A brief diatribe
Aug. 2nd, 2008 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilI like musicals. I really do. When they're good. But when they're lousy, they really irritate me. The kind of lousiness that irritates me the most is an appallingly bad story that's white-washed with a bunch of feel-good, vapid songs. These are the sort of stories that, without the musical aspect to disguise their lousiness, would be full of holes and underdeveloped at best, and at worst, altogether bleak. Several Rogers and Hammerstein musicals come to mind. They've been around for a while, and they have bouncy, easy-going songs, so people tend to think they're great classics. But that's not nearly enough to blind me to the dreadful stories. The most wretched one in my view is Carousel, a tale of domestic abuse, deceit and death. Whee! It's fun! It actually presents the idea that a physical attack can feel like a caress. Hmm...I believe that's called ennabling, isn't it? But slap a few songs on it, and it's a happy story. Blech. I was interested to learn that the story upon which the musical was based ends with the abusive man, now dead, going off the hell. Yikes. It's not that I'd necessarily prefer the bleak ending; it's just that if you're going to change the ending, you have to change something else about the story along the way. Otherwise, it's tacked on without anything to back it up.
Same with My Fair Lady. In Pygmalion, Shaw's play, Eliza leaves Henry at the end, and rightly so. She would be miserable with him. But they couldn't have that in a musical; it had to be sweepingly romantic even with two thoroughly mismatched characters. The adaptation doesn't change Henry's behavior throughout the play to anticipate the altered ending; he's still a jerk to her, unappreciative, degrading, downright verbally and emotionally abusive. And yet we're supposed to believe, because he's sung a song or two about his growing feelings for her, that everthing's going to be different? He gives no real indication of that. So what if he's fallen in love with her? That's not enough to change him. He's still an arrogant punk, and she deserves better. It's playing on the entirely false notion that if a jerky man falls hard enough for the right woman, he'll change his ways and be kind and wonderful and perfect. That's garbage. I could write a whole separate rant about that....but anyway, a few songs don't convince me that there's anything happy about such a fabricated pairing at the end of that musical.
I haven't seen Mamma Mia (oh, sorry, forgot the obligatory exclamation point ;P) on stage or on screen, so I can't fully judge it. It looks bouncy and fun. It also looks like the sort of story that makes me want to poke out my eyes. So this girl has never had a father, has no idea who sired her, decides to find out in time for her wedding (because that's the only real purpose of a father, to walk you down the aisle ???) and....the hilarity ensues? Right, because dsyfunctional family relationships are always such a blast!! I may vomit. But don't worry, there's lots of ABBA songs to help you along through the murky, half-baked storyline! Please.
I must emphasize again that I like musicals. Good musicals. For example, Les Misérables has both an excellent story and fantastic songs; it's entertaining, moving and intelligent. (Much better than the movie adaptation of the novel - yech!) It doesn't use fun songs as a way to cover up plot holes or character inconsistencies or general lousiness. Children of Eden is another one of my favorites. Mind you, it has some pretty bizzare theology, but as a tale of parents and children, of generational strife and redemption, it's great. The songs are a part of the story, not a cover-up. I could name more, but my point is, I find lousy musicals all the more annoying because I know it doesn't have to be that way. They can be good; they can be great. Having the ability to keep the audience's feet tapping is not enough for me, because I know a musical can do more than that.
Same with My Fair Lady. In Pygmalion, Shaw's play, Eliza leaves Henry at the end, and rightly so. She would be miserable with him. But they couldn't have that in a musical; it had to be sweepingly romantic even with two thoroughly mismatched characters. The adaptation doesn't change Henry's behavior throughout the play to anticipate the altered ending; he's still a jerk to her, unappreciative, degrading, downright verbally and emotionally abusive. And yet we're supposed to believe, because he's sung a song or two about his growing feelings for her, that everthing's going to be different? He gives no real indication of that. So what if he's fallen in love with her? That's not enough to change him. He's still an arrogant punk, and she deserves better. It's playing on the entirely false notion that if a jerky man falls hard enough for the right woman, he'll change his ways and be kind and wonderful and perfect. That's garbage. I could write a whole separate rant about that....but anyway, a few songs don't convince me that there's anything happy about such a fabricated pairing at the end of that musical.
I haven't seen Mamma Mia (oh, sorry, forgot the obligatory exclamation point ;P) on stage or on screen, so I can't fully judge it. It looks bouncy and fun. It also looks like the sort of story that makes me want to poke out my eyes. So this girl has never had a father, has no idea who sired her, decides to find out in time for her wedding (because that's the only real purpose of a father, to walk you down the aisle ???) and....the hilarity ensues? Right, because dsyfunctional family relationships are always such a blast!! I may vomit. But don't worry, there's lots of ABBA songs to help you along through the murky, half-baked storyline! Please.
I must emphasize again that I like musicals. Good musicals. For example, Les Misérables has both an excellent story and fantastic songs; it's entertaining, moving and intelligent. (Much better than the movie adaptation of the novel - yech!) It doesn't use fun songs as a way to cover up plot holes or character inconsistencies or general lousiness. Children of Eden is another one of my favorites. Mind you, it has some pretty bizzare theology, but as a tale of parents and children, of generational strife and redemption, it's great. The songs are a part of the story, not a cover-up. I could name more, but my point is, I find lousy musicals all the more annoying because I know it doesn't have to be that way. They can be good; they can be great. Having the ability to keep the audience's feet tapping is not enough for me, because I know a musical can do more than that.
