What was the Gusteau thing that was following Remy throughout the film?
0 voters
What do you think the Gusteau thing was that Remy often hang out with?
I usually thought it was sort of his conscience, but after thinking about it, I’m terribly confused. 
What do you think?
Aren’t Remy’s hallucination and Remy’s imaginary friend the same thing? 
Or, I guess hallucination would imply that Remy could actually see Gusteau before his eyes, almost believing that he was real, whilst being his imaginary friend would mean that we, as viewers, wouldn’t be able to see Gusteau. But we wouldn’t be able to see him if he were a hallucination…
Either way, I went for hallucination. 
A113- Gusteau explains it himself, he’s a personification of Remy’s subconcious. Basically, everything Remy knows, his imaginary Gusteau knows. He acts as his concience to guide him in the right direction. Remy realizes Gusteau isn’t real on several occasions and finally realizes that everything Gusteau tells him, he already knows because Gusteau is a figment of Remy’s imagination.
What he said. ^^^
Pfft. I know Gusteau says that he is a figment of Remy’s imagination, in other words Remy is creative and crazy. I’m creative and crazy but not crazy enough to have a figment. And I believe in ghosts and it’s so much easier to think that it’s Gusteau’s ghost so … yeah, that’s what it is to me.
I know Gusteau explains it but really it could be whatever you want it to be.
Maybe Remy could see Gusteau in front of his eyes so we as the audience could see him? Something wouldn’t be right if we just heard Gusteau’s voice booming around the theater, wouldn’t you think?
It’s a cross between conscience and imaginary friend, but I voted imaginary friend - after all, according to Remy, he pretends he exists so he can talk to him and only first shows up when Remy’s lonely. But it works either way. 
lizardgirl: A hallucination happens when you go insane. An imaginary friend happens when you want to go insane.
Martin: Uh…but what type of figment of his imagination? It looks like you said conscience, right?
JF: I don’t even understand what he said. XD
FONY: Thanks! 
CGI: Wow. 
I never thought of it that way before. I think you’re right! (I think…)
You know, I wish it was like that, but Brad had a story in mind and it is what it is, although you CAN have an opinion about it, but it wouldn’t change anything, would it?
A113- To clarify, Gusteau is a little bit of everything above, but the bottom line is, he’s not really there. He’s just Remy’s imagination that accompanies him (like an imaginary friend) and gives him advice (like a concience), but whatever he knows Remy knows, because it’s not the REAL Gusteau. Imaginary Gusteau doesn’t even know that Chef Gusteau died until Remy found out. The only reason we see him is because where watching in Remy’s perspective.
Recap:
martini833: You have a point, but then again, they wouldn’t say it was a ghost due to beliefs. I mean come on- they banned Casper because it was against some faith or another. I think they didn’t make it his ghost as not to impose on beliefs, because if it was his ghost, it would’ve been likely to have been banned.
And I know it’s in the storyline but we are entitled to our own opinions and stories can be percieved in certain ways. 
Martin: Oh! I see! 
FONY: Oh! I see!
XD
What that Gusteau is is more of “Remy’s Assurance”. The “loss” of his family and overall depressed states (cage), manifests itself as Guesteau. It’s basically Remy’s confidence. A reminder. Like Remy says, this Gusteau knows what he knows, in such it can remind Remy in times of the actions Remy himself THINKS he SHOULD do.
Take for instance the first appearence. Remy KNOWS he has to find out where he is, but he doesn’t commit to it. His more inner curiosity and brave self, hiding then at the time, manifests as Gusteau to be a sort of right hand, one to push him in the right direction, someone who can assure him.
Actually if we all had more of those, we would have a better world heh heh
[quote=“A113”]
lizardgirl: A hallucination happens when you go insane. An imaginary friend happens when you want to go insane.
And who says Remy wasn’t insane?
I never said he wasn’t. xDDD
You’re right, he was a bit insane there.
In Brad Bird’s script, he calls it a “sprite”.
I voted for “Remy’s Conscience”, and for a good reason…
The transparent form of famed (and since deceased) French chef Auguste Gusteau was, according to himself, a “figment of your (Remy’s) imagination”, implying that he was an imaginary figure from Remy’s perspective. An imaginary figure is usually an invisible character that can only be seen via a first-person view; in other words, only the “imaginer” of the figure can see that entity.
A hallucination, on the other hand, is, as described by Wiktionary, this:
“A sensory perception of something that does not exist, arising from disorder of the nervous system, as in delirium tremens; a delusion.”
A “delirium tremens” is, in turn, this (as described by Wiktionary):
“(pathology) A psychosis of chronic alcoholism, usually due to alcohol withdrawal, which can be fatal. Symptoms include sweating, tremors, terrifying hallucinations, insomnia, restlessness, disorientation and anxiety.”
