If you have more thoughts about Warsaw Misto and Jellicle Demeter (or just more about your mafia AU in general) I would love to hear it, that sounds so chaotic
I do have some! Namely, the general timeline of their relationship and how it fits in the general plot
Initially this ship started cuz I wanted to somehow introduce Demeter into the story, and I figured out this would make a pretty solid bit that would work nicely with the main plot. The plot being a secret will they-won't they relationship drama between Warsaw Misto (Feliks) and Jellicle Munk who come from 2 mafia families that have a bit shaky but long-lasting truce, with a sprinkle of Macavity causing chaos. They do get together after some back and forth, but ultimately the relationship implodes, with only a few people knowing it ever was a thing, and Feliks moves to New York to get away from it all.
After some time there, he meets Demeter, freshly broke and after a messy break-up with her fiancé. They meet online and strike a deal, as she needs money and he wants to look like he's dating someone to avoid questions about his love life. Plus, he just wants someone not from his circle to spend time with and also they both can indirectly get back at their exes by showing how they supposedly moved on and are doing great.
Pretty quickly into their fake dating they actually become good friends because they genuinely like spending time together, and besides bonding over their recent bad breakups they have quite a few shared interests, the main one being their shared love for dancing. Plus, Demeter has a chance to try herself in some more or less legal business dealings, and she discovers she may be into it. They meet each other's friends and families and with this Feliks gets a little taste of a normal life, while she gets a few opportunities for a new life and career. And a few months into their "relationship" they kinda indirectly kickstart actual relationships for each other.
They get invited to tuggoffelees wedding back in UK thanks to Feliks being Misto's cousin, where Demeter meets Munk and Bomba. While they're talking in a bigger group Munk jokes Feliks is lucky to date Deme and that if he wasn't he himself would ask her out. To which Deme jokes back referencing one of the things Munk and Feliks broke up over, implying she knows what happened. This leads to Munk having a few drinks for courage and confronting Feliks later at the party, which a few weeks and one party later results in them giving their relationship another chance.
At the same time Demeter gets introduced to Bomba, and they have themselves a bit of a summer romance that turns into an actual, at first long distance relationship. It happens while Deme and Feliks still pretend date each other for a few months longer, and help each other a bit with figuring out the relationships before ultimately officially breaking up, after about a year/year and a bit of fake dating. They do continue their friendship tho and Feliks gets to be godfather of one of her kids
So yeah, this started as just as temporary, kinda fake side ship, but I actually enjoyed playing with it and got attached XD Plus I think they have a fun dynamic, two smart, bit petty people going together through a bit of a life reset, supporting each other, discovering things and having quite a bit of fun along the way. And also starting the relationship to pretend to be all good and happy with life and ultimately actually getting there with the other's help
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Fern guides their mutuals and followers through Cats 1998 as if we're all sitting on the same couch watching it and I'm shouting out stuff (2/?)
MASTERPOST
Character Wiki Pages
This time around, we're getting to some of the character songs!!! Jennyanydots and RTT ahead:
5: The Old Gumbie Cat
Okay, first off, I'm obsessed with the staging here... literally every kitten and kitten-adjacent character is paying attention (Plato and Bill Bailey are in the back upper-left of this shot) and then you've just got. Alonzo and Cassandra. Two characters that famously do not care about some other members of the cast. Why is this so funny
These faces also get me every time... the perfect image of bewilderment and regret
Anyway, this is another example of the kitten characters literally being lower than the others. Coricopat and Tantomile's ages and how they're presented tend to vary wildly from production to production (they kind of do their own thing), but aside from them, I think the only adult cats on the ground are the aforementioned Alonzo (who's there because of Munkustrap), Cassandra (who's there because of Alonzo), and Asparagus, though the camera notably never focuses on any of them. Everybody else is either standing or elevated à la Bombalurina, Demeter, Skimbleshanks, and Jellylorum.
One of my absolute favorite things about Munkustrap across productions is how he moves. He and Skimbleshanks come to mind as the cats with the most distinct affects (aside from examples like Tugger, who has clearly manufactured his mannerisms to an extent). I'm not sure what to call the aesthetic of this motion, but I'm obsessed with it.
And, gosh, Michael Gruber's voice is heavenly.
