If Gaston hadn't given up partway and decided to tie Maurice to the tree, what do you think would have happened? Would they have been outnumbered and beaten by the castle inhabitants? If so, do you think would Gaston and Lefou be imprisoned or killed? What if Gaston did kill the Beast and "save" Belle? Would she have been more willing to marry him, or even more repulsed?
Interesting to think about.
I think if they'd made it all the way to the castle, Lumiere and the rest of the enchanted objects would have colluded to keep them from reaching Belle. She would have found out they were there at some point, of course, and then she would have faced the same choice she does in the movie: does she leave with Gaston and Maurice, or stay with the beast?
Since we know that she doesn't want to marry Gaston, and Maurice is against it too, I suspect Maurice would have whispered to her to remain in the castle to keep her away from Gaston. So, Gaston would have been rejected again, and probably returned to the village (maybe stealing the mirror) and created the 'kill the beast' scenario at that point.
Hmmm. Interesting points.
It would have been hilarious to have Gaston be beaten and humiliated, then have the need to ask the villagers for reinforcements. Perhaps the Gaston song would be moved up to after that point, then shift directly into the mob song? I doubt he would have been able to steal the mirror, though. 🤔
And if Gaston didn't have proof, the villagers would probably have been less likely to follow him. That might make him snap and start threatening them or something.
Belle was never going to marry Gaston. He could've met the Beast and become his best friend, and Belle still wouldn't have married him - she seemed repulsed by him for no apparent reason regardless of his actions.
I think for the same reasons she found him disgusting in the animated version. He says in the film that 'he's changed' and she seemed cynical, so my guess is that he was a jerk and a bully all along. However the film didn't show it as much as the cartoon, I'm guessing because they wanted to make him turning on Maurice a shock.
shareI understand what you're saying. But I don't think the movie showed that he was a bully at all until the moment with Maurice. Before he tied him up, he was searching the forest for, presumably, hours trying to find and rescue Belle. That's not an evil character trait. Nothing he does is villainous up to that point. It isn't a shock - it's terrible writing or editing.
shareI agree. In the animated version it's obvious from the opening number why Belle wouldn't want Gaston - he kills defenseless animals, is obviously arrogant and vain, and their first exchange includes him openly disparaging her reading and thinking.
In the live version, none of that exists. Belle not only rejects him, but is outright rude to him in their encounter, for no obvious reason. Yeah, he's a bit of a lunkhead, so what? We aren't shown any apparent reason why she would refuse to even CONSIDER having dinner with him (even shaking her head as she walks away as if to say 'What an idiot, thinking HE could have dinner with a person as awesome as ME!'). Actually it's Belle who comes across as patronizing and cold, while Gaston just comes across as charmingly inept.
Why? I have no idea. My guess is that Disney knew Luke Evans had a fan base and didn't want to make Gaston the obvious horrible person he is in the animated version. His villainy doesn't even really appear until he makes the (completely baffling) decision to tie Belle's father to a tree so he'd be eaten by wolves and then Belle would be all alone and HAVE to marry Gaston. Gee, Gaston, that's sure to work - any girl would be happy to marry the man who murdered her father! I mean seriously, what the heck kind of writing IS that???
Anyway, the result of the watering down of Gaston's villainy is obvious: there are TONS of Gaston fangirls out there, swooning over how dreamy Gaston is and hating how mean Belle is to him. That Gaston tried to kill Beast goes right over their heads; they don't see him as a bad character at all. That NEVER happened with animated Gaston. Everybody hated him and understood why he was so ugly, even thought he was handsome.
Not so now. Go to Tumblr and you'll see lots of "Gaston's not bad, he's just misunderstood!" threads. It's a little disturbing, that young girls are finding Gaston attractive, but there you are.
That's probably the most annoying aspect of this remake. In the live-action version, Gaston actually compliments the book Belle is reading instead of disparaging it. Honestly, Belle comes off as a snob in this version.
shareIt's kind of a weird consequence - all these people who now like Gaston. I didn't even think it was possible to like him, but that's what changing a character does. It's just odd that they would sacrifice their main character, Belle, in order to make him seem less of a jerk when that's his role in the movie, but I think the biggest fangirls of all here are the director/s and writer/s, who love Luke Evans maybe a little too much.
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