#A Styrian Rhapsody

[leafgorge]

the 20s were an awful time to be a lesbian or whatever jash said

[manicpixieyandere]

A Textual Analysis of “Gothic Wh*re, or the Novel Lyric Hunt” by Chonny Jash

Hello! So we had to write a textual analysis of a song (so we did an entire album like insane people) for our English class so we figured we'd post it here because it was a lot of fun to write! Enjoy! (Also we had to censor it because Tumblr hates fun, sorry).

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The Gothic Wh*re album by Chonny Jash plays on the idea that there are people othered by society just for being themselves. These groups mainly consist of queer and disabled people. Society others these people, treats them as monsters or madmen. This album chooses to highlight the monsters and tells its audience to embrace and celebrate those differences. Jash achieves this by using gothic horror as his inspiration and medium, mainly stories from the Victorian era. Every story chosen is one that features disabled characters and/or characters with queer coding. These songs focus on these supposed monsters.

The song titled “Intro” introduces the audience to the album. There is a mystery unnamed narrator who introduces the audience to the protagonists of the first two songs, those being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The intro takes the audience right into “The Ballad of Dr. Jekyll”. This song explores the character of Henry Jekyll from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886). We see Jekyll’s internal moral battle about letting his alter ego Edward Hyde out. The song keeps in tact the reading of the original book that the potion Jekyll drinks is a metaphor for addiction. It also keeps that the Mr. Hyde personality isn’t so much a completely different person than Dr. Jekyll, but is the way Jekyll wishes he could be. This is referenced in the line “Is it worth the shift in countenance just to live how I’d like?” (Jash, 2023, verse 1). The song ends with Jekyll deciding to take his own life to rid the world of Hyde, this being how the original book also ends.

The next song is from Edward Hyde’s side of the story titled: “The Mr. Hyde Jive”. Hyde focuses more on desire. He initially taunts Jekyll pretending to be the scary monster Jekyll sees him as. He quickly drops that façade to more so talk about fulfilling his and Jekyll’s own desires. The song plays with the queer coding of Jekyll and Hyde. It is hinted at in the book that some of the “heinous” deeds Hyde commits is that of sleeping with men. Hyde goes on to say he is just the other side of Jekyll. Jash (2023, chorus) writes “For every Henrry in this world, there’s an Edward stuck behind”. This line refers to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being about human duality. We all have a side of us we may not be proud of as we are ashamed for it. Hyde tells us to embrace that desire every now and again, but to not go too far.

We move onto the “Wilhelmina Waltz”. This song covers Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897). The song is from the perspective of Dracula trying to court Wilhelmina (or just Mina). The song makes many references to Mina’s current marriage to Jonothan Harker. In the book Johnothan escapes Dracula’s castle, and as punishment Dracula tries to court his wife, Mina. The “Wilhelmina Waltz” is about Dracula’s feelings for Mina as she undergoes her vampire transformation. Near the end of the song the character Renfield warns Mina to not let Dracula too close as “he’ll abuse you, he’ll misuse you, he’ll raise Hell on Earth to subdue you. Till not even death can undo you” (Jash, 2023, verse 4). The common reading of Renfield and Dracula’s relationship is that of a toxic romance. Renfield means well in his warning to Mina but dies for it.

Keeping in theme with vampires, we transition over to “A Syrian Rhapsody”. Based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1872). The song explores how in the original novella vampirism was used as a metaphor for lesbianism between the characters Carmilla and Laura and how immoral it was. Jash (2023) states “Fables label. She the Vampyr” to explain how in his opinion Carmilla was never really a vampire, just a lesbian. She was labeled a vampire to warn others of the so called dangers and sin of homosexuality. The song ends with saying Carmilla will not wilt from the hate of others and will rise on higher.

We enter "The Monster’s Lament” based on Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly (1818). The song starts out with simple wording that evolves over time, showcasing how the monster originally had to teach himself English throughout the story. The monster talks about his self hatred and feelings on his creator, Victor Frankenstein abandoning him for his looks. The monster expresses his plans to kill his creator and make him suffer just as he had. This shows one of the readings of the original book, that Victor was the monster’s father who abandoned and abused him. By torturing Victor, the monster continues that cycle of abuse.

