MovieChat Forums > Belle (2014) Discussion > Hair combing scene

Hair combing scene

posted 9 years ago by ccherry-1
7 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else find it strange that Dido's just learning to comb her hair at about age 18? How did she achieve the beautiful hair-styles we see her in before this scene? This scene seems awkwardly added to make an unnecessary point (as is Dido's abashed look when she sees the Black woman servant in the London house. Elizabeth is not abashed to be waited on by white women. The filmmakers seem to be straining to make a point.) I liked many things about the movie and have been interested in Dido since visiting Kenwood House many years ago, but these two points bothered me.

[–] Alioskiaz 9 years ago

I don't necessarily believe it's her learning to comb her hair altogether, but rather learning to comb it in an easier, less painful way.

I actually thought it a rather poignant part of the movie, in that it may have been the first person of color she had been around, as she seemed quite secluded growing up.

[–] slrussell1908 9 years ago

Nope she was showing her how to comb her hair in a less painful way. That's why she grabbed the ends and worked her way up instead of down which probably caused a lot of pain since her hair.

[–] KassyL 9 years ago

It was a very necessary point to make regarding self identity.

Not having any other person of color growing up shows the disparity of displacement that may seem trivial to some. The fact that she was loved and well cared for still does not make up for the need for cultural identity. Hair is not just a grooming thing...for black people its cultural, she was not raised around anyone that could teach her that.

QofH3arts

[–] AntwoinD 9 years ago

Beauty rituals are cultural. She was raised around white women, white servants in a white society with their own beauty practices and fashions based on their bodies and hair. Dido has black girl hair and the way white women in England combed their hair is all she knew; it didn't work well for her, but how was she to know any better how to deal with her differently textured hair? Having a black woman come in that was taught by her own mother on how to comb her coarse, curly hair a new way is completly realistic to me. I have hair like Dido and brushing from the ends up is the way I was taught, but if I was raised with women who only brushed from top to bottom I probably would've been like Dido.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] love_tina90 8 years ago

I think this was one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie!

[–] captainburrito (128) 6 years ago

I actually identified with that scene. I'm a second generation immigrant and when I went to visit my parents country I recall sitting on a train and seeing so many people just like me and speaking my mother tongue. I remember sitting there taking it all in as previously I'd grown up with white people. Yes, I had my family but other than them it was so rare to see someone of our own race.