Lots of movies have hidden gems throughout their media. So does Disney. They tend to secretly add characters from other movies, in order for viewers to search them out. Basically, a game of hide and seek. Most of the time, you don’t even notice them. Just take a closer look at what’s around the river bend, and you might be surprised at what Walt has in store for you.
Need some proof? In the prologue of Beauty and The Beast, Bambi’s mom is sipping water from the creek in the forest. Belle, the Magic carpet from Aladdin and Pumbaa from the Lion King are spotted in The Hunchback of The Notre Dame. The Beast is one of the Sultan’s toys in Aladdin. The list goes on. So if they make references to other Disney movies, would they maybe make references to the outside world? And, maybe even in their linguistic landscape?
While collecting data from Beauty and The Beast, I stumbled upon something rather interesting. When Belle enters the town, that she so eagerly wants to flee, there is a sign that isn’t easy to read. It is the first sign at the first house. If you look closely, you could make ‘Cate’ out of it.
Cate? Who in Merlin’s sweet mercy is Cate to this movie? A lot, so it seems. It is key to the interpretation of linguistic landscapes to take the social and cultural context into account. After a short internet quest, I discovered that Cate might be a reference to Katharine Hepburn’s portrayal of Jo March in the film Little Women, who inspired the characterization of Belle. The writer wanted to make Belle stronger, and more independent in comparison to the original tale. This proves that the linguistic landscape of Beauty and The Beast is partly used to communicate other things than just in-movie references, or things that are important to the story.
Since the sign is put up at the beginning of the village, it could symbolize the fact that it is alright to be different and think outside the box. Not to worry about what the villagers might think, even if that means that you won’t be accepted in that place. Or maybe, that is too far-fetched. I’d like to think it’s not.
Weirdly, when she passes the sign some time later in the movie, while leaving the village, it clearly doesn’t say ‘Cate’ anymore, but Café. The question remains: is this a reference or a simple misinterpretation due to the blurry picture? We will never know for sure, but I would like to believe that Katharine Hepburn is beautifully honored in this sign.
Sources:
Gorter, D. (2013). Linguistic Landscapes in a Multilingual World. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 190-212.
Tatar, M. (1999). The Classic Fairytales. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
Trousdale, G., Wise, K., Hahn, D., Woolverton, L., O’Hara, P., Benson, R., White, R., … Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (Firm). (2010). Beauty and the beast. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
n.a. (2015). Creating Belle. Retrieved from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/disney-princess/articles/24715/title/creating-belle-stuff-dont-tell
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