MovieChat Forums > Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) Discussion > Belle Starr (spoilers)

Belle Starr (spoilers)

posted 7 years ago by drummergirl-93025
4 replies | jump to latest

Just watched the episode "Baby Outlaws", which I hadn't seen in many years, that was supposedly about the infamous girl outlaw Belle Starr. I figured Belle must have been a real person so I looked her up. And well, there WAS a real person named Belle Starr and she WAS involved in criminal activity. But that's basically where the similarities between this episode and real life end lol! In this episode, which was supposed to take place in either 1868 or 1869, Belle was a 14 year old girl running around with a gang shooting up saloons and stagecoaches. But in real life, she was around 20 years old, married and had her first child already. It also portrayed her as being very "boyish", not liking to wear dresses or take baths. But the real Belle actually had a very classical upbringing, attending a fine private school and learning the piano. She did wear dresses and even fancy hats as part of her trademark. And probably the most glaring discrepancy was the fact that she was already referring to herself as Belle Starr. But in real life she did not take that name until she married her second husband, Sam Starr, at the age of 32! I mean, I realize this is a fictional show and they took licenses with certain historical characters. But man, they butchered poor Belle lol!

[–] wendycscott9 7 years ago

Since it was only loosely based on her life and most people never heard of her anyway, I'm guessing they didn't think it needed to be all that historically accurate. Lots of DQMW episodes were like that, but they did get people interested in learning the true history. Washíta did that for me. I had to look it up and find out what really happened. I never minded the discrepancies. You can't fit every historical fact in a 45-minute episode. And like you say, it is historical fiction, not historical fact.

—
"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war—a waste of good men." (Poldark)

[–] furienna 7 years ago

And as for why they made Belle "boyish", I guess that they wanted her to be a contrast to the more "girly" Colleen. And I guess that they also thought that portraying Belle as a tomboy made sense, when you consider that she was a tough outlaw. And I won't call myself an expert on the real Belle Starr, but I can assume that she was probably seen as "unfeminine" by her comtemporaries. Because when a woman became an outlaw in the 19th century, that was bound to happen, even if she did wear some feminine assecoaries as her trademark.

And by making their Belle's father a judge, the writers of the show probably alluded to how the real Belle got a classical upbringing (and even though the real Belle's father wasn't a judge, he helped with founding the fancy private school, where she got her fine education). And furthermore, I believe that the real Belle's maiden name, Myra Belle Shirley, got a mention in her father's telegram. Of course, they gave us no explanation for where Belle got the last name "Starr" from as a fourteen-year-old. But by telling us that she wasn't born with that last name, they gave us another reference to the real historical person.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] drummergirl-93025 7 years ago

I understand all that, but to me it would have made more sense if they had just made up a fictional character instead of taking a real person and changing their life story. But then again, it isn't the first time a movie or show has "embellished" the life of an historical figure lol

[–] furienna 7 years ago

Indeed, it's not. It is actually so common that most of the time, I decide to simply not care and move on.

Intelligence and purity.