#The infant and the horse

[psychagoguedigitalmusical]

Epic: The Musical - Lyric Textual Analysis 1 - The Infant and the Horse

(Skip to the end if you want to just see my analysis of The Infant and the Horse.)

I hope you like Epic: The Musical (if so, you're in good company here), because we're gonna be talking about it here. We're gonna be talking about it in depth, and we're gonna be talking about it a lot. And we're gonna be talking about it for quite a while.

As I mentioned in yesterday's blogpost, one of primary approaches in the development of Psychagogue: A Digital Musical is through a close and thorough analysis of Epic. Eventually, I plan to analyze other seminal works of musical theatre and miscellaneous other specific relevant works. In a sense, I know I like the body of Epic, but in order to create something, I need to understand its bones, its sinews, its nerves and muscles. By surgically extracting key information, I can study the specimen to build up a foundation to understand why I like it and use that framework to reverse-engineer them to create something of my own.

Like any good house, I am building on a solid foundation of bones. In this case, the bones are the basic storytelling elements of the narrative. Specifically, the text itself. And if you haven't done a lot of literary analysis before, that's okay, but I will say now that whenever I use the word "text" in this blog, I am being deliberate with its meaning. I mean "text" in this case to mean the explicitly written words that compose the work. If that seems obvious, then consider what text isn't. Text is not subtext. Text is not an implication (even a really strong one). Text is incontrovertible, an undeniable fact of the narrative. You can have implications and interpretations that are supported by the text, but I am making that distinction here early on. If we use the show-tell dichotomy, text is the explicit tell. Subtext is the implicit show.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at this S✨P✨R✨E✨A✨D✨S✨H✨E✨E✨T

I might change the format for later entries, but for now, the spreadsheet is divided into 5 main sections:

Song info - Basic information about the song including its title, a link to listen to it, and a link to the full lyrics.

Core elements - I have a running theory that every narrative-driven song (that should be like all of them in a Musical Theatre context I think?) has a core conflict, a resolution of some sort, and the central philosophy, tension, or question can be identified within a single quote. This often, but not always, is the title of the song itself.

The Narrative situation - In what ways does this song actually move the plot forward. Like, what literally happens in this song? Unfortunately, 40 songs in a row about some people in a blank white room singing about their feelings wouldn't make for much of a story. In the context of a musical, I will be working under the idea that they are purely told in song, without any non-song connective tissue. If you go see buy some tickets to your local theatre's staged production of Legally Blonde: The Musical or something similar, you'll likely see a hybrid approach, but I'm going to take Epic's approach on this one and keep everything song-only. (That's right, that means no ARG either. Probably.)

Factual Character information - What do we learn about these characters? Factually, demographically? What contextual information do we actually have about this person singing about his feelings? Odysseus is a soldier from Ithaca. Zeus is a god from Ithaca. Morvic is an adolescent from a small coastal town.

Character relationships/philosophies/perspectives - Similar to factual information, but more about how each character interacts with the world around them. What do they believe in? How do they feel about the situations and characters around them?

With the preamble out of the way, here's the actual results I came up with. Note that this phase of analysis focuses purely on the lyrics of the songs in Epic: The Musical. (This also means that yes, at this phase, the information here will be obvious. You might look at these results and think "duh". That's intentional. This analysis is important as part of the overarching effort of understanding the writing techniques Jorge Rivera-Herrans is using to make information obvious.) For now I am not touching on any musical motifs (yes, Penelope's leitmotif can be heard in the pause between lyrics, yes Odysseus is definitely thinking of her in that moment, no that is not directly stated or implied by the text of the lyrics. Implied by the text of the music itself maybe, but that's a conversation for another day.)

Without further ado:

Epic: The Musical - Lyric Textual Analysis 1 - The Infant and the Horse

Central Conflict:

Odysseus is faced with a difficult choice. He either has to kill a defenseless baby or allow his home and family to be completely destroyed once the baby grows up. He loves his family dearly but is distraught at the idea of committing such an act.

Resolution:

Odysseus must make this difficult decision right now.

Thesis Quote (Fundamental question or philosophy):

"It's just an infant, it's just a boy"

What factual information do we explicitly learn about the situation?

Odysseus and his men have been at war against the Trojans for 10 years

Right now, Odysseus and his crew are beginning to execute a decisive counterattack.

Odysseus and his crew are planning to enter and take the city.

Odysseus' attack becomes interrupted by some unknown force

Odysseus gets a vision of the future from the gods. This future is certain, but can be changed if Odysseus takes action right now.

Odysseus must kill Prince Hector's son in order to avoid the future that the vision shows.

