Masculinity Theme

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Belle leaves and some other time continues until Gaston and Belle meet again. This is when Belle’s father leaves, gets lost, and then gets captured by the Beast. Back in the town, Gaston goes to propose to Belle. He still flirts with the three Silly Girls saying that he is just getting married. This shows how that he is the most masculine man in town, this will continue to be an important theme for Gaston during the “Gaston” song. Yet these ideals of masculinity continue to show in the song “Me,” which talks about the ideas of the social norms of the town and time period. Gaston starts, “You've been dreaming, just one dream nearly all your life, hoping, scheming, just one theme: Will you be a wife?” (Trousdale 1991). This really shows how Gaston…show more content…
Closer to the end, in the song ‘Gaston’, his masculinity is examined. He is showed as the most powerful and masculine man in the movie. Lefou, his unintelligent sidekick sings, “Ev'ry guy here'd love to be you, Gaston. Even when taking your lumps. There's no man in town as admired as you. You're ev'ryone's favorite guy. Ev'ryone's awed and inspired by you. And it's not very hard to see why” (Trousdale 1991). Lefou continues to talk about the masculine things that Gaston does, like hunting, which show the form of masculinity Gaston possesses. Disney uses Gaston to make the audience think that Belle is a feminist. She sees right through him and asserts what people think is her independent. Belle has a really interesting reaction to Gaston. Unlike all of the Silly girls, she is not infatuated with him. She sees through his popularity and sees him as what her really is, a beast. She sings, “Madame Gaston Can't you just see it? Madame Gaston, his little wife No Sir, not me, I guarantee it,” (Trousdale 1991). This really shows how independent she is because she does not want to marry Gaston, the most eligible bachelor. Even throughout the “Me” song in the stage form she acts like she is trying to leave but he keeps pulling her back. This adds some comic relive to the character of Gaston. Gaston is also very funny, but Belle adds to that humor. The fact that she has rejected him countless times shows that she is hurting his ego, which harms his own masculinity. Gaston wants her to be the same like the Silly Girls who are falling all over him. Gaston’s masculinity shows what Disney wants society to look like, yet it helps create the illusion of a main character who is feminist. Gaston is very different then the Beast in their masculinity which shows that it can be a spectrum but Gaston is the ideal man in the story (Craven 2002:
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