#MUSIC AND ALL

[longmaxsilvarg]

something about the main menu for life is strange genuinely makes me wanna collapse and sob

[ohnomausey]

Okay, so I was asked (thank you @schafpudel for allowing me to talk about my favorite academic research field LMAO) to post my elaboration on how Mytho is a combination of and commentary on two hero archetypes, namely two opposing pre-existing Siegfried-characterizations and how that is referenced in the show (mainly through the music).

Sooo in the first half of the show Mytho is mostly characterized by being the prince that stands between the black swan and the white swan, Odile and Odette, Krähe and Tutu. The according scenes are accompanied by the music from the ballet „Swan Lake“. The prince of the ballet (he is called Siegfried) is notorious in the world of ballet for being extremely passive in his role as a prince, having his decisions made for him. All influence he has on the story itself is also by him NOT doing something (for example while hunting he chooses NOT to shoot the swan etc.). He’s kind of infamous for that and created the archetype of THE *ballet*-prince many others were modeled after.

Officially Mytho's character theme is from another Tchaikovsky ballet suite: the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from „The Nutcracker“. The reference falls kinda flat and i am not 100% sure what it means but the Sugar Plum Fairy is not much more than a kind, soft, benevolent princess-fairy. It sounds the part too and i think the softness fits season one Mytho regardless.

The Siegfried-references that are a lot more interesting however come from the Wagner operas being referenced. WHENEVER (and by this I really mean every single scene) where the main focus of discussion is Mytho’s identity of the prince from Prinz und Rabe, or his returning emotions and agency, the music that plays in the background is Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” which isn’t directly from any of Wagner’s „Ring of the Nibelungen“ Operas, but stands in close relation to them! It plays when he is waiting for Rue in the „On the Evening of the Fire Festival“ episode and dances with Duck instead and she notes how “this must be the real prince” and also „he danced with me because HE chose to do so!“, it also plays in a lot of scenes in between, e.g. one where Mytho himself talks about wanting his heart back in episode 14 and then most importantly during his transformation into Prinz Siegfried in episode 25, shortly after which he calls himself “Siegfried”.

Wagner’s Siegfried is the hero of the composers biggest work. He is also the “ideal man of the future” as coined by Wagner in his more sociological, revolutionary writings. He stands for heroism, revolution, standing up to the gods and bringing with him literally a new era of time (Wagner literally named his SON „Siegfried“ and wrote the „Siegfried Idyll“ for him when he was born. That is how much faith he had in the idea of this very masculine hero figure that will lead us all to peace and the future…). Wagner’s Siegfried is the ideal hero archetype as we still reference in stories today. He is fearless, strong, intuitive and reckless as he slays the dragon and gets the girl but also oblivious and easy to manipulate. He is also not much of an empath…

Raven!Mytho is characterized by „Siegfried's Death March“ from the last opera in Wagner's cycle („Götterdämmerung“) — the work that plays when Siegfried dies in the opera. Raven!Mytho is the subversion of the ideal hero, the prince that is confused by his ideals and twists them around: "If i am supposed to love the entire world, then everyone should love me in return". So the second season is Mytho being super close to reaching this ideal state of himself, but being corrupted before he can which as some kind of silver lining leads to him questioning the expectations that come with being a hero, or a prince and why he even wants this for himself in the first place. At least, that is what I think.

At the end, we look back on Mytho having grown from a passive, emotionless puppet that still held an almost intuitive protectiveness over those weaker than him (jumping out of windows and running into burning houses to save birds…) into the hero he is supposed to be: He becomes strong, assertive, forges the sword and slays the dragon (the Raven) like Siegfried does in Wagner's operas. But he is not fearless, or brash or wild like Wagner's Siegfried. He keeps the emotional, compassionate, even tormented ("feminine") side that the swan lake prince Siegfried carried. He cries when he finds out that a small, fragile bird was the one who brought him his heart back all this time and kneels in front of Duck RIGHT before he transforms in episode 25. And he also knows that there is a part of himself that will differ from the hero he is supposed to be, the selfish Raven-blood side that makes him more human than his existence as a sort of archetype would usually suggest.

So, long story short: Mytho is a wandering hero-subversion and commentary on the archetype and, in true Princess Tutu fashion, challenges traditional roles and gender norms while he is at it. The music has A LOT to do with this but it becomes evident even just in the story itself. Understanding the Wagner references just makes it evident beyond ANY doubt. It‘s a shame that a lot of it gets pushed back if you do not get the Wagner references (and to be fair, they are even more extensive than they should be — not everyone is going to understand them because they are so. goddamn. obscure.). It makes Mytho seem like a lot more of wasted potential than he really is. He should have had more time to develop in the series, directly. But giving him that would have led to other characters being pushed back. I think an additional one or two episodes to kind of stretch the second half of the series would have done the narrative a service, but that is critique on a really high level. I still think Princess Tutu is one of the best pieces of narrative media ever created.

[savage-rhi]

My headcanon for Disney's Hercules was that the Narrator was going to tell the actual legend with the gritty details but the muses went: HEY BOOBOO, WE LOVE YA BUT THERE'S CHILDREN PRESENT cause kiddos don't need to know about Zeus going around assaulting women as some bird stork bull thing and pissing off his missus to where she traumatizes her husbands illegitimate children cause he couldn't keep his dick in his pants.

[gayofthefae]

Sorry guys but...

I wonder if Kenny Loggins woulda saved Bob

[waugh-bao]

Since the Charlie account put up a photo of him from Black and Blue and then put Hot Stuff as the song over it, I suspect that there is someone on the team who is also on “our team” and has taken it upon themselves to do eye candy posts. They’re like “oh here’s Charlie in a suit” but they know what they’re doing…they know.

Also, social media dream job obviously.

!!!!

(x)

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Was curious how far Ithaca was from troy today while listening to epic the musical and rereading the illiad and I found this map

I think odysseus would have been better just to walk😭

[mushyooms]

he's so real

[dorothywonderland]

♬⋆.˚ Well it's a little bit dangerous, my friend˚.⋆♬

[anniflamma]

Odysseus is "There are other way"-ing Zeus This is to everyone in that comment section!

There is a part 2 now...

[capric0rn]

[daniartonline]

My boy, sweetest joy I’ve known ;-;

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Penelope's final gambit, you will always be famous, no matter the subtext.

[chaichai-draws]

Personally I think that Telemachus permanently and irreversibly changed Athena for the better, more on that at twelve

[kizykoolors]

Ares after witnessing what happened in "Odysseus" (Athena was right was right about making people bleed):

(The Ares's design i used was made by @anniflamma !!!)

[notearsnora]

Horrendous violence on my cellular device every day since the movie dropped.