RanliLabz
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In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]
🕑 Added 2024-07-21 23:35:27 +0000 UTCAs promised, here are the images of Gaston! 😀
The way Gaston was treated has always irked me, and I've long felt he's one of the most badly-treated characters in film. This is not to say that I don't like Beauty & the Beast - it's a great film in almost every way [the OG animated version, that is 😉 I've little time for live-action remakes... although the Belle in my pics is the Emma Watson version].
B&tB does that clever writer thing where they mirror the traits of goodies and baddies - like Hamlet, whose many possible paths are mirrored in the characters of Fortinbras, Laertes, Old Hamlet, Polonius & Ophelia. But here, I think they get the moral coding a little off.
Gaston is paired with the Beast - both the strong alpha male in their territory; both obsessed with their looks & subject to violent tempers; both controlling and in love with Belle; both attempting to lock-up Maurice & treating their servants poorly; both rather hairy.
But while the Beast is redeemed, Gaston falls to a terrifying death - and we're supposed to be happy.
The problem? Gaston is morally superior to the Beast. He doesn't lock Belle up and starve her - his worse crime to her is to take his shoes off in her house while proposing. He's not so awful that an Enchantress cursed him to look like his inner demon - he gives the villagers free food & ale in his house [part of the reason they all adore him]. He's a peasant who's built himself up through exercise and diet and skill at hunting - not a hereditary aristocrat whose selfishness has doomed his entire household.
And he's right to lead an attack on the Beast's castle... the Beast is a monster. Not just in looks. In character. He behaves like a fucking serial killer, imprisoning innocent people and terrorising his captive servants.* Gaston is incredibly brave to take on this 7-foot werewolf [loup-garou] who can rip wolves apart with his bare claws. This is David vs Goliath; Odysseus vs the Cyclops Polyphemus; George vs the Dragon.
In other words, Gaston is the hero 🦸♂️
*All his furniture is made of servants transformed by the Enchantress. Remember this when you see the Beast's private chambers - smashed up desks and ripped up mattresses and slashed portraits. This is the scene of a mass-murder of servants. No wonder Lumiere & Cogsworth are so terrified by the thought of the West Wing.
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Okay, rant over, lol. There's more in the pics, and hopefully it'll strike a cord with some of you. I've linked a file with higher quality pics below [both with text and textless]:
Gaston Pictures Download
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/2/cl/wz/ba8889-019e7eb4-1775-7457-aa34-17337727e163.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img5.unionfaps.com/storage/12/um/zm/ba8889-019e7eb4-177e-7a0b-8c75-9c5ad778b07d.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/12/bw/sj/ba8889-019e7eb4-17ac-7f84-a2d7-5f41f618d4f3.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/3/up/qs/ba8889-019e7eb4-17b9-7c3f-9492-b91b66125879.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img5.unionfaps.com/storage/5/xp/xt/ba8889-019e7eb4-17c7-7677-b867-5a7d1ce00cd3.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/10/wi/hj/ba8889-019e7eb4-17f5-7e40-a246-db84c8c96edb.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img5.unionfaps.com/storage/6/ez/yz/ba8889-019e7eb4-1804-78f9-9e4a-5b56b3b45f7c.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/4/ne/gj/ba8889-019e7eb4-1817-7e25-8e0e-3616652dee70.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/10/ts/kj/ba8889-019e7eb4-1829-78a0-8828-0ec5a2c06f39.png)
![In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]](https://img10.unionfaps.com/storage/8/cz/um/ba8889-019e7eb4-183c-7b0b-9efa-9b20e448b0e9.png)
Comments
Sebastian
Patreon has pissed me off for the last time: I'm closing my account. See you on SubscribeStar
RanliLabz
At some point, I'll prob make some more 😉
Guy Montag
Thank you for letting us see what Caston might have looked like… I know I would have gladly been his “comfort boy.“ Dreamy! Yes, he was kind of full of himself, but with that endowment, who wouldn’t be?
BearyBry
Anyone wanting to see if no one can take the Beasts cock like Gaston?
RanliLabz
Thanks Mummf! 😀
Mummf
On a different tangent... I think "your" Lefou is really cute
Soul In Shadow
It is also worth remembering that, depending on if we are talking about the Disney version or the older version, Belle either volunteered to take the place of her father who had, not all that unjustly, had been imprisoned for entering the castle uninvited and almost touching a very valuable and very enchanted rose, condemning every person in the castle to remain cursed for the rest of their lives. In the older tales Belle's father was invited into the castle and then imprisoned after being caught stealing from his host.
Soul In Shadow
I never really read Gaston as "in love" with Belle, he always struck me as obsessed with her because she was the only person in the village not fawning over him. She was as much a hunt for him as any of the trophies on the wall.
Mummf
- The Enchantress cursed the prince when he was a teenager... the story takes place shortly before his 21st birthday and the cursing happened "years" before. - Gaston is certainly not a peasant, he wouldn't have time and/or permission/privilege to hunt - It is never established that Gaston gives away his prey for free... only that he is good at hunting/killing. We never get to see Gaston's home... only his hero whorship corner in the village tavern. - Gaston imprisons Belle... in her own basement! - Gaston meets his demise after stabbing someone in the back, who had shown him mercy mere moments before. I agree though that Gaston is not a "classic" villain. He is more a narcisstic asshole going over the top.
RanliLabz
The furniture is an interesting one. The dinner scene & battle seem to suggest that almost all furniture is sentient & mobile (including all the crockery, cutlery & pewterware). Animals were clearly transformed as well as humans (eg the Ottoman shaggy dog). Mrs Potts also calls the 30 or so teacups in her cupboard her children. That is reaching into many thousands already, and doesn’t explain where most of the pre-enchantment furniture went. The simplest explanation might be that existing furniture below the size of beds, dining tables & bookcases was given a spark of life by the transformation spell. Except, oddly, the statuary. (I realise I’m overthinking this 😅)
Sebastian
... This isn't Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure! This must be Face the Music, still haven't seen that yet.
Kashenkon
RIP Mister LeGume! Sadly no one taste this nice ass anymore. 😱
Pentasphere
Interesting points. The only one I'd really take contention with is that ALL his furniture is made up of his servants. I don't think that's true. While all of his servants were transformed into furniture, I don't think all the furniture in the castle are servants. If that were true, there'd be like 100,000+ people working in that castle, which is ridiculous. All the furniture that was there before she transformed the servants would still be there after, and they wouldn't be alive. The Beast does in fact fly into rages, and he's banished everyone from the west wing, I think, to make sure that he wasn't killing any of his servants when he was angry and took it out on the inanimate furniture. While I don't think Gaston is quite the villain portrayed in the movies, he's probably not quite the hero presented here either (although I wish he was!). He's a person, a mixture of both good and bad. I'd love to see Disney do a movie series on him like they did with Maleficent though, where they show his side of the story and show him in a more heroic light. Hopefully they'd have lots of scenes with him in those tight white tights he wears (in the animated version) when he goes to propose to Belle too! ;)
Jay Tee
My what a guy.... That's Gaston! I could make him happier that that shrew Belle any day...
Jay Tee
Same.... Was there text on that image?
Jack Anima
Hmm, you're right! I never thought of it that way lol
JammyDodger
Your arguments were compelling. Your portrayal of Gaston was endearing (especially being vulnerable with LeFou) But then you gave Beast that absolutely bludgeon of a dick and I uh... I lost my train of thought 🤤