Next is the mouth full title “An Elegy for One Roderick Usher, or ‘The Haunted Palace”. This song is about “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe (1839). The narrator of the album is revealed to be the protagonist of “The Fall of the House of Usher”, he remains nameless just like in the original story. The song is a mix of a retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” but also uses “The Haunted Palace” by Edgar Allen Poe (1839) directly as the verses sung by Roderick Usher. The narrator is there to comfort his friend Roderick as his sister is ill and dies. She has a condition that makes her corpse appear alive and well “Such I’ve heard is the irony of the cataleptic’s rue” (Jash, 2023, verse 8). The house reflects the mental state of Roderick Usher. A popular reading is that Roderick has schizophrenia, that is why his imagination and what happens in the house reflects his paranoia. The narrator tries to read his friend a story, but all of the sound effects from the story echo into real life. As Roderick’s sister appears alive, she comes back to life and kills her brother. Once they are both dead the narrator escapes and the house crumbles. The narrator closes out by reciting the rest of “The Haunted Palace” as Roderick is dead.

The “Interlude” states that was it for the main event, the main event being gothic horror. Instead, we now transition into books of different genres. First being a song titled: “Dead Man’s Sea Shanty” which is about Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883). The song follows young Jim Hawkins, and his recount of the events of the novel. In the story Jim Hawkins acquires a crew to hunt for treasure but Long John Silver is secretly planning a mutiny. Hawkins recounts his attempt to steal back the ship solo and how that fails. He is captured by Long John’s crew. Luckily, he met a stranded sailor, Ben Gunn who saves him and locates the treasure. Hawkins also puts his differences aside with Long John when his crew plans to mutiny him as well. On their way back to Britan they sing the song present throughout the chorus but that also originates from Treasure Island “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest…” (Stevenson, 1883, chapter 34). Jash also adds his own interpretation at the end. The outro is taken directly from the preamble of Treasure Island. It starts with Hawkins reading it who then fades out into the narrator, here to introduce our final story.

The penultimate song is “Ode of the Cog” based on 1984 by Geroge Orwell (1994). The song follows Winston Smith as he falls in love with Julia. 1984 takes place in a totalitarian society where there is such a thing as “thought crime”. You must believe what the party wants you to believe, marry who they say you marry. That is what makes Winston’s love of Julia dangerous. The party in question is Big Brother. They catch both Winston and Julia and torture them both. Their methods of that are a more intense version of the brainwashing they use on the general public, being titled “doublespeak”. Jash (2023, bridge) shows this by using samples proclaiming the following lines “War is peace. The law of gravity is nonsense. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” And most famously “Two plus two is five”. The idea of two plus two being five is the specific phrase Winston is tortured into believing. The book and song end up taking a major diversion from each other. In the book Winston is tortured into loving Big Brother. In the song Winston is shot and killed by Big Brother, but before he dies, he has his last moment of rebellion. Winston has an uplifting monologuing proclaiming humanity will eventually rise up and that history cannot be rewritten. His final sung words are “Two plus two is four” (Jash, 2023, verse 8).

A sample of Julia from the 1984 movie adaptation (Michael Radford 1984) saying “I’m corrupt to the core” seamlessly transitions into a crowd screaming “encore!”. The narrator decides to indulge the audience with an encore to wrap up the album. The song is a cover of the “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett (1962). The song features the narrator showing the audience around a gothic party with all the protagonists of the songs and their plus ones. The song features many references to the original books while also celebrating the differences of the characters that were perhaps not celebrated at the times these books were published. Frankenstein’s monster names himself Adam. Mina dances with Carmilla, alluding to both of them having close relations to another woman in their own stories (Carmilla with Laura and Mina with her friend Lucy). Hawkins allows himself to have fun with this odd group and Winston celebrates being free. The narrator raises a toast with each main character toasting to what is important to them. Jash (2023, verse 6) does a voice for each character while also playing their respective motifs. “To mighty adventure” Jim Hawkins, “To love” Dracula, “To lust” Carmilla, “To fury” Adam, “To the proles” Winston Smith, “To Vice” Edward Hyde. The narrator finishes with “Let us damn the fools that refuse to have fun! Let us sing as all, and let us dance as one!”. Jash is telling the audience here that it is ok to feel and embrace those things. He even ends with the original line from the “Monster Mash” telling the audience the mash was meant for them too.

Jash tells a compelling story while perfectly incorporating rhetorical devices such as pathos, logos, and ethos. Jash uses the othering of the monsters to invoke sympathy and feelings towards them, thus creating pathos. By using such old established literature from the Victorian era Jash uses this to his advantage to establish logos. The ethos is present in each voice Jash does. With his incredible voice work and immersive music it feels as if the characters are really talking to the audience (or rather, singing). All of this combined has the audience hooked and not only accepting of the monsters, but maybe of themselves and others as well.

