#holy cinematic parallels batman
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this has haunted me since the first time i watched the movie.
[ID: two clips from Nimona. In the first, from the knighting ceremony, Ambrosius turns to Ballister with a wink and says, "Here comes the woo." Then he walks forward, calls "Woo!" and the crowd echoes him. The video cuts to a scene from the flashback, where Gloreth throws a rock into a bucket, then gives herself a little "Woo!" of celebration. Nimona watches from the forest. End ID]
when we first see ambrosius do this, he's just the golden boy jock hyping up a crowd; fine, whatever.
the second time, it's with this little smirking comment to ballister and we realize that its part of his Brand, but we've also seen him constantly joking with and gently ribbing ballister to cheer him up so it feels like a sincere part of his Brand, him sharing his excitement because he knows it makes other people smile. it's self-aware but still feels genuine, like ambrosius is just this class-clown sort of person who likes acting a little silly to make people happy.
and then we get ambrosius cutting his boyfriend's arm off because he was trained to, hunting his best friend down because he's expected to. we see how he hides his mental anguish from the people around him, even the director who he seems to genuinely care about and who's offering to listen. we get him trying to arrest bal, really believinh he's a killer, at least in part because bal's consorting with a monster and ambrosius knows what he's supposed to think about monsters. we see him latch on to the first explanation he's told for the director's confession, because it means she's good and bal's good but misguided and the monster's evil, just like it's supposed to be.
and then we see gloreth do the woo, and it's nothing like when ambrosius does it-- she thinks she's entirely alone, she's just cheering for herself out of pure and childlike joy, because she is a child and she's having fun.
but think about how this little mannerism has to have been carried into gloreth's adulthood, how people must have latched onto it so that it got passed down through generations. how it's not only self-aware on ambrosius' part but a deliberate part of his image as the direct descendent of gloreth.
except that infectious cheerfulness is also how he acts with ballister in private, and the people-pleasing is so ingrained that he pauses a manhunt to sign autographs. he needs his boyfriend to tell people about his allergies. he always smells of lavender and he bleaches his hair blond.
and some of these aren't bad things! but it begs the question, how much of who ambrosius is-- not just how he presents, but his whole identity-- was constructed to fit the perfect golden boy image?
and how sad is it that the kingdom and its forces of tradition and conformity managed to twist even this little, kinda dorky expression of joy into something obligatory?
#nimona#nimona netflix#nimona movie#ambrosius goldenloin#gloreth#also i didn't include it bc i had an Artistic Vision#but the next shot of the first scene is bal looking at ambrosius all lovestruck from the lower lit area#exactly like nimona in the second clip#holy cinematic parallels batman#nimona spoilers
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StarKid and Musical Score #2
Pop culture parodies tread fine lines to avoid copyright violations, especially when it comes to music. Some go for a certain mood or genre to evoke the source. Holy Musical B@man! is a great example. Nick Gage and Scott Lamps used strictly synthesizer and an electronic drum kit. They made great use of the standard synthesizer sound, calling to mind ‘80s new wave electronic music; a darker electric guitar sound to capture the gritty Batman from The Dark Knight or The Killing Joke; and light and playful bell tones, representing the innocence of Robin or perhaps the campy silliness of the ‘60s Batman TV show.
When it’s a parody musical of a musical, the challenge is even greater. Enter Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.
There’s not a lot of interstitial music to set the scenes, but what little there is excels with capturing the mood, like the eerie strings and woodwinds coupled with sporadic percussion during Aladdin’s breakdown near the end. Instead, Twisted features a large number of songs to fill its 2.25 hour runtime, so I’m going to focus on the instrumentals of those for this post. The instrumentation for this show includes keyboard, drums, guitar/bass, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and alto/tenor saxophone. It’s a much bigger and more varied band than any StarKid show had before or since.
The endeavor that composer A.J. Holmes, accompanied by incredible lyricist Kaley McMahon, set out on was to evoke not only the source material, Disney’s Aladdin, but also other Disney movies of the same era and the Broadway musical Wicked. The Disney references are all over the place, including the Disney-fied StarKid logo. The latter was accomplished via the title (Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier vs. Wicked: The Untold Story of a Wicked Witch), the album cover, the method of role reversal (a villain posed as the hero of their own story), and even a direct reference to the book. But A.J., along with orchestrator Andrew Fox and music director Justin Fischer, took it a step further with several songs to give the audience a truly immersive and magical experience.
