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Gaston (his name meaning "from Gascony" in French, which is a real life area of France) is the hidden and true main antagonist of Disney's 1991 film Beauty and the Beast. He was voiced by Richard White. His original last name Gaston LeGume is a pun on his "pea-brained" insight and views of women.

Background[]

Physical Description[]

As noted throughout the film, he possessed an extremely athletic build, a cleft chin, and possessed a handsome appearance. His hair was long and tied into a ponytail. He possessed icy blue eyes. He generally wore yellow hunting gloves, although he discarded them by the midpoint. He also wore a red tunic and black tights, alongside boots. He also wore a cape during his final battle with the Beast. He had a lot of hair on his chest.

During the failed wedding, Gaston wore a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots, and also had white tights.

As a child, his hair was slightly disheveled with its ends standing on top, although he retained the ponytail. In addition, he possessed freckles, and his outfit consisted of a shirt, pants, and elf-like shoes.

Personality[]

Gaston is sturdy and well-dressed, and is all too mindful of this. He is very popular in his village, who seem unmindful of his true nature (Gaston reprise notwithstanding), and this serves to fuel his already massive ego. A narcissist who sees himself as superior to everyone around him, Gaston is boorish, uncultured, and sexist. Despite his belief that thinking is "a dangerous past time" (suggesting that he is anti-intellectual) however, Gaston is not clueless; in fact he is quite cunning which is emphasized twice in the story showing that he is not all brawn and no brain. He comes up with a clever plan to get Belle to marry him by threatening to have her father, Maurice, thrown into an asylum, and when that plan is foiled by Belle showing the Beast with a magic mirror, Gaston takes it in stride and turns the tables by manipulating the villagers into forming a mob to kill the Beast at once.

Gaston's view of women is intensely sexist and while he appears charming to most of the women of the village, such as The Bimbettes, Belle is able to see him for what he really is. Gaston's attempts to charm Belle constantly fall flat because of his chauvinistic behavior. He believes that women shouldn't be able to think for themselves or even get ideas, and even stamps Belle's book into the mud in an attempt to get her to focus on "more important things" such as him. Had he actually succeeded in persuading her to marry him, he would have only treated her as if she were his property (as was the case for Christian marriages in those days) rather than as an equal. His sexism is also shown by the fact that he does not seem to even consider the possibility of having daughters with her as he states he wants "six or seven strapping boys" like himself. Gaston suffers from obsessive love which is shown by his intense infatuation with Belle. Indeed he is so addicted to her that he neglects all the other pretty women in the village who would be satisfied to be his "little wife", even, ironically, those who technically matched Gaston's standard of how ladies would behave. Gaston is also adulterous (at least in the musical), as he states to Claudia and her sisters that his "rendezvouses" with the girls will continue after he marries Belle, which makes it clear that he doesn't know or care that marriage is a one-woman commitment.

Gaston is incredibly conceited and is convinced that he is powerful enough to defeat the Beast by himself. He even tortures the Beast, wanting him to fight back as he wants to prove that he can kill him in a fair fight. However his conceitedness makes him underestimate his opponent and once he realizes his life is on the line, his facade disappears, and will beg for his life when he gets overwhelmed. Gaston is not above using underhanded tactics, which implied with LeFou's claim about Gaston being "slick", Gaston's admission about being good at "taking cheap shots", and confirmed when he shows himself to literally be a backstabber in his last moments.

Gaston is extremely shallow, only loving Belle because of her physical beauty and assuming that the Beast is a monster based only on his physical appearance. Gaston not only sees the Beast as a monster, but also a rival for Belle's attention. Even when Belle points out that Gaston himself is the real monster, he dismisses her claim, thinking that she’s "as crazy as the old man".

He is also extremely petty because he does not want any other man to be with her, or for her to like them in any way at all.

At the start of the film and musical play, Gaston did not seem truly wicked, rather he was simply snooty, male-chauvinistic, boorish, and rude than a true villain. But as time goes on his; pride and obsession with Belle becomes so intense that it turns him into a twisted, sadistic, and murderous monster. His speech to get the mob to kill the Beast in order to guard the village is nothing more than a ploy to get them to help him infiltrate the castle. Gaston doesn't care about the village very much, even if he genuinely does believe that the Beast is a threat. All he wants is to kill his rival so he can have Belle as his property. By the time of his demise, Gaston feels that if he cannot have Belle, nobody can. In an earlier version of the story, he was even going to commit suicide as he knew that no matter what he did, Belle would never love him.

In the Marvel Comics serial, his personality was largely the same as in the movie, albeit somewhat toned down. However, he ended up not acknowledging that the Bimbettes were in love with him other than in general terms, not taking the hint that they wanted him to return the love, which resulted in many of his plans being foiled. Despite it taking place after making plans with the Asylum Warden to falsely incarcerate Belle as well as forcing LeFou to remain on lookout for either Belle or Maurice's return, he seemed to come up, either by himself or with LeFou's input, with various plans to impress and get Belle to marry him, such as a wife auction, killing a bear, and going to the bookstore, implying that he may have put aside that plan temporarily. In addition, one of the plans had Gaston deciding against killing the bear immediately due to it hibernating, implying he was capable of honor, although mostly because he wanted to impress Belle. In addition, in the same issue, he also attempted to fight the bear head on when it was prematurely awoken by the Bimbettes (in a plan to stop Gaston from marrying Belle), although he got shoved out effortlessly.

Short Rundown[]

Generally speaking, in the movie Gaston is an ambitious, rude, conceited, and male-chauvinist individual that views women not as equal beings with complementary marital duties (as God intended) but instead views women as one of a man's possessions, especially and specifically as a wife (after marriage, women were viewed and treated as a man's property during the time period of the film, with marriage seen as an act of ownership (comparable to a man buying livestock and a house during the same era) rather than an act of professing love, commitment and companionship like today). He believes that women were created to serve and obey men in all things - especially cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and overall total obedience to her husband, with no thinking whatsoever.[1] It's this sexist viewpoint that drives him away from Belle (the woman he wishes to marry), who looks at him as brainless and boorish as a result, while every other woman in the village (especially Claudia and her sisters) doesn't seem to notice or care. All of these views against women as equal human beings are what we would (and should) now consider to be outdated and of the so-called "caveman" mentality. This is strongly implied in the musical version (when he says to the Silly Girls that their "rendezvouses" will continue after his marriage to Belle, implying adultery). This shows that Gaston is a noncommittal, lecherous man that views all women, even and especially wives, as chattel and not as human beings. Had Gaston actually succeeded in marrying Belle, he would control and mistreat her, as well as isolate her from her father (in real life, Gaston would have had to get Maurice's explicit permission to marry his daughter, as a daughter was a father's property first). Additionally, the changing of surnames after marriage (for a woman) further showed that she became nothing more than a man's property rather than as a life partner for him, as women were (in most cultures and for a very long time) not considered to be even human and worthy of equal treatment and respect in marriage, as aforementioned.[2][3][4] In Walt Disney World, depending on which Cast Members are portraying him, all these negative traits are either suppressed or intensified.

