment, which emphasized literacy and reason. If anything, Belle would have been worshipped as a virtual goddess for her literacy at the time, not ostracized. And let's not forget, the original tale of Beauty and the Beast was written by not just one woman, but TWO women: Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve wrote the lengthy prototype version, while Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont wrote the shortened version that got released first, and all that occurred during the 1750s. No one seemed to mind that the authors were women. Certainly, no one at that time demanded for their blood for it.

And use common sense: if they thought reading itself truly was bad, they wouldn't even read the bible at all, and the villagers, heck, France as a whole, was still religious ultimately, even if just barely thanks to the Enlightenment. Now, that being said, it probably would have unfortunately been a bit better if France in real life were actually a bit more wary about literacy especially after the likes of Voltaire and Diderot exploited France's massive literacy rate to essentially turn France against Christianity, which you can read here: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/JAN--11---Plot-to-destroy-Christianity-revealed-by-Yale-President-Timothy-Dwight.html?soid=1108762609255&aid=CbibQMZY5JY