To keep it simple, I’m going to link each song--or most, as some I can’t quite figure out--to another Disney or Wicked song that A.J. was likely, or even obviously, taking influence from. The similarities are often in the instrumentation and tempo; chord progressions and adjacent melodies; or lyrics and character situations.
Not a song, but the opening music evokes the haunting strings and bells in the opening of Beauty and the Beast to a tee. Like...it’s a dead ringer, obviously in purpose.
“Dream a Little Harder”: An opening ensemble number like “Belle” from Beauty and The Beast. Introduces the protagonist and the surrounding characters with a sweet and tremulous flute at the beginning and bouncy strings throughout. Lyrics mirror each other, i.e. “Fuck you” = “Bonjour”...Nick’s favorite line, “Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!”...they all hate Ja’far vs. they all think Belle is weird. Belle is even part of the ensemble, telling Ja’far to keep his “fat face out of the mother fucking book”! It’s a pretty obvious comparison.
“I Steal Everything”: “One Jump Ahead” from Aladdin is the obvious parallel in orchestration, melody, tempo, lyrics, character situation...everything.
“Everything and More”: Again, an obvious parody of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Same gentle yet sweeping melody, same lilting tempo paired with vocals timid one moment and powerful the next, lyrics exploring desire for more.
“A Thousand and One Nights”: This one was a little harder, as really none of the Disney princesses have duets with their princes. But I think it pairs well with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, at least after Timon and Pumbaa have their moment! The back and forth between lovers talking to themselves about the other has a similar feel. Honestly, this song is pretty original and yet manages to evoke Disney love song perfectly without copying any. The gentle melody, sweeping yet sweet orchestration, and the dialogue really sell it. They knew it was the love song because they went ahead and parodied the cheesy pop covers that ‘90s Disney movies are known for with a true bop performed by Britney Coleman and Carlos Valdes.
“Orphaned at 33″: Perhaps the reprise of “One Jump Ahead”? It’s slower and more melancholy and has similar chord progression and crooning vocals. Maybe “Go the Distance” from Hercules? Both are songs of sadness and longing, but StarKid’s Aladdin is far more pathetic and creepy than Hercules. EDIT: “Proud of Your Boy”, which was cut from Aladdin and put in the stage show, is absolutely the reference here! Again, a song of sadness and longing and self-pity and lamentation of a bad childhood...and StarKid’s Aladdin is still more pathetic. Musical parallels: similar chord progressions, embellishments, instrumentation, time signature, tempo, etc.; starts with delicate notes and Aladdin just talking (this starts at 46 seconds in “Orphaned at 33″, after a prelude); lilting and tiptoeing melody in the middle (1:56 for “Orphaned”, 1:08 for “Proud”); powerful sustained vocals and sweeping winds and strings to finish. I know this song was in the back of my mind, but it just wasn’t coming to me. Thank you @hatchetfieldtheories and @melchron for helping me out!
“Happy Ending”: The last half, at 1:50, really reminds me of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, specifically at 5:15. The quiet and tense music make way for powerful vocals and are just waiting to burst forth for a showstopping ending. Both songs are also Act 1 closers. I can’t really place the rest of “Happy Ending”, but it all reminds me of Wicked with the powerful rock guitar and drums paired with cinematic strings. Plus, I always love when multiple melodies come together as reprises, most often as Act 1 closers!
“No One Remembers Achmed”: A sillier version of “Gaston” from Beauty and The Beast. The spurned villain’s cohorts are pumping him up and singing his praises! Both melodies are jaunty, though with different instrumentation...Twisted’s featuring sillier sound effects and goofy xylophone.
“Take Off Your Clothes”: A sexier version of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Slightly modified melody, and obviously the lyrics, but it’s exactly the same.
“The Power in Me”: A solemn and sweet farewell duet between friends like “For Good” from Wicked. The delicate woodwinds and strings sound similar to the gentle synth in “For Good”. Vocal performances are cautious and tender at first but quickly become strong and confident. “You are the power in me” and “I have been changed for good” follow almost the exact same rhythm.
The titular song has many facets, so I’ll detail them here:
Opening to 1:03 and 5:55 to the end = “No Good Deed” from Wicked, with the same intense strings and percussion. The whole situation and lyrics match, with both Ja’far and Elphaba deciding to just be antiheroes because no one sees them as heroes anyway. “I’ll be twisted, it’s my turn” matches “No good deed will I do ever again” and “I’m wicked through and through”.