Abilities[]

Gaston is shown to possess a tremendous amount of physical strength, evidenced by his effortlessly lifting up a bench with three females (the Bimbettes) on it, as well as holding it up with only one hand. He later effortlessly rips off an ornament from the castle to use as a makeshift club during his battle with the Beast. In the video game, Beauty and the Beast: Belle's quest, Gaston is revealed to be so strong, that he moves a boulder on his own, proving that whether "pebble or boulder, there is nothing that he can't move". He is also able to fire his blunderbuss with pinpoint accuracy, noted by LeFou proclaiming, "Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Gaston!" In addition, he has proved that he is a skilled archer during the climax at the caste. He is also shown to be skilled at stealth attacks, as implied in the song "Gaston" with the lyrics: "No one's slick as Gaston", and confirmed when he manages to stab the Beast in the back while the latter was distracted with joy that Belle returned even though he had to climb up several areas to reach him.

Appearances[]

Beauty and the Beast[]

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Gaston's "proposal"

Gaston is the local hero of a small French village at an unknown point in French history (presumably the mid-to-late 18th century). He owns a large tavern where he and the villagers drink and talk. Inside, there is a large portrait of him along with "trophies" from his hunt consisting mostly of animal antlers. He also says he eats five dozen eggs every morning to help make him "roughly the size of a barge" (even though he earlier mentions to Belle that he would have his latest kills roast over the fire).

He starts off in the film shooting down a waterfowl headed south with perfect accuracy (implying that he had just returned from a hunting trip) and declaring his intent to marry Belle after acknowledging from LeFou his popularity with the females in the village. He then started pursuing Belle throughout the village as she returns home after buying a book from the local bookstore. Their meeting starts off well, but Gaston's remarks about women reading and thinking drive Belle away from him, and she goes home, leaving him displeased. In addition, Gaston, after LeFou, learning Belle was going to help her father, mocked her father, scolded LeFou for mocking Maurice (although it was implied that he mostly did that in an attempt to make Belle proud rather than out of any genuine concern for Maurice). The next day, however, Gaston organizes a wedding outside Belle's cottage in an attempt to "surprise" her, complete with various decorations and a wedding cake. He forces his way into the cottage and attempts to strong-arm her into marrying him, again making sexist remarks about women and housewifery (he even envisions the home they would live in as a "rustic" hunting lodge, with his latest kill roasting over the fire and Belle massaging his feet while their children—six or seven boys—play on the floor with their dogs). While he attempts to corner Belle, she manages to open the door that he has pinned her against. This causes him to lose his balance and fly headfirst into a large mud pond (complete with cat-tail plants) in front of Belle's cottage, where we find out that a pig is there too. Mad and humiliated, Gaston storms off but not before vowing to make Belle his wife regardless of her refusals and throwing LeFou into the mud to boot.

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Gaston strikes a deal with Monsieur D'Arque

Later, during a snowstorm, the villagers in the tavern, along with LeFou, sing a song about Gaston's greatness to cheer him up after being rejected by Belle. Then, all of a sudden, Maurice butts in and warns the villagers about a monstrous beast who has locked up Belle as a prisoner in the tower of his castle. Thinking he is talking nonsense, the villagers throw him out of the tavern, but Gaston realizes that he can use Maurice's outrageous claim to his advantage. In a surprising display of animalistic cunning, he bribes the owner of the local asylum, Monsieur D'Arque, to threaten to throw Maurice into the asylum in order to pressure Belle into marrying him. While D'Arque realizes that even Maurice's nonsense about a beast and his unusual inventions don’t make him risky, he is ready to accept the bribe, mostly because he liked the despicability of the plot. Considering the management of asylums of the 18th century (the time that the film takes place), this is an extremely harsh threat. However, just before Gaston and LeFou barge into Belle and Maurice's cottage, Maurice left for the castle on his own. LeFou is ordered to stay there and wait for their return.

When Belle and Maurice eventually return to the cottage, LeFou informs Gaston right away, and he sets his plan into motion. With the villagers gathered outside the house, D'Arque has his men drag Maurice towards their carriage, while Gaston makes Belle his offer - he will clear up the "misunderstanding" if she marries him. Frightened and grossed-out, Belle refuses, and Gaston allows Maurice to be dragged away. Belle, however, manages to prove her father's loco claims about a beast inhabiting a huge castle in the woods to be true by using a magic mirror that the Beast gave her. Gaston gets even more frustrated after his plan fails and shocked that Maurice was telling the truth, but he becomes increasingly envious when Belle begins referring to the Beast as "kind and gentle", realizing that she prefers a "monster" over himself. When he refers to the Beast with this insult, Belle furiously retorts back that he is the real monster which makes him snap.

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The Beast's final stand.

In his envy and snootiness, Gaston rudely snatches the mirror from Belle and successfully convinces the villagers that the Beast is a threat to the village and therefore must be brought down right away. Locking Belle and Maurice in the basement to keep them from warning the Beast, Gaston leads a lynch mob to assault the Beast's castle and leave no one alive. Gaston bypasses the ensuing battle between the rioters and castle servants and encounters the Beast by himself. He fires an arrow into him, tosses him out of a window onto a lower section of the roof and tortures him. When Beast doesn't reply, having lost his will to live since Belle's departure (to rescue her lost father, who was searching for her), Gaston uses a makeshift club to try kill the Beast. The Beast, however, regains his strength when he sees Belle return (she got away from the basement) and viciously fights back.

Though roughly even with his adversary, Gaston learns that he cannot rely on brute strength to kill the Beast soon after, and instead begins torturing him in order to aggravate him enough to let his guard down, pushing the final button by claiming that Belle can never love a monster. The plan works but it backfires at once: the Beast lunges forth, snapping fiercely at him, and then holds the scared hunter at his mercy by holding him above a chasm by the throat. With his life at stake, Gaston abandons his pride and pathetically begs for his life, and the Beast accepts, ordering Gaston to leave and never come back. In spite of this, when Gaston sees the Beast embracing Belle, his great hatred and envy arises again, which leads to his ultimate downfall. Determined to kill his rival once and for all, Gaston stabs Beast in the side with a knife while dangling precariously from the balcony, before The Beast swung his arm backwards and Gaston dodged it and was about to stab The Beast again but lost his balance and plunged into the deep chasm to his death. As for The Beast, Belle's heart revived him and he was turned back into a human, along with the rest of the castle servants, including Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth, and Lumiere.

Beauty and the Beast (musical)[]

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Donny Osmond portraying Gaston in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

Gaston's role and personality in the musical based on the film is pretty much the same—a pompous, sexist, egotistical, boorish, brutish, brainless and chauvinistic caveman who loves only himself. His ultimate goal is the same too—marry the prettiest girl in town and make her his "little wife" and his "property". Instead of ignoring the Bimbettes like in the film, he pays more attention to them (saying that their 'rendezvouses' will continue after his marriage to Belle, implying adultery) but still wants Belle as his wife, making them unsatisfied (to the point of wailing and squallling like infants). During the proposal scene (where there's no wedding party outside unlike the movie), Gaston gives Belle a miniature portrait of himself as a present. In addition to the song Gaston, the song Me is performed by him (in which he conceitedly proposes to Belle). The song is of interest because one verse implies that his feelings for Belle are more than for her looks (he even calls her 'pumpkin' as an endearing appellative), but he never says it outright to her. Like in the movie, he fatally wounding him and won Belle's heart.

