In defense of Beauty and the Beast...
I often hear people saying that Belle has Stolkhome syndrome, and that her relationship with the Beast(or Prince Adam) is abusive. Luckily, someone else has already defended this couple; http://ladybastet92.livejournal.com/59348.html?thread=265428 I'm still going to try defending them as well.
Now, on the surface it may make sense to say Belle has Stolkhome syndrome if you take the movie at facial value---she, after all, grew to love the Beast even though she was a prisoner. However, I think an important point is that she wasn't abducted. She went to the castle out of her own free will to save her father, Maurice. If Belle hadn't become a prisoner, her father would have never gotten his own freedom, and would of probably been killed by the Beast.
Also, if people got the message that loving an abusive guy will change him, they missed the point. Never did Belle try changing the Beast, nor did she go to the castle because she wanted to save the Beast's soul. As I mentioned before, she went there for one reason only: to save her father. She never put up with the Beast's bad temper, and in fact left the castle when he became too violent. If Belle had Stolkhome syndrome, or if their relationship was abusive for that matter, she wouldn't of been capable of leaving the Beast. She would have been too afraid. And if she wanted to, she could have never went back to that castle, but she did because the Beast saved her from the wolves and she need to heal the injuries he had sustained from fighting them off; if she hadn't, the Beast would have probably died.
It might seem strange that she didn't ask to leave once the Beast's injuries were healed, but to be fair the Beast started to become much more friendly from there on; not only did he save Belle's life, he also gave her a huge library. And his bad temper decreased as well. And it's not Belle who brought upon these changes---the Beast, and only the Beast, did so. Belle was not willing to up with the Beast's brutish behavior, so he realized that he had to treat Belle right if he wanted her to love him.
Furthermore, the Beast let Belle leave the castle when she realized that her father was endangered. If he were abusive, he wouldn't have let her leave. He would have tried at any cost to keep her in the castle, whether she liked it or not. Also, once again Belle would not have been capable of leaving if she had Stolkhome syndrome. Stolkhome syndrome is an irrational illness, something that happens unconciously. It is a subconcioius defense mechanism used for survival. Belle's love for the Beast was rational---it was a concious choice that she made over time as the Beast gradually redeemed himself.
It is Gaston who seems like a potential abuser---he was very persitent in his desire for Belle, and tried to make Belle marry him by using blackmail i.e. kidnapping her father. This is a direct contrast to the Beast, who loved Belle enough to let her go so that she could save her father. If the Beast hadn't changed his ways, Belle would have rejected him just like she rejected Gaston. She was not willing to tolerate Gaston's behavior, so that to me shows she wouldn't be willing to tolerate that kind of behavior in general.