1:10-2:06 = “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid...it’s Ursula, so of course...but also, the woodwinds and keyboard mimicking brass evoke the same bouncy yet menacing rhythm, akin to an evil polka.
2:07-2:50 = “Be Prepared” from The Lion King. Obviously, it’s Scar’s moment...but also, they have similar deep and primitive drums and woodwinds.
The rest of the songs (”Sands of Time”, “Golden Rule”, and “If I Believed”) I couldn’t really place, but they still evoke the source materials. “Golden Rule” has a classic musical theatre ensemble number feel, with fun strings and woodwinds and delightful choruses; the reprise turns it on its head with menacing piano and bass. “If I Believed” is another take on an “I want” song; the flute and cello pair very nicely together to support Dylan’s soulful voice.
My next post in this series will likely be about the Hatchetfield series: The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Black Friday, and Nightmare Time. There’s a lot in between, like the AVP Trilogy, ANI, and Starship, but the music for those stands out less to me. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, but I think that the score is not what makes them special. The Hatchetfield stuff, however...is intense.
Thanks for reading!
#starkid#rewatchers1000#twisted: the untold story of a royal vizier#holy musical b@man#disney#wicked#sk musical score
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Okay, wait. In “Northville High School” it says that Santa’s got ice in his veins, right? And in Rogues are we, Mr. Freeze has ice in veins. Using this information, I propose that Holy Musical Batman is the sequel to Santa Claus is Goin’ to High School, with Kris as Mr. Freeze
O h dear lord-
- Okay
- So are we gonna assume that Santa Clause is Going To High School is now a part of the DCEU (DC Entertainment Universe)?
- Because tbh that's believable
- I'm not even being sarcastic
- Have you watched Wonder Woman 1984?
- Santa Clause Is Going To High School may just be more watchable
- Anyways moving on
- So if we're going with this theory, HMB would be a cinematic sequel to it
- So within Hatchetverse it would exist as a movie
- Maybe released in something like 2021? THree years after the release of Santa Clause is Going to High School (2018)
- And It would be sort of like a Justice League thing
- Where they're trying to tie in all their franchises
- Wonder Woman? Check! Batman? Check! Santa Clause? Check!
- I'd be interested in seeing the transformation arc from Criss Kringle to Mr. Freeze.
- It would be intriguing to see how he went from Father Christmas to a DC villain lol
- Everyone is just so confused.
- The HMB movie probably gets banned because too many parents complained that it ruined Santa for their kids.
I love this lyric parallel, but unlike the Watchers With A Thousand Eyes line in TTO I don't think this one was intentional-
#holy musical b@man#black friday#santa claus is going to high school#nightmare time#tgwdlm#criss kringle#mr. freeze#hatchetfield#hatchetverse#starkid#headcanon#send more!
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My thoughts during the final fight (Tommy’s POV)
TOMMY STOP YOURE NOT GONNA DIE AHH
Oh god what if tubbo dies and Tommy doesn’t D:
OH MY GOD WAIT Theseus was thrown off a cliff and the fight is on a mountain
NONONONONONONOTUBBO NO NO BBY PLEASE THE DISKS ARENT WORTH YOUR LIFE
fuck you dream. Fuck. You. I do think you’re an idiot. Leave the traumatized children alone. DID HE JUST CALL THEM FOOD ASKFGDJ
Nonono not the hole I’m D:
Oh he’s just trying to protect his best friend I’m gonna cry
No tubbo.... don’t give up
HAHA DREAM HAS A HOME WTF???
Oh shut up about attachment dream. Shush. I’m gonna do crime. You will be the victim.
Damn looks like that one very specific character analysis was right, dream did go crazy cause of his attachments OH AND HE JUST SAID A LINE FROM THAT ANALYSIS W O W
OH HES SMART FUCK
Leave ranboos pets out of this
WHY IS THERE A CAGE FOR SKEPPY ASKSHAFSDHSGAD
NO HES GOT HENRY AND FRIEND??? D:
THIS IS WHAT PANDORAS VAULT WAS FOR I FUCKIN KNEW IT
Tommy, honey, life isn’t fair
Tubbo why was the lego Batman reference necessary
Oh no. Oh no
WHO WAS IT MEANT FOR ORIGINALLY DREAM???
