#charts

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[firawren]

I have been summoned—the mutual who knows that it was a heinous sin for a prince to condemn one of his innocent subjects to a painful death!

OP, your post is over 7 years old, so I don't know if you hold the same opinions now, but I would like to respond to it regardless, because it reflects a criticism I've seen others level at the film.

Also, I'd had an idea for some nerdy charts I wanted to make for a while, and this was the perfect excuse to finally make them!

Before I get to the charts, though, we have to clear up the philosophical point about whether anyone "deserves" redemption or if it must be earned. My viewpoint is that everyone deserves love and everyone is capable of redemption, but it is up to them to make choices to achieve it rather than being entitled to it.

I agree with you, OP, that someone's circumstances make it easier or harder for them to make choices that lead to redemption—that's just life—and that Gaston is surrounded by enablers of his bad behavior.

However, Beast is surrounded by enablers too, as Windy pointed out. His servants do encourage him to be kind to Belle and occasionally criticize his poor behavior, but they don't call him out on kidnapping Maurice—how could they, he's their boss and ruler, it is literally their job to enable him! And they actively help him with his kidnapping of Belle. Lumiere happily, sneakily leads Belle to Maurice when he's locked up so that she'll run into Beast and not just leave, Mrs. Potts dismisses Belle's concerns about being trapped in the castle, all of the servants get super upset to learn that Beast let Belle go, and so on. They are very pro-keep-Belle-prisoner. They are totally his willing accomplices on what you yourself, OP, seem to think is Beast's biggest sin.

(Side note: Is she a prisoner though? OP, you said "But the only reason why Belle was with Beast is that she couldn’t leave," yet she literally can and does leave twice, and then comes back voluntarily twice. But I get the point—it's unethical for Beast to take her deal, regardless of whether he enforces it. Let's move on.)

Going back to Gaston being surrounded by enablers, we don't know how much that itself was a choice on his part that he has cultivated over the years. It's very unlikely that they all loved him since the time he was a baby—he wasn't assigned servants to dote on him as the Prince was. He had to make his own friends just like any normal person, and these are the ones he picked. Most likely, Gaston did things over the course of his life to gain others' attention and admiration in whatever ways were easiest, and once he saw how good it felt, always sought more and more and more. He most likely chose to surround himself with enablers and cut out people and viewpoints that were critical of him.

Because you missed the core difference between him and Beast, OP: his ego. Gaston loves himself above all others, and Beast hates himself above all others. Gaston's ego leads him to make choices that doom him.

So here's the charts, showing how bad each guy's behavior is and how bad the stuff that happens to them is:

You can niggle with me over the exact placement of certain dots, but the overall conclusions to gather from these charts are this:

Prince/Beast had a much deeper hole to dig himself out of in terms of how shitty he was. His sins were much bigger than Gaston's in the first act of the film, making redemption harder for him, and his options were much more limited being trapped in one place with one set of people. Yet he did it.

Bad stuff happened to Beast when he chose to do bad stuff. Good stuff didn't start happening to him until after he started behaving well, and Belle doesn't love him until he undoes his earlier sins. He was not "rewarded...for holding a woman hostage." He's punished by a wolf attack for that bit! The curse can canonically only break when he "earns her love in return"—earns. He does earn it through selfless behavior.

Just like Beast, bad stuff happened to Gaston when he chose to do bad stuff. His consequences are linked to his actions. This is fair.

Gaston does have an opportunity to change—that pink dot in the top right corner. He is shown mercy by Beast. He's treated with kindness he doesn't deserve. That's his chance. That's his moment.

He blows it.

He chooses evil all on his own in that moment.

And that's why he dies.

He has earned his punishment, just as Beast has earned his reward by doing the literal exact opposite of Gaston's choice.

(Another side note: Isn't the parallel at the end so beautiful: Gaston's best consequence is followed by the worst behavior in his life, while Beast's best behavior is followed by the worst consequence in his life? Perfection. God I love this movie.)

Now, if we shift this conversation away from does Gaston deserve redemption to is he capable of redemption—of course he is! I have written two separate longfics (here and here) where I redeem him and give him a happily ever after with a loving spouse/partner, and I enjoy reading others' stories where he's redeemed. Redemption and change are beautiful—that's why I love Beauty and the Beast! I love that path for Gaston too, in another universe.

Narratively and thematically, it doesn't make sense to redeem him in canon, since he's the needed foil to Beast in that story. The point is to see what could have happened to Beast had he made worse choices. I do enjoy Gaston as an out-and-out villain too. A good villain is fun and satisfying. But it's still sad and tragic to me that he chooses that path when he had the opportunity for redemption.

Gaston deserved redemption tbh.

He had the same character flaws as Beast. In fact, the movie paints comparisons between them. The only two differences is that Beast was unpopular while Gaston wasn’t and that Belle was with Beast to reform him, while Gaston was surrounded by enablers like LeFou.

But the only reason why Belle was with Beast is that she couldn’t leave. So, in the end, Beast is rewarded with true love and his curse breaking for holding a woman hostage. While Gaston was rewarded with death because he never had the opportunities to change.

And really, the true villain of the story is the Enchantress who decided to curse an 11 year old orphan prince for not letting a strange woman into his house in the middle of the night.

[charl0ttan]

yearly chart apropos of nothinggggggg

youll notice i like to keep the albums together in a big square so we can look at them. if u talk about the two blood sugar sex magics ill kill us both🫵

[coolnessgraphed]

[tswiftupdatess]

Taylor Swift becomes the first female artist in history to surpass 100 BILLION total streams on Spotify!

(February 25, 2025)

[courtingwonder]

Guide For The Geological Time Periods In Order

[folklorefearlessts]

I can do it with a broken heart 🌚❤️

[nemfrog]

Geologic Time Chart. Guide for beginning fossil hunters. 1959.

Internet Archive

[paranormalbees]

Sonic Movie Robotnik Face Chart

as a follow up to my Stone face chart! I know some other ppl will get use from it so thought I should post these too! :3

[vforvalensa]

I have been working on a schema for understanding vampires

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[evermoredeluxe]

we love to see it 🫶🥹

[coolnessgraphed]

[tswiftupdatess]

Taylor Swift's entire catalogue is charting on the US iTunes Top 100 following her masters announcement:

#1 reputation

#3 Taylor Swift

#18 Speak Now

#19 1989

#29 Red

#40 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

#41 Lover

#46 evermore

#50 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

#51 Midnights

#54 folklore

#61 Red (Taylor’s Version)

#68 Fearless

#75 Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

#94 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

(May 31, 2025)