Emma Watson's plus-one to a recent screening of her Beauty and the Beast live-action remake: Gloria Steinem. In an interview with Vanity Fair for its March issue, the 26-year-old actress revealed that she took the feminist activist to a screening of the soon-to-be-released film. Watson wanted to make sure the movie made an impact, and she valued Steinem's opinion. “I couldn’t care less if I won an Oscar or not if the movie didn’t say something that I felt was important for people to hear,” Watson told the mag.
Steinem enjoyed Watson’s take on Belle. “It was fascinating that [Emma's] activism could be so well mirrored by the film,” Steinem told Vanity Fair. “Emma is interested in the world, she is caring, and though she is active, she is also joyous and informed,” Steinem added.
Watson has dedicated herself to the fight for gender equality. She's made multiple speeches at the United Nations on the topic, including one that went viral about her gender equality campaign, #HeForShe. Watson is also a UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, and she was recently spotted with her mom at the Women's March on Washington.
Watson made some tweaks to the character of Belle to give the Disney princess more independence and strength. For instance, Watson insisted her character ditched the corset on her beloved yellow ball gown. And Watson was instrumental in redesigning Belle’s functional fashion, including pockets in her outfits, and swapping ballet flats for riding boots.
“The original sketches had her in her ballet shoes, which are lovely—don’t get me wrong—but she’s not going to be able to do anything terribly useful in ballet shoes in the middle of a French provincial village,” Watson told Vanity Fair.
And Watson insisted that Belle isn't an inventor’s daughter, but an inventor herself. In the new film, she creates a washing machine so she can spend her chore time reading books—an incredible passion of Watson’s as well.
Of course, the film isn't exactly a perfect feminist fairytale—there's still that whole Stockholm Syndrome issue, where it seems like Belle kind of falls in love with the Beast just because he's holding her hostage. None of that really aligns with feminist values, but Watson has said she doesn't see "Stockholm Syndrome" as an element in the film. "She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought, " she recently told Entertainment Weekly.
You can read Watson’s full interview on VanityFair.com, and pick up the new issue on newsstands starting March 7.
