In Defense of Disney Villains #2

This is the second installment for my defense of Disney villains.

There is a consistent bias in Disney movies. Then hero/heroine's motivations are always presented as superior to those of the antagonist. They assume that the hero/heroine is justified in their actions, while at the same time completely failing to consider the motivations of the villain!

I will again attempt to present the motivations a Disney villain in a fair and unbiased manner.

Gaston: (Beauty and the Beast)- Just a romantic family man

Gaston had a simple dream. A wife. Children. Some pets. To fill France with beautiful people (now seriously, when is that a crime?). He had money, good genes, the respect of his peers; all that he had left to achieve was marriage to a beautiful woman.

This dream was crushed when the one woman he found truly beautiful turned him down flat. He tried everything he could think of to woo her, but she claimed that she would rather read her books and hope for "adventure."

Gaston's love for her was strong, and he refused to leave her to become a lonely spinster. He sought her out again, while at the same time offering to give her father the psychological assistance he so desperately needed. It was then that the sad truth was revealed: the woman he loved had succumb to the delusions which she had obviously inherited from her father. She was in love with an animal! He did what he knew he had to do in order to save her. He faced her delusions head on.

Gaston was no villain. He was man with simple desires who was willing to do all that was necessary to earn the love of a woman. And what spells love like whipping a village into a riotous frenzy and storming a castle in order to murder a creature who offers no resistance?