(I highly doubt that Remy was a hard-core alcoholic, unless he had serious brain damage that remains unbeknownst to us to this day…)
A hallucination, therefore, is fairly similar to that of an “imaginary friend” in that only the individual who is hallucinating can observe the entities he/she visualizes.
Judging by the fact that we can all see Gusteau, we naturally assume that he must be a ghost or spirit of some sort. One of you guys mentioned that Brad Bird stated that Gusteau is depicted as a “sprite”, which could, I suppose, be classified as a spirit or soul of some sort. Then again, just because the audience can see Gusteau doesn’t mean that he is really there. The director (and other individuals, perhaps) probably decided to put him in for obvious reasons, the foremost being believability and emphasis. By enabling us to see Gusteau, we are led to believe that Remy is not simply crazy, even though he really is, in reality, conversing with thin air.
The reason I say that Gusteau is Remy’s conscience is because, for one thing, it becomes fairly apparent (near the end of the film and even throughout) that Remy is simply talking to himself, thus boosting his confidence by way of thinking what to do next via listening to his “conscience”.
The term “conscience” is further defined by Wiktionary here:
“A person’s moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects their own behaviour.”
This does seem to apply to the “imaginary Gusteau” on many levels, and this is especially emphasized near the climax of the film… when Gusteau and Remy converse in the cage…
“I pretend you exist so I have someone to talk to. You only tell me stuff I already know! I know who I am! Why do I need you to tell me?! Why do I need to pretend?!!” - Remy
“Oh, but you don’t, Remy. You never did…” - Gusteau
So, in a nutshell, Remy was talking to himself and building himself up throughout the film the entire time. He just didn’t realize exactly how knowledgeable he really was until that crucial moment in the film.
[/geek alert]
Disclaimer: All excerpts/quotations were obtained via www.wiktionary.com.
– Mitch
looks at Mitch’s post
Guess I should had read before performing the deed… (alright, bad rhyming, but whatever).
I myself voted for Remy’s Imaginary Friend, for I, before understanding Mitch’s geek speak (which most of you probably understand more than I do as I’m only a teenager), assume Gusteau to be just “a fragment of Remy’s imagination,” like what the master chef himself implicated. Scientifically speaking, I would be correct.
The only reason we saw Gusteau was probably because the film maker wanted to let us see that Gusteau was visible to Remy. If you would to implicate that all of us would be able to see Gusteau because he’s generally visible, then wouldn’t Gusteau be visible to all? The surrounding chefs, Linguini, Colette, etc., all of them wouldn’t have seen Remy talking to himself (not that I remember if they did, just putting a theory), but they would have seen Remy speaking to a floating spec of Gusteau (if that expression is even considered to be correct). So in conclusion, Remy was the only being capable of seeing Gusteau because he’s simply, as the plump chef himself put it, “a fragment of [Remy’s] imagination.”
In other words, Gusteau is simply an imaginary friend, as we all know, imaginary friends only know what you know.
“You only tell me stuff I already know!”
~ WBoon
I love reading your posts, Mitch. You make everythng seem so simple, and yet, so complicated.
I’m a simple adolescent myself, but I have a special fondness for Ratatouille that probably surpasses the area of comprehension. (heh)
To clarify the whole “the-audience-can-see-Gusteau-so-therefore-everyone-else-should-be-able-to-as-well” statement: What I meant by that is that we, as the audience, are “meant” to see Gusteau so as we can sympathize with Remy’s character more. Just because we can see Gusteau doesn’t mean that everyone in Remy’s universe can (i.e., Linguini, Colette, Emile, etc…). And even if anyone else in the world in which Remy resides in could have been able to see Gusteau we’d never know, as the only time that Gusteau appeared to Remy was when he was alone.
In a sense, Gusteau is an imaginary friend, a hallucination, and Remy’s conscience all in one (probably more of a mix between the first and last aspects than anything else). As you mentioned, you are scientifically correct in stating that Gusteau was an imaginary figure, but, hypothetically speaking, he is really Remy’s conscience on more levels than one. Also, like you stated, imaginary friends only tell you what you already know, so you’re really talking to yourself; but, then again, so does your conscience, so it works either way.
It’s all very complicated, when one ponders the facts, but I guess that some things are better left unexplained. (snigger)
A113 - Ha-ha. That’s my job! Thanks.
– Mitch
If it is only supposed to be Remy who is able to see Gusteau, then it wouldn’t be too surprising that we’d be able to see him, since the film takes place mostly from Remy’s point of view, I think.
Mitch: 
actually, it’s figment, not fragment
Well I think Gusteau’s Ghost is Remy’s Imaginary Friend. So i was at a toss-up between the two. I dont think of him as Remy’s conscience, because he didnt act like one, he just gave advice sometimes. And I dont see him as a hallucination, because that would imply that Remy thinks he’s real, which Remy knows he is not.