Question: Why does everyone love Gaston? I can kinda see why from his looks/biceps but is there another reason why they love him so much?
lionhead
3rd Jun 2015
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Answer: I get the impression that Gaston comes from a family with some amount of wealth and social status - maybe not royalty, but perhaps more wealth and status than most people in the town have. Also, despite being vain and arrogant, he is bold and somewhat cunning. Many people like to latch on to a "leader" type.
10th Feb 2020
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Question: Gaston sings that he ate eggs to help him get large. Why didn't he say meat? Was he vegetarian? Was Disney deliberately supporting vegetarianism/respecting vegetarians? Are there any historical circumstances that I'm not aware of? Or am I just overanalyzing this matter?
Answer: Eggs are full of protein. Eating a lot of eggs is an excellent way to bulk up and build muscle mass.
Eggs are not good for you if you eat too many of them.
To quote Stephen Fry: "Well of course too much is bad for you, that's what "too much" means. If you had too much water it would be bad for you, wouldn't it? "Too much" precisely means that quantity which is excessive, that's what it means. Could you ever say "too much water is good for you"? I mean if it's too much it's too much. Too much of anything is too much. Obviously." That aside, while it used to be believed that the cholesterol content of eggs was a health risk, more recent studies have shown that dietary cholesterol doesn't affect blood cholesterol levels for most people. As such there's no real maximum limit on egg consumption beyond the aforementioned "too much of anything is too much".
I don't think Gaston cares much about his cholesterol.
They didn't even know the word.
Answer: While I was waiting for this question to be accepted, I found the answer to one of my questions myself. Gaston is indeed not vegetarian, considering he mentions his hunting trophies during the aforementioned song and earlier in the movie, he tells Belle to imagine him roasting his kill on the fire place.
Answer: I would say he was admired rather than loved and for very superficial reasons. He is young, handsome, manly, and extroverted. People often admire and wish for those traits. They project other non-existent qualities onto such a person while blind to their flaws. In Gaston's case, he is arrogant and self-absorbed. It is very typical of our society to celebrate people for their physical attributes, even though they may lack integrity in other areas of their lives.
raywest ★
I'd have to disagree. The film takes place in the 1790s to early 1800s if you ignore the Eiffel tower in Be Our Guest. So not long after the revolution at all. The peasantry was suffering quite a bit of food insecurity, which we see reflected in the opening song, (the eggs are too expensive, the bread is stale, etc.) Gaston is a hunter, and he's able to provide for his village which might otherwise have suffered a bit. I'd argue that his super-inflated ego may be a result of the praise he rightly earned.
The original story of Beauty and the Beast was published in 1740 and a lengthier version in 1756. So it takes place way before the revolution during the reign of Louis XV.
lionhead