Notable actors who have played the role on Broadway include Burke Moses (who originated the role on Broadway and in the original London production), Marc Kudisch, Steve Blanchard, Christopher Sieber, Cody Carlton, and Donny Osmond (singing voice of Li Shang in Mulan). Other actors include Steve Condie.

Sing Me a Story with Belle[]

Gaston made sporadic appearances in Sing Me a Story with Belle, mostly acting as a comedic foil to Belle. Once again, he is trying to convince Belle to marry him.

House of Mouse[]

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Gaston in House of Mouse.

Despite his death in the movie, Gaston gained a recurring role on House of Mouse as a guest character, once again voiced by Richard White. His most notable appearance, in the episode "Daisy's Debut", had a running gag in which he frequently injected himself into other people's conversations to say that "no one [verbs] like Gaston!" This gag would later go through the entire series and would become a memorable catchphrase for Gaston. Notable examples of this is when Daisy compliments Ariel's singing voice. He walks by and says, "No one sings like Gaston!" Another one is when Timon and Pumbaa are making a face in a spoon. Gaston leans over and says, "No one makes faces in spoons like Gaston!" with an annoyed Timon answering back, "Actually, no one asked for the opinion of Gaston!"

Gaston was one of the many villains to join the takeover in Mickey's House of Villains.

Once Upon a Time[]

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Gaston in Once Upon a Time.

Gaston is featured in the ABC series in a very minor role played by Sage Brocklebank. Here, he was engaged to Belle through an arranged marriage, and as in the film, she didn't love him because she found him "shallow". Unlike his Disney counterpart he appears to be more noble and focused, as shown when he expressed concern for Belle's agreement to go with Rumpelstiltskin and when she refused his marriage proposal. He attempted to reclaim her from Rumpelstiltskin regardless, but was transformed into a rose and given as a gift to Belle. Gaston hasn't made an appearance in the series since.

Gaston returns in the fifth season episode "Her Handsome Hero", now portrayed by Wes Brown.[1] In this episode, Gaston's backstory is more fleshed out. Lord LeGume has agreed to ally his kingdom with Sir Maurice's if Maurice's daughter Belle were to marry his son Gaston. In the beginning, Gaston is portrayed as more noble and focused than his Disney counterpart, but he is later proven to be just as villainous. After he and Belle discovered a captive Ogre, Gaston tortured the youngling for information, an act Belle considered to be unconscionable. It is hinted that Gaston's aggression might have provoked the Ogres into war. In order to protect the kingdoms, Belle finally agrees reluctantly to marry Gaston. As stated above, he is later killed by Rumplestiltskin when he tried to rescue Belle from the Dark Castle.

After his death, Gaston grew further villainous, as the circumstances of his death caused him to blame Belle for his death. Rather than following Belle's idea of forgiveness and redemption, Gaston now believed that it was wisest to defeat an enemy by being strong and that he should have brought an army before he confronted Rumplestiltskin. After Belle and Rumplestiltskin turn up in the Underworld, Hades offers Gaston the chance to redeem himself by killing the Dark One. The god makes a further deal to Belle, that if either Gaston or Rumplestiltskin push the other one in the River of Lost Souls, then Belle could keep her unborn son. However, when the time came, Belle tried to convince Rumplestiltskin not to harm Gaston, as she was not prepared to protect Gideon in this way. However, when Gaston tried to fire at the Dark One, Belle accidentally knocked her ex-fiance into the river, damning him for eternity. Unfortunately, Belle darkened her soul just to save Rumplestiltskin, as Hades found a loophole in their deal; the deal was for either Rumplestiltskin or Gaston to push the other one in the river, not Belle.

Beauty and the Beast 2017[]

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Gaston in the 2017 remake.

Gaston appeared in the 2017 remake, portrayed by Luke Evans. However, in this film, Gaston is portrayed as a former army captain prior to his career as a hunter due to a portrait of him standing over fallen soldiers in the tavern. It is also implied that this incarnation of Gaston is a much darker portrayal than in the original, as he is far more psychopathic and violent in nature.

Just like his animated counterpart, Gaston is well-liked and respected in the village for his previous war heroics against the Portuguese, and aims to have Belle as his wife. At first, he attempts to woo her to get her approval for marriage many times, but she respectfully turns him down due to his rude behavior. Gaston then warns Belle that she will end up being in the streets as a beggar if she doesn't marry him, but she still refuses by saying that she's not that simple to hang out with, much to his disappointment.

Eventually, in the tavern, Gaston gets bucked up by LeFou and the villagers following his failed attempts to woo Belle, right before Belle's father Maurice arrives and exclaims that Belle has been taken prisoner by the Beast (the son of a wicked king) in his castle. The villagers instantly laugh at this as they find Maurice to be insane (due to a spell cast by an enchantress that erases all the townsfolk's memories of the castle), but Gaston decides to tag along, seeing an opportunity to get Maurice's approval for Belle's hand in marriage. However, as they stroke into the woods with LeFou, Gaston tires himself of Maurice's apparently groundless story and begins to lose his temper with the old man. LeFou intervenes, calming Gaston down with memories of the war. Even as Gaston apologies for his outburst and proceeds to ask for Maurice's blessing, an indignant Maurice refuses. Outraged, almost without thinking, Gaston ties Maurice up in a tree and leaves him to die of winter exposure and be fed by hungry wolves (despite LeFou's objections), though Maurice ends up being saved and nursed back to health by a hermit, Agathe.

As Gaston returns to his tavern, he is shocked to see that Maurice has returned alive and is now accusing him for his attempted murder. However, Gaston uses his charisma to convince the villagers that Maurice is insane and must be locked up in the local asylum (even secretly silencing an uneasy LeFou from testifying against him and convincing everyone that Agathe is untrustworthy). To that end, Gaston gets the villagers to torment Maurice before having the local asylum owner Monsieur D'Arque to take Maurice away. However, Belle arrives back to the village and foils this by revealing the Beast's existence with the magic mirror that he given to her, making the townsfolk realize that Maurice was telling the truth. Overcome by this revelation of "sorcery", and believing that this Beast has put Belle under some sort of love trance, an angry Gaston snaps out by stealing the magic mirror and rallies the villagers into helping him kill the Beast, much to Belle and Maurice's horror.

After having Monsieur D'Arque to lock up Belle and Maurice in the asylum carriage and keep them on watch, Gaston leads the villagers to attack the Beast's castle, which forced the castle servants to fight back against the villagers. During the battle, Maurice frees himself and Belle before allowing the latter to head to the castle while Gaston betrays the villagers by leaving them to their fates, even using LeFou as a human shield before leaving him for dead, which incited an outraged LeFou to side up with the servants. As the villagers flee away in humiliation and defeat, Gaston heads over to the West Wing, where he finds the Beast sulking (as the latter lost his will to live after letting Belle go). Taking the opportunity, Gaston shoots the Beast, arrogantly claiming that Belle sent him over to kill him. However, Belle arrives to the rescue by breaking Gaston's arrows, throwing away his gun and briefly pushing him off the balcony into the roof, demanding him to stop. Undeterred by Belle's intervention, Gaston angrily vows that he will mount the Beast's head in his tavern wall and marry Belle by force before climbing through the roof to kill the Beast. However, the Beast regains his will after witnessing Belle's return and realizing what Gaston said is a lie, so he fights back against Gaston for good.

