Yep , Gaston ’ s Gay 139
will be the townspeople ’ s combined massive ( hetero ? - ) phallus versus whatever the Beast can pull out in his defense . But the Beast is depressed . His plan to use Belle and break the curse is not working , and he is tired of living beyond the fray . As the townspeople beat down the doors with their pole , violating the Beast in a most intimate way , a hopeless Beast can only say “ Let them come .” Indeed , the climax is near .
Once inside , the villagers are confronted with their own homophobia , and they are quickly ( and comically ) defeated by their own intolerances . The castle staff , in a bit of guerrilla warfare , separates the villagers and deals with them alone and in small groups . Each staff member uses his or her own nature to construct the attack : Mrs . Potts leads a team of cups who pour hot water on the intruders ; Lumiere bums his oppressors ; the knives in the kitchen stand on guard , ready for slicing and chopping . Instead of retreating and pretending to be something they are not , the castle staffers for once embrace their identities — it is a refreshing thing to see . Ingeniously , the enchanted royal defenders use the villager ’ s homophobia against them at every turn , all while the song “ Be Our Guest ” is reprised , suggesting that it is a service for which the village men should one day thank them . One man is forced into the animate armoire and emerges dressed in women ’ s clothes and makeup . The thought of cross-dressing sends him running away in panic . 13 One particularly nasty villager turns the feather-duster / French-maid upside down and begins plucking out her feathers in an apparent hetero-rape metaphor . Lumiere saddles up behind the rapist , blows himself ( puffing air into his candlestick thumb ), and sends a shot of flames up the attacker ’ s rear end . Indeed , several of the village men are attacked “ from behind ,” getting their bottoms burned or kicked or poked . In perhaps the most meaningful of such scenes , Cogsworth slides down the banister toward an invader below , his scissors held out at crotch level , the sharpened point glistening as it heads toward the man ’ s backside . ( The camera even takes up the scissors-phallus ’ point of view during the scene !) The meaning of this moment is enhanced due to the fact that Cogsworth was the only member of the castle staff previously uncomfortable with the master ’ s way of life . Out of all the castle inhabitants , Cogsworth feared the Beast the most . He was uptight about any possible gay overtures , even embarrassingly and nervously chastising Maurice when the old man first stumbled into the castle , opened up Cogsworth ’ s glass pants / door , and fiddled with his long , swinging pendulum . That Cogsworth is now open to a little fiddling , a little anal poking , is an important moment in the film , though he still has reservations about Lumiere kissing him in the end . ( Lest it be thought that Cogsworth is the only hetero-staff member , Lumiere , clearly , chases after the sexy French maid as well . But there is something about Lumiere that assures us he happily can be “ lit at both ends .”) Unfortunately for Cogsworth , the recipient of his scissors attack is Lefou , who is startled but unsurprisingly unscathed . We see Lefou back in full force in the next scene , threatening the kitchen staff before finally running off for fear of too many