For a tale as old as time, “Beauty and the Beast” fans seem to have a lot of new revelations.
Last year, a fan theory saying “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” were secretly connected went viral. According to the theory, when Belle talks about a book she’s read with “far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise,” she’s actually describing things that happen in “Aladdin.”
While that idea was later dismissed by director Gary Trousdale, now another possible “Aladdin” connection has been revealed.
The “Beauty and the Beast” triplets might secretly be wearing the hairstyles of past, present and future Disney princesses.
Hair we go ...
Could this scene showing the triplets in “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) actually connect the movie with ”The Little Mermaid” (1989) and “Aladdin” (1992)?
After appearing in a Reddit post, the image quickly jumped to the front page, so some fans are buying it.
Disney is famous for connecting movies through its Easter eggs, or visual winks placed in films by its creators. (There’s even a Beast toy that shows up in “Aladdin.”) Many of the commenters, including the original poster, praised the hairstyles as another possible hidden egg.
Others didn’t:
Some say the similar hair is just another example of Disney recycling animation, which it’s done in the past with movies such as “The Jungle Book” (1967) and “Robin Hood” (1973).
What’s the real story? Magic mirror, show us the truth!
Tom Sito, former Disney animator and current Professor and Chair of Animation and Digital Arts at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, has already cleared up some of Disney’s supposed hidden sexual messages for us before. On the triplets’ photo, he told The Huffington Post, “It’s an interesting observation, but I doubt it was intentional.”
Sito wouldn’t totally rule out a connection, saying the scene’s animator, David Burgess, “might have been inspired by some earlier designs like Ariel.” However, Jasmine might have not yet existed.
“Her designer, Mark Henn, was still working on Belle at the time,” said Sito.
Though he said some early designs may have been “kicking around,” Sito added that the triplets’ scene was animated “pretty early” in “Beauty and the Beast” production.
“I doubt Mark was doing anything on Jasmine yet,” he said.
From Sito’s insight, it seems more likely to us that Jasmine’s hair could’ve been inspired by one of the triplets, not the other way around. The Huffington Post also reached out to the scene’s animator for comment.
What do you think? Is it a Disney Easter egg? Be our guest and weigh in.
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