After a brief fight, the Beast finally overpowers Gaston and grabs him by the neck, preparing to drop him off the tower for the trouble he caused. With his life at stake, Gaston begs for mercy, to which the Beast grudgingly obliges by coldly telling Gaston that he's not a monster. Shoving Gaston away from his sight, the Beast furiously orders him to leave the castle before climbing back on the castle balcony to reunite with Belle. However, Gaston retrieves his gun and shoots the Beast fatally twice from a footbridge, much to Belle's horror. However, Gaston's victory is short-lived when the footbridge breaks apart (due to the curse slowly crumbling the castle as the Beast succumbs to his wounds), leaving Gaston to fall screaming to his death to the castle floor below.

Despite putting fatal shots on the Beast, Gaston's death proved to be in vain as Belle's expression of her love for the deceased Beast inspired an arriving Agathe (who is revealed to be the enchantress responsible for placing the curse) to revive the Beast before transforming him and his servants back to normal, much to their delight. This also allows the castle and the townsfolk's memories to be restored as several villagers recognize some of the servants as their loved ones before reuniting with them.

Printed material[]

Comics[]

Gaston appeared in various side panels of the comics produced by Marvel Comics in 1994 to 1995, three to four years after the release of the film. In the first issue, Gaston apparently noticed Belle's disappearance, and was looking for her. The Bimbettes were nearby and decided to sway him away from Belle by spraying a "love potion" (strongly implied to actually a strong perfume) in their direction. However, Gaston alongside LeFou were forced to flee after a skunk ended up emitting an odor in anger of potential competition. Later, during a hunting trip with LeFou, Gaston attempted to shoot a rabbit, although he accidentally caused it to flee, shoving LeFou in irritation, also unknowingly placing LeFou into a net trap set by the Bimbettes that was meant for Gaston.

In Issue 2, Gaston decided to announce a wife auction in the hopes that Belle would be lured over. During this time, he also shows himself off, causing the Bimbettes to faint. Later on, the maidens proceeded to rush to Gaston. In Issue 3 "Has Gaston Finally Won Belle's Hand at Last?", he is holding an auction for his perfect wife. Naturally, he is looking for Belle, and she seemingly comes to him having forgone reading and intelligence for being Gaston's "little wife". It is actually Laura, one of the Bimbettes in a clever disguise. He eventually ranted about being publicly humiliated, although he eventually decided that Belle may not have gotten the message and forgave the insult, although not without determining how to get Belle to marry him.[5]

In issue 4, Gaston ended up deciding to take a mountain hike in the hopes this would actually impress Belle, and even managed to restrain a hibernating bear so he could demonstrate to Belle that he killed it (he initially planned to kill it then and there until LeFou reminded Gaston that bears hibernate during the winter). However, this plan ended up foiled by the Bimbettes, who tricked the Bear into thinking it was springtime. Gaston tried to fight the bear (mostly to show off), although he ended up thrown out of the cave by the Bear, and decided with LeFou that it was probably easier to just give Belle a smaller bear.

Although he doesn't appear in Issue 5 of the main serial, he does appear in Belle's flashback to her time in the village, although his reason for Belle not wanting to read books was tweaked a bit to imply that he was attempting to flirt with her in a poorly-done manner. In Issue 7, Gaston became irritated that Belle hasn't even appeared at all, and eventually decided to simply stake her out at the bookstore via the bookshop owner, even having LeFou keep watch at the bookstore in case Belle shows up. However, the Bimbettes thwarted this plan by interacting with LeFou, hoping to make Gaston jealous. Gaston eventually attacked LeFou after a heaping of eggs at the tavern, although only because LeFou was distracted from his duty, to the Bimbettes' chagrin.

Gaston only appears at the end of Belle's flashback in Issue 8, where Gaston welcomes Belle and Maurice back (Mainly Belle), who had gotten lost and barely avoided missing the fair and won first prize due to the Bimbettes sending them on the wrong direction in an attempt to ensure they don't return to the village. He also appears as a child in Issue 5 of Disney Comic Hits!, also made by Marvel Comics, alongside Belle and the Bimbettes, where he is standing on his sled during a snowy day in an obvious attempt at impressing her (with the Bimbettes trying to get his attention) before he and the Bimbettes ended up crashing into a tree.

Kingdom Keepers[]

Gaston makes a small cameo in the fourth book of the saga. He is seen along with Prince John and the Horned King when Finn and Amanda see all the Overtakers together at Tom Sawyer Island.

Original concept[]

In the original 1989 screenplay, Gaston was depicted very differently. He wasn't initially supposed to be the town hero or a hunter, but a marquess (French nobleman). He was also supposed to share the role of antagonist with Belle's aunt, Marguerite. He was chosen by Marguerite as a suitor specifically as revenge towards Maurice (who in this version was a failed merchant who lost his wealth at sea, just like in the original tale). He also was to wait inside Belle's cottage, with Belle's younger sister, Clarice, commenting that Belle had a suitor as soon as she met him. Ultimately, Belle refused him, with Marguerite commenting that Belle was simply shy around him and to come back next time. He later would appear in the climax, where he would lead his soldiers against the Beast's castle, and duel with several enchanted pieces of furniture with a rapier before personally dueling the Beast in battle. He also met his fate differently (see Death section below).

As such, his design was also completely different, depicting him as tall and lanky, wearing a blue coat and white stockings and yellow breeches, a mole on the left side of his face, a crooked nose, and a powdered wig with a red ribbon on it, giving him a similar appearance to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Death[]

In one of the earliest scripts, Gaston's death would have been different, as the battle against Beast would have taken place in the forest with several of his soldiers, and also emerge from a carriage box to personally fight the Beast. In this early version of the script (where Gaston was a marquis), Gaston would wound the Beast and prepare to kill him with his blunderbuss, when Belle strikes him from behind with a rock. This would have prompted him to fall off a cliff and breaking one of his legs. Upon trying to stand up, he notices that the wolves who attacked Maurice and Belle earlier are looking at him, and then the wolves ate him. This idea was scrapped because the writers thought that it was too gruesome and horrible (even for someone like Gaston), although this idea was later used in The Lion King, more specifically in the sequence of Scar's death at the hands (or rather, jaws) of the hyenas.

Ironically, the above mentioned scene of Scar's death (as the final version of the ending) was chosen for the exact same reason why Gaston's original death was cut: The original ending was deemed to be too graphic for a Disney film.

In addition, the final version of Gaston's death also had some alterations: Moments prior to his plunge from the castle to his unseen death, Gaston was supposed to stab the Beast in the back, and later in the leg, but the second injury was cut from the final script to edit violence; it was also originally intended for Gaston to commit suicide after stabbing the Beast in the back and laugh madly as he fell from the tower, believing that if he could not win Belle, nobody else would (which might explain why Gaston chose such a dangerous position to stab the Beast from behind, despite knowing that he would never win Belle's heart). However, this was edited out due to the dark nature of the scene. A similar edit would later occur with Zira, although in her case, they still left some hints that she committed suicide. Gaston laughing upon falling to his death was also reminiscent to the original ending to The Lion King regarding Scar's original fate, only instead of falling to his death laughing, Scar instead was laughing as he was about to be burned alive.

Video Game Appearances[]

Like many other characters from the film, Gaston appears in several game titles, most revolving around the film such as Beauty and the Beast and Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure.

