Let’s drop the “is this about Stockholm Syndrome” debate for once and focus on the other main criticism about this film. I’ve seen people say that Beauty and the Beast casts a negative light on those with mental illness and I just can’t believe people think this is a valid criticism.

Maurice is neurodivergent. This is obvious from the beginning.

Belle—WHO IS ALSO NEURODIVERGENT— recognizes him as a good dad. And the audience is introduced to him in a positive way. Maurice is a damned hero.

Who calls Maurice crazy and disregards him? GASTON AND HIS GROUPIES. THE BAD GUYS.

Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE ASSHOLES WHO PICK ON NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE.

And why are they assholes? BECAUSE SOCIETY SAYS PICKING ON PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT IS OK.

And that’s a thought process that the movie continually portrays as BAD AND WRONG. 

This is not a hard concept to understand! The entire movie is about why being ableist is bad and people want to bash it because Maurice is threatened with being taken to an asylum and that somehow means it’s implying mental illness is bad.

News flash: if you’re headed to an asylum, you’re going to be tortured. It is NOT comparable to getting treatment in a modern facility. It’s yet another example of how abusing mentally ill people is wrong in a movie about the abuse of the neurodivergent. 

That’s what Gaston is... an abuser. The movie pretty fucking obviously tells kids not to abuse people. This shouldn’t even be up for debate!

Rant over.