Emma Watson doesn't think Belle has Stockholm Syndrome

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Emma, 26, stars in the upcoming live action Beauty and the Beast
She was asked if she thought her character, Belle, had Stockholm Syndrome, since she fell in love with and took care of the man who imprisoned her
Emma argued that Belle doesn't have Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her 'independence' and 'freedom of thought'

Published: 13:09 EST, 17 February 2017 | Updated: 13:14 EST, 17 February 2017

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To many adults whose judgement is not clouded by nostalgia for the '90s animated film, Beauty & the Beast isn't so much a romantic love story as it is a tale about Stockholm Syndrome, wrapped up in a Disney bow.

After being locked up and forbidden to leave the castle by the Beast, Belle eventually finds herself falling in love with her captor, empathizing with him and seemingly forgiving him for taking her prisoner.

Yet Emma Watson, who plays Belle in Disney's new live-action take on the story, doesn't see it that way, and told Entertainment Weekly that it's still a great love story between equals.

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Emma Watson stars in the upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast

Recently, the 26-year-old actress was asked if she believes Belle has Stockholm Syndrome, a popular recent fan theory

Stockholm Syndrome was named after a 1973 bank robbery in Sweden (pictured), wherein the hostages sympathized with their captors and refused to later testify against them

Stockholm Syndrome describes the phenomenon of people forming alliances with their captors. It was named in 1973, when four hostages taken in a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden defended their captors, refusing to testify against them in court after being released.

When asked about her feelings on the subject, and whether she though the description could be used for Belle and the Beast's relationship, Emma said, 'It's something I really grappled with at the beginning; the kind of Stockholm Syndrome question about this story.

She came to decide that that wasn't the case here, adding: 'Belle actively argues and disagrees with [the Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought.'

Despite Belle being locked up by the Beast and then falling in love with him, Emma said she doesn't think that's the case

She noted that Belle remains defiant and holds on to her independence, pushing back at the Beast's demands

She points to scenes in which Belle refuses to fall in line with the Beast's demands, like when she won't come down for dinner.

'I think there is a very intentional switch where in my mind Belle decides to stay. She's giving him hell,' she said. 'There is no sense of, "I need to kill this guy with kindness." In fact, she gives as good as she gets. He bangs on the door, she bangs back. There's this defiance that "You think I'm going to come and eat dinner with you and I'm your prisoner — absolutely not."'

What's more, Emma called the characters' love story 'more meaningful' than many others in movies, since it certainly wasn't love at first sight.

'I think that’s the other beautiful thing about the love story,' she said. 'They form a friendship first and that gap in the middle where there is this genuine sharing, the love builds out of that.

She also said that their relationship evolves into a friendship before they fall in love

The screenwriter of the 1991 animated film agrees, saying that Belle transformed the Beast

'Beast and Belle begin their love story really irritating each other and really not liking each other very much. They build a friendship, slowly, slowly, slowly, and very slowly that builds to them falling in love. They are having no illusions about who the other one is. They have seen the worst of one another, and they also bring out the best.'

Linda Woolverton, who wrote the original animated film's screenplay, agrees with her. In a 2016 interview with IGN, Linda said, 'There's been a lot of talk about Stockholm syndrome, that [Belle] fell in love with her captor But I disagree! She was captured, but she transformed him.

'She didn't become, you know, an object. She didn't turn into a beast! She transformed him. So it was certainly the transformative power of love and what it can do,' she explained.