Prince Hector's son is a baby

If Odysseus does not kill Prince Hector's son right now, the boy will grow up and enact vengeance upon Odysseus. Specific consequences include, but are not limited to destroying his home and killing Penelope.

If Odysseus attempts to circumvent this fate another way, he will fail. The gods themselves will ensure that if the boy lives, that this fate will come to pass.

What factual information do we implicitly learn about the situation?

Troy has had a slight upper hand in the war up to now.

The crew's attack on Troy is successful.

What factual information do we explicitly learn about a character?

Odysseus is a soldier in a war who has been fighting against Troy for at least 10 years.

Odysseus is a noble of some sort.

Odysseus has never been in a situation where he has had to consider killing a defenseless baby.

Many of the men in the crew have families at home.

What factual information do we implicitly learn about a character?

Odysseus is the commander of a group of soldiers.

Penelope and Telemachus are Odysseus' family members.

Zeus is a god, but not the only god. He has powers including knowing information about people's lives and the ability to give people visions of the future. The gods interfere in people's lives.

What information do we explicitly learn about a character's relationships, perspectives, or philosophies?

Odysseus considers the soldiers under his command his brothers.

Odysseus is motivated by his connection to Penelope and Telemachus.

Zeus doubts Odysseus' ability to make the difficult decision in choosing who must die.

What information do we implicitly learn about a character's relationships, perspectives, or philosophies?

Odysseus is an effective commander who has the trust of his men.

Odysseus has and values inner strength.

Odysseus has and values pride.

Odysseus values the ability to fight through pain.

Odysseus understands that it is important to have a motivation in order to keep yourself going.

Odysseus is highly confident of his own ability as a fighter.

Odysseus does not want to kill a defenseless baby. He wants to follow his sense of morality and does not have an inherent bloodlust. He would rather take on some amount of sacrifice than go against his morality in this way.

Odysseus is skilled at finding alternative solutions that do not involve killing.

Zeus is stubborn.

One thing I noticed was that the highest density categories for this piece were Explicit Narrative info and Implicit Character Perspective info. Makes I suppose for the first song, especially when the audience can reasonably be expected to come into the experience with some pre-existing knowledge. For establishing Odysseus, it was interesting to see what information was stated outright vs implied. I'll be curious to see how this proportion shifts from song to song.

If you're interested in ever viewing my analysis in depth, including the concrete lyrics backing each of these bullet points, as well as additional notes, I'll be keeping this spreadsheet link publicly available in View-only mode. Over time I will be adding more tabs for each song. My next post will be either another one of these analyses for "Just a Man", some Psychagogue world-building info I've been putting together over time that is almost ready to compile, or some musical ideas I was able to scrounge together.

Until then, that's all I've got for now.

[nightlilly0110]

Zeus: The gods will tell him what you did when he grows up and he’ll kill you and everything you love.

Odysseus: Why?

Zeus: Why what?

Odysseus: If I raise him and he’s my second son, I’m his father, yes?

Zeus: I guess.

Odysseus: And this is a baby, so he won’t remember his real father? I mean, look at him. He doesn’t even know what’s going on right now and half the city is on fire and I just burst in here with a sword. Zero reaction.

Zeus: I guess-

Odysseus: So why would he be mad at me for killing a dude who did not raise him and he doesn’t remember? I’d be his dad. Maybe he’d be mad I stole him from his home but he’d have no emotional connection to these people.

Zeus: I don’t know how those work.

Odysseus: You mean children?!

[messymoonmad]

You know i had to

[rustic-space-fiddle]

Forgive me.

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

Zeus: "If you don't end him now, you'll have no one left to save."

Athena: "Finish it."

Aeolus: "The end always justifies the means."

Poseidon: "Ruthlessness is mercy."

Hermes: "You can be hurt or you can beat her. ... I'll help you conquer her."

Tiresias: "I see a man who gets to make it home alive, but it's no longer you."

Hestia, probably:

[thelucidduchess]

Unpopular opinion but Wouldn’t You Like is really good and people should pay more attention to it

[deadnymaster]

The animatic already reached 32K on youtube! The triple I thought it would make on a month! I make this little extra comic for celebrate it~ What would Shadow/Lancelot choose? 🤔

[bugbear55]

“Andromache, my love, take your time.”

waaiting, andromache when you come home i’ll be waaiting, 🥲

[shinedoitsulikeabright]

Do you guys think there were moments while they were in that horse when Ody's soldiers giggled like middle school girls during a sleepover?

Elpenor: "Oh my gods, Perimedes, shush! You're gonna get us all busted!"

Perimedes: "But this is so much fun, they have no idea! They'll never see it coming! What a bunch of losers!"