Skimble's cute little gesturing at her!!! Even when I was little, I was under the impression that these cats would get along. I don't know if it was because of the character acting, the fact they're both ginger tabbies, their similar ways of directing folks around, or what, but I've never seen a version of Skimble and Jenny that I didn't think would get along. It's no wonder they're so commonly shipped.
These are all (female) kitten characters playing the role of the mice, which brings us to one of the biggest questions anybody who gives this show too much thought will ask: what is the Jellicle Ball? Obviously, there's a number named that later on, but is it just a dance number, or is it the entire show?
I tend to see and agree with the interpretation that the Ball takes place over the course of the whole show, as Jellicle cats of every kind are invited and encouraged to attend. If not, then I think it would be a bit surprising to see so many cats with collars - and, we can infer, owners - showing up this early, even if the goal is to be there before Old Deuteronomy.
In that case, we reach the question related to this segment: what does this look like from the cats' side of things? I'd always thought of it as the classic "when there's too much [x] for words, you sing" principle of musical theater, wherein songs are used for emphasis and the things that happen during songs are either not literal or heavily exaggerated, but I know some folks also think of each number in Cats as a rehearsed piece, which is canonically the case for one of them.
Realistically - as much as any of this can be considered realistic - I imagine it as a combination of the two. Jenny and Skimble's numbers might very well be rehearsed. Tugger's probably isn't.
The fact that the mice are all portrayed by female kittens, which is a relatively specific demographic of the characters, makes me think (story-wise, not practicality-wise) they were specifically chosen for the roles of the mice.
The way Skimble copies Jenny's movements here reminds me HEAVILY of how Tugger copies Mistoffelees' movements during his number at the end of the show... alright alright I'm getting on board with this one
A few things with this bit:
1 - Pouncival is reprimanded #1
2 - I love that '98 used actors generally representative of the characters' ages. A lot of casts - post-revival US casts specifically come to mind - tend to have Jennys and Jellys that seem exponentially younger than the ones portrayed here, and with a title like "The Old Gumbie Cat," there's an expectation that Jenny, at least, should have a sense of age about her. This isn't a dig at other casts or anything - those actors still do a phenomenal job - I just really like this presentation.
3 - I've posted about this in short spurts before, but this song/poem might just be my favorite to analyze. I wrote my first-ever college essay about Jennyanydots. Part of what makes me love it so much is how much meaningful exposition it gives, but it's also one of the more prominent examples of Eliot's bigotry seeping into his poetry, and an example of how the staging of Cats actually reduces it.
I'm far from the first to point any of this out and I am far from an expert, but let's dig into some lyrics:
She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice—
Their behaviour's not good and their manners not nice;
So when she has got them lined up on the matting,
She teaches them music, crocheting and tatting.
To address the behavioral issues of the mice, Jenny introduces hobbies to them - namely, music, crocheting, and tatting (another sort of fiber art relating to lace creation). An argument can be made over the practical labor of crocheting and tatting, but music is often associated with leisure - time away from work, or time spent performing for the leisure of other people.
Depending on how one looks at this, this passage could point in two directions. These skills could have been used to familiarize the mice with work commonly associated with being dainty and ladylike, with the hope the mice would become much the same. They could have also been introduced as a way for the mice to perform highly detail-oriented work for somebody of higher standing: Jenny herself. Either way, this passage rings with a mildly classist tone.
As she finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet,
She is sure it is due to irregular diet;
And believing that nothing is done without trying,
She sets right to work with her baking and frying.
This one is a bit more straightforward. The wording "irregular diet" implies, to me, that access to food (and/or "good" food) is the problem here, i.e. lack of access to food prevents the mice from holding a sense of propriety about them. While these lyrics do not make a judgement about that, they do potentially make an association between food insecurity and unruliness, which, again, rings with classism.
She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment
To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
So she's formed, from that lot of disorderly louts,
A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
With a purpose in life and a good deed to do—
And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
The first two lines from this verse are extraordinarily direct; I don't think I have to explain how the idea of "going to work and getting a job will prevent unruly tendencies" is rooted in bigotry. What makes this bit even more specific is the last line about the Beetles' Tattoo. For those unfamiliar, I'm fairly certain this is the kind of tattoo this line references:
So, not only does the Jennyanydots of the poem seek out employment opportunities for the cockroaches; she does so with what can be interpreted as militaristic intent, thinking it will give them "a purpose in life."
