{"id":3532,"date":"2021-08-02T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=3532"},"modified":"2021-07-29T15:20:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T06:20:43","slug":"belle-is-worth-watching-for-the-music-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/02\/belle-is-worth-watching-for-the-music-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Belle<\/i> is Worth Watching for the Music Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critically acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda\u2019s newest film, Belle,<\/em> uses the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast<\/em> to spin a tale exploring the long-term effects of loss and attempting to overcome it. It is visually breathtaking, combining cyberpunk and fantasy designs. But as stunning as the visuals are, the film wouldn\u2019t be half as good without the music to match.<\/p>\n

Belle is the story of Suzu, a high school girl suffering from the lasting trauma caused by the death of her mother years before. The most obvious effect of this trauma is Suzu\u2019s inability to sing\u2014to the point where she becomes physically ill if she tries. As a person who had been\u2014with her mother\u2019s assistance\u2014singing and composing since she was practically in diapers, being unable to sing means that she has lost not only her mother but her reason for living as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u300e\u7adc\u3068\u305d\u3070\u304b\u3059\u306e\u59eb\u300f\u7d30\u7530\u5b88\u6700\u65b0\u4f5c\uff20\u30b9\u30bf\u30b8\u30aa\u5730\u56f3<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

However, all this changes when she first logs onto \u201cU,\u201d a VR social network based around anonymity that allows you to reforge your identity\u2014to become a new person. In this virtual world, Suzu is reborn as \u201cBelle\u201d and discovers that with the reinvention of herself she is once again able to sing. And sing she does.<\/p>\n

Before long, Belle is a real-world phenomenon. However, she shuns the celebrity life, focusing only on singing. This leaves the question of Belle\u2019s true identity at the forefront of everyone\u2019s mind. Yet what none of her fans seem to realize is that her songs tell more about who Suzu is than her real name ever would.<\/p>\n

You see, Belle\u2019s songs in the film are almost always diegetic\u2014meaning that in this musical, the other characters in the fictional world can not only hear her singing but recognize it as such. But more than that, the songs are written from Suzu\u2019s point of view\u2014as if they were composed by her. This means that, each of them are connected directly to the death of her mother and the loss that haunts her.<\/p>\n

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“Uta Yo”<\/h2>\n