Beauty and the Beast: Roar of the Beast[]

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Gaston battles Beast in Roar of the Beast

In Roar of the Beast, Gaston has led an invasion on Beast castle, endangering the entire castle as well as Belle with the help of his angry mob and LeFou.

Belle's Quest[]

In Belle's Quest, Gaston plays out his role in the film to some degree, though at the start, he appears to be much more tame, even using to strength to assist Belle in a task. Nevertheless, he continues to pursue her in hopes of marrying her, as well as invade the Beast's castle at the conclusion of the game.

Disney Princess[]

Gaston appears as the villain of Belle's stage. Here, he plots to manipulate the villagers into believing the Beast's castle is evil and should be destroyed. To do so, he breaks into the dark castle and tries to capture Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, hoping to use them as proof of the castle's dark magic. However, Belle is able to defeat him using her quick wits.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures[]

Gaston also doesn't appear in Kinect Disneyland Adventures, although he is mentioned by Belle explaining that he hasn't been to Disneyland yet, probably due to the fact that there were no antlers.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion[]

Gaston was one of the Disney villains the evil witch Mizrabel had the ability to morph into. However, her Gaston disguise only appeared briefly and never again throughout the rest of the game.

Kingdom hearts Unchained[]

Gaston is a crossing over to Beast's castle with the many army of heartless trying to the Beast is Gaston need Beast's head in the backyard, Gaston had the ability of the one big heartless that Called Enraged Elk Use it to trying to Killing form Sora is going the Balcony, while after Sora kills the Enraged Elk and Belle is going to Beast is a fighting on Gaston and Gaston fails in the Balcony after Sora is in the left Balcony,

Disney Parks[]

Walt Disney World[]

Gaston at Disney parks in wintertime

Gaston posing for a photo at Walt Disney World, before his updated costume was revealed..

As of 2012, Gaston has become a common, and very popular, character within Walt Disney World Resort. He appears in the live stage show Beauty and the Beast: Live! at Disney's Hollywood Studios. During Halloween, he is a part of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.

He is also seen walking around in the parks, such as walking down the International Gateway. Depending on which Cast Member is portraying him in the parks, his sexism towards women and his opinion on reading and thinking varies, but he is very popular with female guests and is much nicer to young girls, as he even gives them hugs.[6]

Gaston has his own restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, in the Beauty and the Beast area of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. He can now be found there for meet-and-greets daily, but he is the only character present there (though LeFou is mentioned). Before then, his park appearances were mostly confined to parades, shows and special events.

Tokyo Disneyland[]

Gaston appears in Tokyo Disneyland in parades.

Disneyland Paris[]

At Disneyland Paris, Gaston can be found for meet-and-greets in Fantasyland. He also appears in several shows, specifically during Halloween time.

My Disney Experience[]

The handsome hunter Gaston is often admiring himself, flexing his "biceps to spare" and trying to woo Belle.

Quotes[]

  • "How can you read this? There's no pictures."
  • "Here, picture this: A rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire, and my little wife massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs." (it is to note that he only describes this in the movie and musical play, it is never envisioned).
  • "That girl has tangled with the wrong man!"
  • "No one says 'NO' to Gaston!"
  • (complains on his chair) "Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly humiliated! Why, it's more than I can bare!"
  • "As a specimen, yes I'm intimidating!"
  • "And every last inch of me is covered with hair."
  • (sings) "When I was a lad, I ate 4 dozen eggs every morning to help me get large. And now that I'm grown, I eat 5 dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge!"
  • "No one has great ideas like Gaston!"
  • "No one sings like Gaston!"
  • "No one eats candied apples like Gaston!"
  • "Hmm I might be able to clear up this little misunderstanding if, if you marry me."
  • "One little word, Belle, that's all it takes."
  • (gets rejected by Belle) "Have it your way!"
  • "If I didn't know better I'd think you had feelings for this monster."
  • "I say we rid the village of this beast! Who's with me!?"
  • "If you're not with us you're against us, bring the old man."
  • "Take whatever booty you can find. But remember the Beast is mine!"
  • (bullies the Beast) "What's the matter, Beast? Too 'kind and gentle' to fight back?"
  • (gets his neck wrung toughly by the Beast) "Let me go! Let me go! Please don't hurt me. I'll do anything. Anything!"
  • "Well, it looks like Gaston hasn't visited here yet. I don't see any antlers at all." (Belle about Gaston in "Kinect Disneyland Adventures")
  • "Come on out and fight!"
  • "It's over, Beast! Belle is MINE!"
  • "I've got my heart set on marrying Belle but she needs a little...persuasion."
  • "Everyone knows her father's a lunatic. He was in here tonight raving about a beast in a castle."
  • "The point is Belle would do anything to prevent him from getting locked up."

Gallery[]

Wiki
Wickedpedia has a collection of images and media related to Gaston LeGume.

Trivia[]