[eclipsedcrystalstar]

The announcer: I think we’ve been hijacked… I’ll let them sing their gay little song I guess

[styrian-rhapsody]

Hawkins got Winston back at beach day!!! If you go you can maybeeee help ensure it’s safety!!

Thank fucking god.. I’m proud of that kid.

He’s more competent then I am..

[crumblzchaos]

Here’s your lesbian bat 👍

She’s only like loosely based on the song she’s more like being inspired by the song than anythinng

Man the 70’s was an awful time to be a lesbian……

[samd1o1]

So when the final gothic/victorian literature song comes out I wanted to make a video showcasing all the different voices that Chonny used for the songs cus I think the amount of unique voices he did is impressive (let alone being able to sing as them too).

But I do have one problem I was wondering if y'all could help with? So I have absolutely no idea who is singing in "A Styrian Rhapsody". It seems to be a narrator (that isn't our main boy Mathias). And this song is probably the most disconnected from its story. All the other songs are characters from the book giving you a piece (or sometimes the whole plot) of their stories through their perspective. But this song is more about being unapologetically queer (based).

I assume this is because CJ didn't want to attempt any girl voices, which is fair enough. Basically I just want to know if I'm being stupid and it's actually Carmilla and/or Laura or some other character singing. (There might be two singers or one I'm also unsure).

And even if it's not characters I still want to add the voices he does for this song, but I wouldn't know what to tag them as.

[katindeed]

This album is the main reason I've started writing about vampires and mad scientists again and I couldn't be happier

Guess who's back here's a drawing I have mixed opinions about. Drew a pretty face and half asked the rest okay byeeee :33

[eclipsedcrystalstar]

One of my favorite lyrical things in A Styrian Rhapsody is the words like overlaying with a slight delay at the end of a line to go to the next one (I. don't know the proper way to explain it) but like the bold words sound like they're said once/at the same time with a slight delay for the start of the second line in the instance

"Feel the heart aches feel alike" "like, likes"

"Why should she settle for less?" "Less is more slam that door"

"but time will sanction your love" "love is love what's above can bloody shove it"

"Lay only man" "Man the '70s were an awful time to be a lesbian"

"Free her from her ancient age" "Age? Trivial, but no don't lay your own sex" "sexist by design"

"No Laura don't fall for our guest" "guess the wrongs and rights"

[styrian-rhapsody]

*hands Carmilla lemons*

~ She takes them. ~

What am I supposed to do with this..

Make lemonade?

Be fucking for real.

[samd1o1]

CJ's Gothic [Word] or The Novel Lyric Hunt (All Voices)

Tiktok Link

Sorry for spamming about this video but tumblr likes to eat my video posts, so I'll post the tiktok link to make sure it goes into the tags. THEN IM DONE I PROMISE! (Anyway this is a video of all the characters and voices CJ does in the album)

[styrian-rhapsody]

~ She walks over and shakes Winston a little, hoping to wake him. When that doesn’t work, she tries to loudly say his name. ~

Winston? You have visitors, Hawkins and me are here to see you.

Winston? Me and Hawkins have come to visit, are you awake?

- @styrian-rhapsody (and @dead-mans-sea-shanty)

*He doesn’t stir from where he’s laying. OJ notices though.*

Mew!

[synthshenanigans]

One more day :}

Also he's been sending them in the discord with the images labeled too

[socialc1imb]

Oh oh Carmilla!

Feel the sickness spread within her/See the passivity fill her

Do NOT repost my art without asking/without credit.

[styrian-rhapsody]

~ Yes yes, she said she would go see Dracula because you know. He’s literally ill and dying. No surprise there. But it looks like she forgot and now she’s just.. moping in her room?? What is her problem. ~

…

[styrian-rhapsody]

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

~ She continues to cover the wound with her hand, applying pressure. She looks around, seeing if there’s anything she could use to help, or perhaps a culprit she could gouge the eyes out of. ~

It’s gonna be alright.. It’s gonna be okay.

~ She seems to be trying to reassuring herself as much as she is trying to reassure Hawkins. ~

HAWKINS??

~ She rushes over, trying to cover the wound with her hand to stop the bleeding. ~

FUCK. How did this happen???

I- I don't know?!?! I just woke up- An anon asked if I was bullet proof- I said no because I'm not and next thing I know I've been SHOT-

[briaryoung]

i made this forever ago & i want the world to know

love, an ancient CJFS book club meeting