In Defence of Gaston [9 image minicomic]

As 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