  • The Nostalgia Critic lists Gaston as the fifth greatest animated Disney villain and notes that Gaston doesn't start off as a villain, just a jerk. He also says that Gaston isn't evil to be evil, he's just used to getting his way and as a result, will do anything to get it and how his greed, pride and lust turns him into a villain.
  • On an interesting note, most of Gaston's actions were edited out of the final cut of the film: during his battle with the Beast, Gaston was originally intended to shout "Time to die!", but it was changed to "Belle is MINE!" (but his lips still mouth "Time to die!") in order to edit violence and get the main point of his rage straight.
  • In earlier versions of the script (for which concept art is revealed on the diamond edition of BatB) Gaston was a wealthy marquis (French nobleman), dressed in a powdered wig and blue coat. In the final version, he is a hunter, but it is implied in one scene that he is still wealthy.
    • In addition, his use of a blunderbuss was retained from this characterization, as evidenced by his original fate.
  • Despite his death, Gaston has recently been enjoying a considerable degree of fan popularity on the Internet, with the character himself becoming a minor internet meme. Recently, for example he has shown an obsession with Taco Bell, and has been the subject of Chuck Norris-style jokes.
  • Gaston became a lot more popular with his quote No one X like Gaston. which also became a least famous internet meme.
  • Gaston's hobby of mocking Belle's books also became a least known internet meme as well. The most notable one is Gaston Reads X, which features Gaston reading any random famous book/manga and mocks it.
  • Gaston bears many similarities with Claude Frollo, both being the main antagonist of the first film in their franchise, having an obsessive crush on the female protagonist (Gaston-Belle, Frollo-Esmeralda), both being French, both wielding bladed weapons, red and black clothing, fought the deformed male protagonist on a high area, and falling to their deaths. Both also held a large amount of influence over their hometown (Gaston being the town hero, and Frollo being the Minister of Justice of Paris). Because of this, they were featured in many YouTube Poops as best friends, though their biggest appearance was in The Frollo Show. Incidentally, as noted below, the Golden Films' adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame modeled their version of Frollo after Gaston. The only differences are that Gaston had no relation to the Beast outside of being jealous of Belle's affection to the latter, while Frollo was the adopted father of Quasimodo due to killing his parents and taking him in to soothe his soul at the command of the archbishop, and Gaston was loved by the village while Frollo was feared and universally hated by Paris.
  • In addition, he was ranked 11th in a poll by UltimateDisney.com on the top 30 Disney villains of all time.
  • Unlike Queen Grimhilde, Lady Tremaine, Maleficent, Ursula, and Mother Gothal, Gaston is the first male Disney Villain to appear in a Disney Princess film. The second is Jafar, the third is Governor Ratcliffe, the fourth is Shan Yu, the fifth is Doctor Facilier, and the sixth is Prince Hans.
  • Spike.com ranked him the #9 spot in their "The Top 10 Hollywood 'Villains' Who Got Totally Screwed" below Rambo villain Will Teasle.
  • Gaston and Prince Hans are currently the youngest Disney Villains to date, with Gaston being around 25 and Hans being around 23.
  • Gaston is based on Avenant, the character from the 1946 French film Beauty and the Beast, played by Jean Marais. A character named Avenant was originally intended to serve as the villain of a proposed sequel to the Disney film, as Gaston's younger brother, but the idea was scrapped. Unlike Avenant from the 1946 film, Gaston doesn't outright confess to Belle that he loves her, which leads to his demise.
  • Richard White stated in an interview that while he himself doesn't know whether Gaston survived, he does mention that the viewers never saw the body, implying that he might have survived. However, the 2002 DVD commentary confirmed his death, and mentioned that the skull and crossbones seen in his pupils as he falls, which were either speculated to be some sort of demonic subliminal message or that he had seen death himself, were intended to confirm his death.
  • The amount of arrows in Gaston's pouch often changes from three to two and sometimes even four.
  • The horse that Gaston rides to Beast's Castle is actually the horse from The Headless Horseman, the main antagonist from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the second half of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
  • In the movie's continuity, Gaston is the first Disney character of the Disney Renaissance era to have negative attitudes and opinions towards females, the second is Chi-Fu from Mulan.
  • Interestingly enough, as mentioned in one of the above Trivias, Disney made absolutely certain to remove to skull and cross bones from Gaston's pupils as he fell to his death in the theatrical and VHS version, yet made no attempt to do so in the later releases on DVD and Blu-ray.
  • On the 2011 Cartoon Voices Comic Con, Bill Farmer said that he had done Gaston, during Gaston's song in the bar. Bill did the sound of Gaston eating the eggs.
  • Gaston is the first villain to have an obsessive crush on the female lead, Belle. Although in Aladdin, Jafar was a bit affectionate with Jasmine in the scene where she kissed him. Claude Frollo was the second villain to have an obsessive crush on the female protagonist, Esmeralda. Flynn Rider, however, is the only protagonist to have a crush on the female lead and marry her.
  • Notably, Gaston is the only main antagonist who didn't appear in the Kingdom Hearts series despite his homeworld, Beast's Castle, appearing in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. As Beast is shown to have transformed back into Prince Adam during the credits of Kingdom Hearts II, it is possible that Gaston's fight against the Beast and subsequent death occurred while Sora, Donald, and Goofy were absent from the world.
    • Xaldin (An antagonist from Organization XIII and the nobody of Dilan) played the role as the antagonist of Beast's Castle in Kingdom Hearts II in substitute to Gaston (despite the fact that it isn't his home world). Although, his intentions were entirely different to Gaston's (being closer to that of Forte, in fact) as Xaldin used the Rose and the Beast's anger to create a Heartless and a Nobody of the Beast to serve Xaldin and only ever used Belle to further pursue his intentions of manipulating the prince by using Belle as bait.
    • In addition, despite his absence in Kingdom Hearts II, he was included in a fan-made version of Kingdom Hearts. In it, he attempts to kill The Beast with a dark arrow, but Sora managed to intervene. He also was largely without any speaking lines, suggesting that he was completely taken over by the Heartless similar to Clayton. In the end of the battle, he ends up cut in half from the waist and falling, similar to Darth Maul.
  • In the book Disney Villains: The Essential Guide, Gaston didn't even appear until the very last page, where's he actually shown complaining about why he didn't even appear in that book!
  • It is implied in the trailer that Gaston may have been aware of the Beast's curse, and had ulterior motives besides wanting Belle as his wife for attempting to kill the Beast, as the trailer described him as being "one man who wants to keep the spell alive", although it is unconfirmed whether this was the case in the film itself outside of Gaston being suspiciously subdued about Belle's exposure of the Beast's existence compared to the fearful gasps of the other villagers.
  • Gaston is also similar to Ronno from Bambi. Both are part of a love triangle between the male and female protagonist, the main antagonist (Ronno, of the second film: Gaston of the first film), they are both in love with the female protagonist (Gaston, Belle, Ronno, Faline), both want to marry them for a different reason (Gaston, because of Belle's beauty and Faline for Bambi) but the female protagonist actually loves the male protagonist who is actually an animal (Belle loves The Beast and Faline loves Bambi) but both have a different defeat. Gaston falls off the beast's castle to his death and Ronno falls down a cliff and walks away.
  • There is a big fan theory that he is one of the Man hunters from Bambi, but this is unconfirmed.
  • Gaston's proposal outfit, consisting of a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots[7], implied that the events of the film occurred sometime in the late-17th to mid-18th century. However, Belle's cameo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which took place in the mid-to-late-15th century) renders this date questionable. Glen Keane confirmed in the commentary for Beauty and the Beast that the film's setting was indeed intended to be the late 18th century.
  • At the tavern, besides the aforementioned antler and deer-related trophies, Gaston also had among his hunting trophies a Bald Eagle's head and a Water Buffalo's head, implying that he may have hunted abroad (as they were not native to his village, France, or even Europe, being instead native to North America and a small portion of Africa and Asia, respectively). This was further supported by his first appearance in the film, where some of the kills carried by LeFou included a Raccoon (although raccoons technically were present in France via the French-German border, they weren't part of France's ecosystem at the time until two pet Raccoons were released into the wild at Germany in the 1930s).