I don't really feel like going into how all of this connects to ideas irl, but you get the gist. So, how does Cats make all of this better?
It plays everything completely straight.
No, seriously.
The troubling bits of Eliot's original poetry come through, in large part, the use of metaphor; in Cats, the cats are actually cats, the mice are actually mice, and the cockroaches are actually cockroaches. All of these characters are literally different species at different spots on the food chain, but that's not the best part.
The best part is that the mice are portrayed by the female kittens and the cockroaches are represented, principally, by the male kittens. Rather than mice or cockroaches, this performance can be used to represent how Jennyanydots corrects the behavior of unruly little girls and unruly little boys. Combined with other lines from the poems and alternate productions, such as those about her cooking for the mice, she becomes much more of a maternal figure.
What about the Beetles' tattoo?
That's the name of the tap number. That's all.
Yes, many of these implications remain in the lyrics, but it just goes to show how important careful staging is and what a difference it can make. Isn't it just so cool?
First-time viewers may be thrown off by the cuts in this number. The original VHS release couldn't handle a very long runtime, so this is the compromise :(.
I've always loved this little lean Cassandra does.
Pouncival is reprimanded #2
6: The Rum Tum Tugger
YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS MAN IS JOHN PARTRIDGE. YOU NEED TO SEE HOW GREAT HE IS. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT HE PERFORMED IN CATS FROM 1989 TO 2005. AT AGE 18 HE EARNED THE ROLE OF ALONZO, THE DANCE CAPTAIN, IN THE ORIGINAL UK TOUR.
I've never seen another Tugger move quite like him.
I'm pretty sure Pouncival is the one doing the backflip here
AGAIN. I LOVE THAT THIS JENNY HAS SOME AGE TO HER. I LIKE THAT SHE WALKS HUNCHED. I LIKE THAT MUNKUSTRAP IS HELPING HER UP.
For fic reasons, I've previously had to keep track of Pouncival during this song, and if I have to know that he disappears between these shots, so do you.
Also, I'm not adding images for it because I'm running out, but the amount of wingmanning Plato does in this number is unreal.
This is the part where, were I actually sitting on a couch with my non-Cats mutuals watching this, I would look over at all of your faces to see your reactions to somebody treating the Rum Tum Tugger like this. Usually, nobody cares :(
^^^This is my second-favorite bit of choreography in the number. The idea of Tugger intentionally tripping up Pouncival and Tumblebrutus just to mess with them is really funny to me. He's literally playing around with the kids. Why do I never see anybody talk about this
^ This is my favorite bit of choreography in this number because nobody I show this to, whether they enjoy the experience or not, ever forgets it.
They
And the little sequence of looks they do...
Welcome to my favorite character detail in this number. "Is it-" yeah it's alonzo catsthemusical. We're talking about him again. My friends are tired of hearing me point this out every single time but I LOVEEEE that the characters rubbed the wrong way by Tugger are the older cats, who are sitting at the back of the stage, Munkustrap, who is standing in the back because Tugger is his cringe middle schooler brother, and Alonzo, who is as far away from and above the front of the stage as possible without physically falling off the set.
I love when Tugger hates him back. I love when Tugger doesn't acknowledge him whatsoever because he doesn't think about him whatsoever. Bonus points for monochromatic siblings enjoyers, since Alonzo here then gets to take on the perspective of "my bestie's cringe middle schooler brother is dating my middle schooler brother and it sucks." There's no losing here.
These two are literally me. Ignore the crotch. Sometimes I think about getting a cat and then I remember "I'll leap on your lap in the middle of your sewing" and I'm like haha yeah no... no can do sir...
THE THOUGHTFULNESS THIS SHOT GIVES TUGGER!!! I know he'd normally be going through the audience but the fact the director said "hey what if Demeter is having a Moment and this curious cat snaps her out of it" is mwah. Chef's kiss
yeah.
Literally, how did I ever watch this number without paying attention to Pouncival
I no longer have picture privileges but there's also a little detail near the end here where Tumblebrutus nudges Skimble and Asparagus to make sure they're paying attention. These two kittens <3 <3 <3
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