Odysseus: "Guys, please, we worked so hard to build this stupid horse. Don't be the reason we lose the war."

Eurylochus: "If they didn't hear them by now, they probably never will. I'm honestly starting to suspect they're all deaf..."

Perimedes: "Heh, that makes our job much easier then."

Athena (to herself): "I have no idea how any of them lasted this long..."

[awnrii]

100% totally serious The Horse and The Infant animatic

bonus below

for your viewing pleasure

[gotstabbedbyapen]

I understand that many people prefer the Odysseus raising Astyanax AU because killing an infant is cruel. But you guys need to remember that cities have been doomed because people didn't dispose of their prophesied-to-do-evil babies correctly.

Oedipus was prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother, so he need to be rid of. The servant who was supposed to kill Oedipus spared and sent him away. Years later, Thebes lost its rulers and was wrecked with plagues.

Paris was dream-prophesied to cause the fall of Troy, so he need to be rid of. The shepherd who was supposed to kill Paris spared and secretly raised him as his son. You see what turned out for the whole city later on.

You see the resemblances with Odysseus' pleas?

"I could raise him as my own

Or send him far away from home

Make sure his past is never known."

Zeus weren't just being an unreasonable jerk for making Odysseus kill Astyanax. That child was prophesied to be the destruction of all surviving Greeks who sacked his city, whether out of his own rage or accidentally through some chains of events.

Odysseus knew the preceeding stories and how it had turned out. So he could only do what needs to be done if he wanted to save his family, his allies, and himself.

It's only one life to take to save thousands of other lives. For once, Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves was the right choice.

[thesevenstarfoxes]

"Odysseus could have raised Astyanax as his own son! He shouldn't have killed him! Zeus is just an idiot who doesn't understand anything about children!"

Imagine you are Astyanx. Imagine that one day, you discover that your father, the man you thought was your father, is actually the murderer of your real father, who stole you from your cradle. Imagine that for years, you see your father lying to everyone, but the thought never crossed your mind that he might be lying to you. How do you know he didn't take you to ensure Troy would have no heir to the crown? That he took you to one day make you a puppet king in Troy for him? He's such a good liar, how do you know he wasn't lying when he looked you in the eye and said, "I love you, my son."

You know that your father—no, he's not your father, never was—did terrible things, but it never crossed your mind that you were one of the terrible things he did. You are a Trojan prince. You are Hector's son. You are not a little orphan from the battlefield that Odysseus took pity on. Odysseus destroyed your city. Odysseus lied to you. Odysseus has manipulated you. And Odysseus will PAY.

So many Greek tragedies tell about exactly this - about the attempt to prevent a tragedy, and about how the attempt failed, just as the gods and prophets had warned. If Astyanax had stayed alive, he would have murdered Odysseus' family no matter what Odysseus did, because that's how Greek tragedies work.

and yes, zeus suck.

[theaethernetconnection]

Odysseus would DIE for his son but he LIVED for Penelope

[epicthemusicalstuff]

did you know that in Horse and the Infant, every time Penelope or Telemachus is mentioned, there is a heartbeat playing in the background?

the tiniest bit of detail just conveyed how ody's heart remains to beat for those he holds close to it.

YES! I HEARD IT! AND I LOVE IT! HIS HEART BEATS FOR HIS FAMILY. HE FIGHTS TO RETURN TO THEM. HE LIVES SO THAT HE CAN SEE THEM AGAIN!!!! AHHHHHH!

[nonbinarylocalcryptid]

Astyanax, like every child out there, would totally give Odysseus mini heart attacks. Not only the usual ones (climbing somewhere too high for a kid, eating something he shouldn't, etc), he would also quote parts from Zeus' prophecy in The Horse and The Infant.

Picture this, Astyanax, 6 years old, they're playing tag you're it, Odysseus is chasing him (and letting the kid run away).

Odysseus: come here!

Astyanax: No! I'm faster than you! You can't outrun me!

"Odysseus trips in a cartoonish way*

Or this other possibility.

Astyanax, smol, shitting on a barrel, curious and distracting everyone from their duties on deck: we should play something

Eurylochus: Can't. We are all working

Astyanax: why?

Eurylochus: so we get to Ithaca faster

Astyanax: Hm, that's your motivation?

Eurylochus: that's what fuels me

Astyanax: then I fueled with rage

Odysseus drinking water in the vicinity: *almost shocks*

Astyanax: Perimedes said that's a good motivator

*Odysseus sighs in relief*

Eurylochus: don't listen to Perimedes

[lyculuscaelus]

Diomedes being the first name ever spoken in Epic the Musical is enough for me.