Yes swearing will fix it
He’s so fucking creepy DREAM STOP
NO PLEASE
Do NOT kill tubbo
Tommy I stg if you don’t take this chance to say goodbye to Tubbo I’ll kill you myself
Oh....Tubbo please don’t just accept it help him say something please he’s hurting don’t do this oh my god.... I’m crying
“What am I without you?” “Yourself” FUCCCKKKK NOO PLEASE IM SOBBING NO ITS TOMMY AND TUBBO THEYRE A PACKAGE DEAL THEY NEED TO STAY TOGETHER BEST FRIENDS FOREVER STOPPPPPPPPPP
God why chess
“Please don’t go”
tubbo please don’t leave him
AHHHHHH PUNZ YESS FUCK YES
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please, God let this work
OH SAPNAP IS HERE
Ouchie for dream :)
OH SHIT ITS A CINEMATIC PARALLEL PUT YOUR STUFF IN THE HOLE DICKHEAD Y E S
Tommy just robbed dream I’m-
ULTIMATE POWER MOVE KILL DREAM
HE KILLED HIM
HOLY SHIT
Hahaha oh no
Stop yelling please
Oh he’s dead again lol
Murder su*cide??
Tommy don’t do it please hun I’m begging
HAHAHA SUCKIT GREEN BOOOIIIIIII
Oh? How the tables have tabled-
Bring! Wilby! Back!!
He don’t have to do shit
Oh he.... oh no..... idk man. Don’t trust that green bastard
CALL HIM OUT FUCK YEAH
Dream in a box :D! What will he do? Hit u >:3
YES!! YES!!! IMPRISON THAT BITCH!!!
FUCK YEAH SAM COMIN IN WITH THE CLUTCH!!
Wait I don’t trust Sam....
Please, please don’t betray Tommy
OH MY GOD!!!
THEY MADE IT!!! Thank goodness I’m so happy...
My boys are safe :) ^-^
Is that WILBUR?? WILBY??? MY BOY??? WILBY!!! WILBUR!!!
Oh Tommy,, it’s so painfully evident that he’s hurt and wounded by Wilbur,,,,
Aww he doesn’t wanna come back :( but it’s his decision ig...
HE BETTER NOT BRING SCHLATT BACK HES THE WORST KILL HIM AND LEAVE HIM DEAD
wilbur slowly turning his volume down while yelling at Tommy is hilarious to me
“You’re gonna kill Casper the friendly ghost”
Uh oh, the boys are fIGHTINNNGGGG
Don’t threaten to stab Wilbur-
AWWW WilbUr told Tommy he’s proud of him IM LOVE THEMB
Tubbo 🥺
God I love Tommy he’s so good and funny and :D
I have ✨serotonin✨
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14) really broken and damaged. And… yeah. That doesn’t magically disappear when you hop over a border." Exactly! Let's hope that they'll spare us all any mindless fluff. g) "Mostly cos if that is ALL someone has left, it’s necessary. Gilead isn’t going to be overturned by words alone" You're right of course. I did like what they implied with the cinematic parallel between June's pen and that bomb though: "The pen can be mightier than the sword." (Well, at least in the democratic parts of the
15) world.) It's a shame that Fred returned so soon... Ah, a question: What would have happened to Serena if Fred had died? Would she have remained a Wife or what? h) "I don’t think I’d have the balls Emily has lol." Yeah, same. Plus, I doubt I would be half as good a political player as June. i) "And the confrontation scene between her and Janine in the Colonies was well done as well." Loved that scene! j) "it was just unrealistic for a prof, even an adjunct lecturer to pull aside a first year
16) student like and so that whole thing seemed a bit deus ex." I know what you mean. That was stretched out. My fav thing about her whole uni past were her conversations/interactions with Professor Dan. k) "She didn’t need Fred to have terrible ideas, especially like after she was shot and basically implied that Fred needs to go above the law and murder a bunch of people." Ah, yes. That was one of the moments that solidified to me that Serena wasn't just a "bitch", but a truly awful, rotten to
17) the core person. She brought this whole mess on herself and doesn't really have any excuse."How very Lady Macbeth of her." Apparently, I have a type when it comes to fictional "problematic faves", heh. l) "I saw a lot of criticism of Serena about how she’s a shitty mother etc etc." WUT? I'm never gonna agree with this fandom regarding Serena, am I? Thank goodness there's you, LOL. For ALL her awfulness, I think that Serena would actually be a good (and loving), if overprotective, mother.
