Sometimes you can learn from the movies, sometimes you can't. It depends. Caution:

Unless and maybe even if you are in similar circumstances I don’t recommend kidnapping as a way to find love, but I doubt many eligible bachelorettes cake to his doors so with the clock ticking he didn’t feel there were many options. Now, for the incels and sad broken men or “Gastons” of the world who take away the lesson “money+nice things= what women REALLY go for...” no. That’s an excuse for why you strike out. “I don’t have a car so...” “I’m broke so...” no. You’ll find beautiful women with broke underachieving men living off them. That’s not what it’s about.

In real life, for someone to get to know you they have to have a reason to want to get to know you, and curses or prophecies aren’t quite as common when you don’t have a pro writer specifically trying to hook you up. Instead you have to put your best self forward. Being able to take care of yourselves and others, having ambition, being the sort of person who knows what they want and does what they have to to get it, being someone who puts care into themselves and their appearance- these mean more than money.

Money is just one way to show you’re that kind of person. Few people get and stay wealthy without some kind of ambition or work ethic, without some intelligence or drive. Of course most people like to be able to have freedom, to be comfortable, to do what they want and travel where they want- but we are all adults. Not being able to go to Tahiti every weekend doesn’t make you a loser. Figuring out how to go there if you really want to though can make you a winner.

So the moral here is less about Stockholm syndrome and abuse and more about valuing yourself as a person and being open to change. Belle didn’t fall in love with the snarling kidnapper. She fell in love with the man she got to know, the one that realized what he did was wrong and was willing to die to make it right because he finally understood what he ha done was wrong and why, and didn’t want her to suffer anymore.

She didn’t “change” the beast. The beast always had that potential and his struggles in life and experiences with Belle made him realize he was being a fool. He was antisocial and self hating because life had dealt him a bad hand. But he went through some fundamental life changing shit and faced his own death head on and accepted it. That can change a person. We can all change if we want to. Belle didn’t say “I’ll stay because I can change him!” No. The beast opened up, learned to love himself again and learned that his looks weren’t what made him a monster.

So understand the moral here isn’t so cynical as it seems. It’s up to you what conclusion you draw, but hopefully it is at least clear that you ant change a person. A person can only change themselves with help from circumstances. It isn’t all about money and things. Generally having those doesn’t hurt. They certainly make more people receptive to spend time with you, which gives people a chance to get to know you- and people can only love you if they get to know you. But to get people to give you that chance you generally need a way to catch and keep their interest. For the sake of a story it’s easier and more cinematic to use a plot device. In real life you’ll have to work at it usually.