  • Gaston is the opposite of the Beast. While the Beast is an ugly monster based on his appearance, he is actually innocent and truly cared for Belle, and became a protagonist of his film; Gaston, on the other hand, while being superficially handsome on the outside and praised by the populace, is actually egotistical and male-chauvinistic, and only wanted to marry Belle based purely on her beauty, and eventually allowed his lust to make him a villain in the film. One of the filmmakers even described Gaston as having "the heart of a pig" due to his sloven behavior during his proposal to Belle.
    • In addition, after he fell into the mudpool during the failed proposal, a pig's head rose up before Gaston's head emerged, acting as a slight pun on "pig-headedness", alluding to arrogance.
  • Gaston has blue eyes the same eye color as his rival. So far in Disney history this is the only time the villain has had any physical features (i.e. eye color, hair color, etc.) as a protagonist.
  • In the musical, Gaston mentioned women as being "He-Man's property." However, the first use of that term was in 1982, at least a few centuries after the plot setting of the story, for the protagonist in Masters of the Universe. However, the name of said protagonist is derived from a noun which means "a strong, virile or sexually active man", which is what Gaston thinks he is. The word "property" is this sense refers to the fact that upon marriage during this time period, women were believed to be owned by the husband just as he owned material possessions, however he could be using the word as his means of attempting to flirt and joke with her as well.
    • Additionally, before "Me" even begins, he mentions to the Silly Girls that their "rendezvouses" will continue after he marries Belle, suggesting that he would be unfaithful and that he is an adulterer. He is the first Disney villain to conspire to commit adultery, at least in a Disney musical.
  • Gaston shares many similarities to Junior Wetworth, a non-Disney villain from the TV show, Snorks.
    • Both are handsome but arrogant.
    • Both have a smaller sidekick they abuse. (Lefou for Gaston, Willie for Junior).
    • Both are constantly trying to date a beautiful girl, but are always turned down. (Belle for Gaston, Casey for Junior).
    • Both are stuck with girls they do not want. (Bimbettes for Gaston, Matilda for Junior).
    • Both are shown to be jealous of whom their dream girl does want to be with. (Beast for Gaston, Allstar for Junior).
  • Gaston also shares many similarities to Zim, a non-Disney protagonist from the Nickelodeon TV show Invader Zim.
    • Both are arrogant and egotistical.
    • Both have a smaller sidekick they abuse. (Lefou for Gaston, GIR and Skoodge for Zim).
    • Both have arch-rivals (The Beast for Gaston, Dib for Zim).
    • Both are or have been stuck with girls they do not want (The Bimbettes for Gaston, Tak for Zim)
    • Both have interest in females, or in Zim's case, would have had an interest in a girl (Belle for Gaston, Gazlene for Zim).
    • However, they do have a difference in the way they are viewed by their peers (Gaston is looked up to as the town's hero, Zim is largely looked down upon as a complete laughingstock, at least until the series finale Invader Dib, where he saves his people from death with Gaz's help and is finally redeemed of his past crimes).
    • They also differ in their height: Gaston is tall throughout the movie, while ZIM starts off very short but seem to grow some at the series progresses.
  • Gaston also shares several similarities with Ratigan.
    • Both are the primary antagonist.
    • Both of their films first came to video in 1992 on a Friday as part of the Walt Disney Classics line up (The Great Mouse Detective was released on July 17 while Beauty And The Beast was released on October 30) (the tapes opened with the 1991 FBI Warning Screens, have a behind the scenes trailer for Aladdin (although The Great Mouse Detective only has one theatrical preview for the behind the scenes look of Aladdin at the beginning while Beauty and the Beast also contains another theatrical preview for the cancelled 1993 re-release of Sleeping Beauty that never happened), 1992 Feature Presentation logo, 1992 Walt Disney Classics logo (The Great Mouse Detective has the clean Walt Disney Classics logo that was also on the 1992 VHS of 101 Dalmatians, whereas Beauty and the Beast has the distorted Walt Disney Classics logo), 1990 Walt Disney Pictures logo, and a trailer for the next movie to be released in the Walt Disney Classics line up (The Great Mouse Detective: The Rescuers and Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Beast: Pinocchio (side note: middle copies don’t have the preview for Pinocchio at the beginning or at the end)) and never made it into the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection or The Gold Classic Collection.
    • Both, of course, have huge egos.
    • Both live in European countries (Gaston, France; Ratigan, England).
    • Both have smaller incompetent sidekicks who serve as secondary antagonists (Fidget for Ratigan; Lefou for Gaston).
    • Both drink alcoholic beverages. Ratigan drinks wine while Gaston drinks beer.
    • Both sing songs that praise themselves (Gaston: song of his name, Ratigan: World's Greatest Criminal Mind).
      • Similarly, both songs also have the sidekicks/minions (Gaston, villagers and tavern men; Ratigan, Bill the Lizard and Ratigan's Thugs being praiseworthy of them in the reprise, though unlike Gaston's allies and the villagers, Ratigan's minions were shown to only do it out of fear during the reprise.
    • At one point both their villain songs are interrupted (Gaston's is interrupted as Maurice came into his tavern while Ratigan's is interrupted when Bartholomew accidentally called him a rat which annoyed him). Before each song resumes, those who interrupted them are thrown out of the villains' headquarters.
    • Both have blackmails involving harming a father and a daughter if they don't get what they want. Ironically, Ratigan threatened to harm Olivia Flaversham if her father didn't do his job, while Gaston threatened to hurt Maurice if his daughter didn't marry him.
    • Both have trapped the main characters (Gaston: Belle, Ratigan: Basil, Dr. David Q. Dawson and Olivia Flaversham) at one point before heading out to carry out their evil plan (Gaston: killing the Beast, Ratigan: overthrowing Queen Mousetoria).
    • Both sing a second song (Gaston: The Mob Song, Ratigan, Goodbye, So Soon).
    • Both fight the protagonists somewhere high during a storm. (Basil on Big Ben, Beast on his castle)
    • In their final moments, they believe they have successfully killed the hero, but their triumphs are cut short, and they fall to their deaths and are not seen again.
  • Gaston also directly shares similarities to Turbo from Wreck-It Ralph
    • Both are the main antagonist.
    • Both of their movies were released in November.
    • Both are supposed to be hero characters, but inside they are arrogant, therefore they are Disney Villains who weren't revealed to be evil at first.
    • Both have huge egos.
    • Both have sidekicks (LeFou and Sour Bill)
    • Both are humiliated by heroines (Belle and Vanellope)
    • Both meet the visitor who are raving in front of them (Maurice and Ralph)
    • Their visitor are raving about their problem (Maurice: Beast imprisoned Belle in castle's dungeon        Ralph: Vanellope stole his medal)
    • Both their visitor has kicked out (Maurice: Gaston's buddies Ralph: by himself)
    • After their visitor went away, they both start to think about their evil plan (Gaston: to imprison Maurice if Belle didn't refused to marry him, Turbo: to give Ralph's medal to him first, then he "explains" to Ralph that Vanellope can't be allowed to race).
    • Both fight the heroes somewhere high (Gaston: Beast's castle Turbo: Diet Cola Mountain)
  • Gaston gets a second song, "Me", which can be heard in the musical and in New Fantasyland. The song serves as a (rather conceited and sexist) marriage proposal to Belle, taking the place of the proposal scene in the movie where he has a wedding set up outside Belle's house without her prior knowledge.
  • The design for the main villain in Golden Films version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo, bears some resemblance to Gaston, with the only notable difference being that Frollo possessed a moustache typical of stereotypical Frenchmen.[8]
  • Although concept materials, as listed above, give Gaston the surname of LeGume, the Bimbettes during the song of "Belle" refer to Gaston as "Monsieur Gaston", and Belle in the reprise twice sarcastically refers to herself as "Madame Gaston", suggesting that Gaston is his surname in the final version.
  • Despite the praise for Gaston in the eponymous song (specifically the lyrics "No one hits like Gaston, matches wits like Gaston"), the visuals show Gaston either having lost a game of Checkers or otherwise about to lose (due to him angrily swiping the board away).
  • Gaston shares a few similarities with Hans from Frozen.
