Gaston/Gaston (2017)

## Gaston

Like his counterpart in the animation, **Gaston** is the boisterous and arrogant town hero. He continues to pursue Belle despite her obvious dislike and even verbal rejection of him.

While Gaston in the original animated film is a narcisstic boor, he is significantly darker in this version, as he displays more of his sociopathic and manipulative nature. Examples like stalking Belle at the beginning of the film, leaving Maurice to die in the forest and tying him up so he won't escape his fate, getting him institutionalized in order to not only blackmail Belle into marrying him but also to cover his tracks of his evil deed to Maurice, and finally using LeFou as a human shield and then leaving him to die as well.

Is this in this version more than the animated film, to sell the message of not judging people by appearances more. Gaston may seem like a charming if a bit creepy Lovable Rogue on the outside, but inside, he's a sociopathic, violent monster who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it meant murder and blackmail also he's more eviler than his 1991 counterpart at best.

Whatever Gaston experienced during the war has greatly influenced his present-day behavior. He treats everything as a military campaign and LeFou would often have to calm his anger by reminding him of the glorious battles. And when Gaston decides to tie up Maurice to a tree and be left to the wolves, the way he describes the scenario suggests that some of his experiences were not all that glorious as he likes to boast.

Moreso than in the original animation, where he was rude the whole way through. He acts more polite and civil to Belle, but it soon becomes clear that he's only acting this way so Belle would fall in love with him. After Belle rejects him by saying that she is not simple, his polite façade starts fading away. Also, when Gaston offered to help Maurice save Belle, it's only because he wants to marry her and nothing else. When he gets tired of Maurice's story, his polite façade fades away and then he reveals his true violent nature to Maurice, which causes him to reject his blessing.

His military background is implied to have shaped Gaston's ego and personality. According to Luke Evans, Gaston suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and tries to hide it with his popularity and big ego, and when he doesn't get what he wants, his aggressive military persona takes over.

Despite being more affably evil than his animated counterpart, he is still as self-absorbed and arrogant as ever. Only this time, he is far more psychopathic than his animated counterpart, as he is shown leaving Maurice to die in the woods just because he refused to him marry Belle (though he was threatening to feed him to the wolves before then), used LeFou's loyalty and feelings to save his own skin, later threatening to have him institutionalized just for protesting, and finally using him as a human shield before leaving him to die.

Although he still has comedic moments in the film, his villainy takes a frighteningly darker turn in this adaptation, such as being more sociopathic. When Gaston ties Maurice to a tree and leaves him to be wolf food, any comedy involving him completely disappears and he becomes a darker and serious villain.

## **Personality and Traits**

Gaston fits this criteria perfectly in this version. He is very charismatic, especially when attempting to woo Belle and offering to help Maurice rescue her, but it's clear that he only acts this way for his own benefit. As a former army captain, he misses the war he fought in (his happy thoughts involve blood, explosions, countless widows), so much that he hunts for no reason other than to have things he can kill and gain a "hero" reputation from it.

What's worse, he admits that he has no qualms of hunting in the most inhumane ways possible, but even worse, when Maurice rightly refuses to let him marry Belle, he leaves him to die at the jaws of the wolves. And finally when accused of the crime, he uses his charm to dismiss Maurice as a madman, therefore saving his own skin. Not to mention, he speaks of his courtship with Belle in hunting metaphors, referring to her as prey. When Belle proves the Beast's existence, Gaston, rather than responding solely to clues of Belle's feelings for the Beast, immediately starts riling the villagers up and painting the Beast as a danger that needs to be killed, showing that he really wants something to kill and is using the Beast as a target for his homicidal urges.

What makes him truly terrifying, is that whether it's leaving an old man to the wolves, abusing and betraying a loyal friend, forcing marriage on a girl who has no interest in him, and killing a innocent creature, Gaston is willing to commit all these crimes without a shred of guiltwhatsoever in order to get what he wants.