It’s fair to say, the Walt Disney Company have created a lot
of memorable screen villains in their time. Jaffar, Ursula, Cruella and
Maleficient have become icons in their own right. They all had their own
various plots and schemes but perhaps one of the more interesting Disney
villains is Gaston from the highly acclaimed 1991 film, Beauty and the Beast.
'No one says 'no' to Gaston!'
So what makes the champion hunter with a penchant for antler
décor so interesting? Well for one thing, Gaston doesn’t really have a grand
plan. His only desire is to marry the film’s heroine, Belle. Why does he want
to marry Belle? She’s not a princess. She owns no land. She’s not rich. Gaston
does not stand to gain anything from marrying Belle, so why does he want to
marry her? Because he thinks he should marry her. After all, she’s the most
beautiful girl in town and he’s the most handsome man. The fact that Belle
doesn’t want to marry Gaston is only a minor obstacle. Gaston is a man used to
getting what he wants and Belle’s rejections probably just make her all the
more alluring for him.
'He's no monster, Gaston. You are!'
To put the character in his proper context, it should be noted Gaston is not a character from the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. His
character is actually based on the character of Avenant from 1946 French film
adaptation La Belle et Le Bête (a
film Disney’s version owes a great deal of debt to) but with extra
narcissism. Avenant was created to act as a stark contrast to the Beast. Avenant/Gaston is outrageously handsome while the
Beast is frighteningly repulsive. Both Gaston and the Beast begin as equally
bad people (if in different ways) but whereas the Beast learns to embrace his
kinder, gentler side with Belle’s influence, Gaston descends further into the
depths consumed by his own rage and jealousy. If he couldn’t have Belle, no one
would.
By the time of his final confrontation with the Beast,
Gaston is arguably more wild and animalistic than Beast had ever been (and this
is what would ultimately cost Gaston his life).
This does raise a question though: if Belle could change the
Beast and bring out his better side, could she in time have done the same for
Gaston? After all, it was after Belle’s rejection of his marriage proposal that
Gaston felt something he had likely never experienced in his life before:
self-doubt.
'I'll have Belle for my wife! Make no mistake about that.'
Of course, none of this is to say Gaston doesn’t have any
true villainous moments. Gaston does after all attempt to black mail Belle into
marrying him by having her father put into an insane asylum and he's more than adept at manipulating a mob to join him in his quest to slay the beast. But Gaston doesn’t
start off as a villain though. Compared to Jaffar from Aladdin who has his plan to take over the kingdom mapped out from
the start, Gaston more kind of falls into villainy. As said above, Gaston’s
only goal is to marry Belle but it’s his jealousy of her relationship with
Beast that turns him into a full-fledged villain.
'Were you in love with her, Beast? Did you honestly think she'd want you when she had someone like me?'
On the surface, Gaston seems like a typical big, dumb,
self-absorbed jock. Scratch beneath however, there is a more complex character
than first appears and that’s what makes him one of the most compelling Disney
villains.
Nobody does villainy like Gaston.