18) "but I have to assume it’s from people who have never had babies for more than a few hours. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows 24-7. It’s stressful, frustrating, annoying, aggravating, etc. at times and it’s completely normal for new mothers to get overwhelmed and really fucking stressed out. It doesn’t mean they’re going to beat the shit out of their children" EXACTLY what I was going to say. m) "She’s an excellent writer, strong orator, talented artist and skilled gardener, and who knows
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Yeah. As much as it’s nice not to be dragged down by depressing realism all the time, I find it jarring when fluff pops up in a show like THT. And Emily’s storyline going all optimistic and fluffy (and healthy) just cos she’s in Canada would be a disservice. I know a lot of fans really want Emily to be okay (I do too!) but I just don’t think it’s so simple at this point. Holy trauma, batman. Gotta work through that. I don’t think the show is dumb enough to go so quickly through Emily’s healing, but ....meh. Ya never know.
I agree about the pen/bomb thing. I didn’t mean to imply that words are unimportant, cos they totally are. And I very much enjoyed the pen/bomb parallel too! I thought it was really important how Serena/June’s words had power, even if that was only cos they had Fred’s signature on them and so it’s not truly their power. I think the power of words is really the only way to change ideology. Cos, sure, you can change a government of powers in charge with physical force but you can’t change the underlying shit without words. Look at Serena’s power pre-Gilead. That was all words--and a little riotous melodrama lol. Speaking of words, I felt the weakest part of one of my fav eps 2x09, was the “words” bit. Like, I appreciate what they were trying to do but it didn’t make sense to me personally why those letters would suddenly make any difference.
Like, they have 100s or 1000s (presumably) of escaped Handmaids, etc already in Canada, with their own stories... and they’re still alive. Everyone knows about all the deaths and victims of Gilead, hence the refugee centres large database. I just don’t understand why a bunch of letters would suddenly change Canadians minds. Like... they have WAY more influential evidence LIVING amongst them already. And letters are simple to forge/make up. I just don’t get why they went “boom”.
I dunno. That’s just me. I thought it was a weakness of the episode. If Canada wasn’t already full of survivors with their own horrible stories, I’d get it. Those letters would be like OMG. But Canada seems totally aware of all the horrors of Gilead, and there were already 100s of protesters following Fred around.
Maybe I missed something? Are we supposed to believe that there are actually very few survivors that are in Canada? Help! lol
ITA about Emily’s flashbacks. The bits with Prof Dan were really well done. They were my fav bits too.
I think Serena’s insinuation that Fred needs to take matters into his own hands was one of the darkest things Serena has done. I mean, in a sense, I understand why she would say that. She’s totally aware a lot of people hate her (clearly lol) and she doesn’t trust the police to actually be on her side. It’s the same right-wing paranoia that idiot privileged white people think now even though everything is the opposite in the stats. I mean... tbh, Serena didn’t technically say, “Go kill some people, you whiny baby!”. She just sorta implied it and Fred ran with it to the extreme. (Which sorta goe sback to always having really evil shit in him. Cos, tbh, executing those kids was not exactly what I got from Serena’s words. Normal people would be like, “Okay. I’m gonna go fuck them up real good for ya honey!” Like beat the shit out of them. Not kidnap then murder 2 people. I do think Serena’s dismissiveness of Fred’s concern played a role in him having to prove himself to be a man. Like, woah, man.)
(Another Lady Macbeth fan? Honestly, we may actually be separated at birth.)
I feel like people look for reasons to hate Serena that don’t actually exist. Between “She’d obvs be an abusive mother!” and “She created the Handmaids!”, they love hating her for the sake of hating her. It’s just impossible that a character can be multi-faceted and complex and do things we don’t hate, alongside things we do find repulsive. And I think misogyny plays into this need to hate her for absolutely everything bad that ever happens/could happen, while giving Fred the benefit of the doubt or a free pass cos he’s just doing what she wants, or whatever. Ah, don’t even get me started lol.
Yesterday, I stumbled across an article from a while ago about the 15 “most evil” characters on THT and ofc guess who was #1? And I just... I’m sorry, I think the the men that literally developed the entire handmaid system are maybe a little worse? Like that guy who she’s married to who has no redeemable qualities at all, like he doesn’t even care about babies? Call me crazy, but the men in power seem just slightly more evil. But hey... Ah, no, self. Stop right now. I will rant for like 3 days straight and it will not make any sense lol.
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