    • Both are the primary antagonist.
    • Both first appeared in November of a common year starting on Tuesday (Gaston: 1991, Hans: 2013).
    • Both want to marry the beautiful protagonist of their films and don't love them for who they are (the main difference being their motives: Gaston wanted to marry Belle due to her beauty, while Hans simply wanted to use Anna to gain the throne, as well as kill her afterwards).
    • Both are very handsome on the outside, yet sinister on the inside.
    • Both try to kill someone close to the protagonist, whom the crowds are scared of and thought of as monsters. (Beast for Gaston, Elsa for Hans)
    • Both led a mob to the "monster" for the "safety" of the citizens.
    • Both have locked up the protagonist before heading out to kill that "monster." (In the case of Hans, it was to quicken Anna's demise as a means to sell the act)
    • Both were shown to be highly arrogant at least one point in their films.
    • Both are the youngest Disney villains so far, as Gaston is 25 and Hans is around 23.
    • Unlike Hans, Gaston ends up exposing enough details of his plan to a public crowd to ordinarily prove detrimental to said plans. Also, unlike Gaston, Hans actually survives his defeat. Also, unlike Gaston, Hans never referred to Anna and Elsa as his property.
    • Also unlike Gaston, the main female protagonist does actually fall for Hans initially.
    • Coincidentally, both were also of noble birth at some point during development (Hans was a prince in the final film, while Gaston was initially intended to be a Marquess in the original 1989 script.).
  • Gaston is very similar to Titanic villain Cal Hockley. Both men live in time periods where women were forbidden to choose who they wanted to marry (and were treated as property by their husbands shortly after the wedding commenced), are snobbish and conceited, are handsome, and each have a love rival (in Cal's case Jack Dawson, while Gaston's rival was Beast). Both men (especially Cal) turn against the main female character of their respective films (in Cal's case he frightens Rose into subservience, and in Gaston's case he pressures Belle into marrying him by attempting to imprison her father), have a sidekick (in Cal's case Lovejoy and Gaston's is LeFou). However unlike Gaston who found Belle attractive Cal only chose to marry Rose as she and her mother were in debt. Also Cal doesn't die unlike Gaston though technically he dies off-scene as the old Rose claimed he killed himself due to the Great Depression.
  • Gaston's younger appearance, particularly in terms of hairstyle, has some resemblance to Dr. Drakken.
  • Although no character like Gaston originated in the original tale, the name itself was originally used in the first known tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the original author of the fairy tale, and was a reference to "Gaston Phoebus", full name "Gaston III de Foix-Béarn" and also known as "Comte de Foix." Similar to Gaston in the Disney version, Gaston Phoebus was also a renowned and expert hunter, and was even used as a book-reference to the book "The Art of Hunting."
  • Rupert Everett was a considered choice for the voice of Gaston, but was turned down because he didn't sound "arrogant enough." Everett eventually made sure to sound as arrogant as possible when voicing Prince Charming in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, who was coincidentally very similar to Gaston (although his motives are closer to Hans).
  • According to the creators, Gaston's primary colors were red to symbolize evil to contrast with Belle and Beast's blue. Despite this, however, there were various characters who wore red in the movie without being evil, including Sultan, Claudia, and even Belle herself.
    • Ironically, in the film's original screenplay, Gaston actually was shown wearing blue.
  • In the Disney cruise line show Villains Tonight, Hades mentions Gaston and compares him to actor Charlie Sheen.
  • Gaston is similar to Jafar. They both are the main antagonist of the first film in their franchise and males. The first films of both of their franchises are part of the Disney Animated Features Cannon, had music composed by Alan Menken, were first released to theaters in November that happened on a Wednesday, first released onto VHS in October on Friday (Beauty and The Beast was released on October 30, 1992 while Aladdin was released on October 1, 1993 ) as part of the Walt Disney Classics line up (their tapes opened with the 1991 FbI Warning Screens, a behind the scenes trailer for the next movie in the Disney Animated Features Cannon (Beauty and the Beast: Aladdin, Aladdin: The Lion King (although Aladdin only had one theatrical preview for the behind the scenes look of The Lion King while Beauty and the Beast also contains another theatrical trailer for the cancelled 1993 re-release of Sleeping Beauty that never happened)), have a Pinocchio trailer for it's 1993 release (side note: middle copies of Beauty and the Beast don’t have the preview for Pinocchio at the beginning or at the end), 1992 Features Presentation logo, distorted 1992 Walt Disney Classics logo, 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo, and have a trailer for a movie part of the Disney Animated Features Cannon that is now available on video (Beauty And The Beast: One Hundred And One Dalmatians, Aladdin: Pinocchio)), never made it into the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection or the Gold Classic Collection, released to DVD as a Special Edition for the first time on the fourth to last Tuesday of October as part of the Platinum Editions (Beauty and The Beast was released on October 8, 2002 while Aladdin was released on October 5, 2004), and released on Tuesday October 5 (Beauty and The Beast was released in 2010 while Aladdin was released in 2004). The behind the scenes trailers for both of the first films in their franchise are seen on the first video release for the previous film released in the Disney Features Cannon (Beauty and the Beast: The Rescuers Down Under, Aladdin: Beauty and the Beast). They appear Disney Princess/Prince villains and have black hair. Both have a sidekick who is short and obese (Lefou for Gaston, Gazeem and later Abis Mal for Jafar) and have minions unaware of his true nature (Villagers and Tavern Men for Gaston, Razoul and Royal Guards for Jafar). Their minions are reformed in the next movie of their franchise (Villagers for Gaston (Lefou in the live action remake), Iago for Jafar). Also, both are obsessed with marrying the female main character (Gaston: Belle, Jafar: Jasmine). Also, they failed to kill the male protagonists whose real names start with A (Gaston: Prince Adam (Beast), Jafar: Aladdin). They both ride a horse. Both of them sing 2 songs (Gaston: song of his name and Mob Song, Jafar: Prince Ali (reprise) and You're Only Second Rate). Also, both imprisoned the female protagonist and her father (Maurice for Belle, Sultan Hamed for Jasmine). They have red clothing in contrast to the clothing of the female protagonist (who wears blue) and wear black also. However, Gaston is less evil and dark than Jafar.
  • As well as Jafar, he is also similar to Scar. The first films of both of their franchises were produced by Don Hahn, part of the Disney Animated Features Cannon, first released to video on Friday during the next year (Beauty and the Beast was released on October 30, 1992 while The Lion King was released on March 3, 1995), never made it into the Gold Classic Collection, released to IMAX theaters in 2002, released on the fourth to last Tuesday of October (Beauty and the Beast was released on October 8, 2002 while The Lion King was released on October 7, 2003) and released to Blueray for the first time on the first Tuesday of October in the next eight years as part of the Diamond Editions (Beauty and The Beast was released on October 5, 2010 while The Lion King was released on October 4, 2011). Both behind scenes trailers for the first films in their franchise appeared on the first video release of the previous movie to be released in the Disney Animated Features Cannon (Beauty and The Beast: The Rescuers Down Under, The Lion King: Aladdin). They both are the main antagonist of the first film in their franchise, males, and designed by Andreas Deja (he also shares this similarity with Jafar). They want to marry the female main character of the first of the first film of their franchise (Gaston: Belle, Scar: Nala). However Scar only wanted to marry Nala in a deleted scene. Both fail to kill the male protagonist of the first film in their franchise who is animal (Gaston: Beast, Scar: Simba). Also, they fall down and break their leg and get attacked by canines (Gaston by the wolves, Scar by the hyenas). However ever, Gaston only survived the fall and get attacked by the wolves in a deleted scene. However, Scar is more evil and darker than Gaston.
  • Gaston is actually based on Beauty and the Beast fairy tale somehow it appears to be Beauty's Brothers but in the film Gaston wants to marry Belle instead of the original story of Beauty and the Beast
  • Gaston is also appeared to be Belle's Sisters one of the tallest sister in fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. Because Beauty's Sisters remove to Gaston into Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Notes and references[]

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