#i don't think ruth and richie really make the cut but they do have their moments so i let them in

[hilacopter]

I'm really curious what people's answer to this question will be:

(please don't just vote for your favorite character vote for who you think is the most of a protagonist this is serious research hereeee)

[myheadphonesareneverloudenough]

Nerdy Prudes Must Die; musical motifs

i have so many thoughts about Nerdy Prudes Must Die and specifically the musical motifs used throughout. so buckle up, i want to talk. (theres a whole breakdown under the cut.)

so, if you didn't know already, Jeff Blim is a musical genius. and in the Hatchetfield universe, theres so many musical motifs that get used in every show. but there's one in particular that i don't know what to call it, but i'm gonna say it's 'the nerds' theme'. it's this one right here;

i've heard some call it Pete's theme, which is wrong. this specific melody is the theme of Pete, Richie, and Ruth's self worth and their inescapable tragedies. when we meet the three friends, it's very obvious that they see themselves at the bottom of the high school food chain. the nerds have accepted that they are worthless and will amount to nothing in school, because that is where society has placed them. it's as simple as Pete's song Cool As I Think I Am. he very literally does not see himself as valuable as the other students. but when that idea shifts from Cool As I Think I Am to Cool As She Thinks I Am, suddenly we have Pete realising his self worth, and the motif shows up;

and right after that, Pete is beat up in a parking lot by Max Jägerman. Pete's own self worth can only go so far when you have people like Max denying it constantly.

so now there's lyrics to this motif, and yes, Pete is the first one to sing it. But that doesn't make it any less Ruth and Richie's.

just like Pete, Richie finds his self worth in the acceptance from others. Once Max is gone and Richie makes friends with the football team, he realises how great it is to be alive. he realises that he deserves to be alive.

when Max comes to kill him, Richie justifies his self worth with the motif that returns for him this time, not Pete;

now they're not his final words, but Richie dies after declaring, "I'm Not A Loser". when he finally gets some self worth, he is murdered and never gets to fulfil that worth.

Ruth's self worth is a little different. she views her worthlessness as unfair. she believes that if she was different, she could be something great. unlike Pete and Richie, Ruth really shows that she has bigger dreams. Ruth wants to be the star of the show. she wishes to be appreciated, and her ungodly horniess can honestly be seen as a metaphor for wanting to be loved. Ruth sings about her self worth in the most Ruth way, with her own number in the BBQ Monologues.

the climax of the song (which Lauren kills, btw) the motif comes back again in the background. This time, it's for Ruth and her self worth;

does the fact that Ruth's version of the motif doesn't include the 'im not a loser' lyrics have to do with Ruth having more belief in herself? that she doesn't need to explain she isn't a loser because she knows she isn't a loser and deserves to have a chance in the spotlight? i sure as hell think so.

but Max kills her immediately after. he stops her from ever living out her big dreams of being a star.

the motif comes back again, obviously, in the reprise of Cool As I Think I Am;

the lyrics change this time around, and Pete sings 'you have to do it', which is him telling Steph that she has to be the one to kill him. despite Pete learning how to have self worth throughout this whole show, he still views himself as expendable. could this be justified with the fact that his two best friends just had their hopes and dreams shattered in death? probably. the point is, at some point during Max's killing spree, the death of his best friends, and the summoning of the Lords in Black, Pete has managed to convince himself that he's worthless again.

now. in the end, it feels like a happy ending due to the nature of The Best of You, but there are still a lot of loose ends to be explored. and on top of all that, the Nerds' motif comes back one last time;

because Grace kept the Black Book and continued to use it, and the Lords in Black are far from fair, i think Pete's torment and tragic narrative is not over by the end of NPMD.

so yeah. Pete, Richie, and Ruth are 'doomed by the narrative', as are most people in Hatchetfield. but these three characters are specifically doomed by their own self worth, and the narrative will never let them truly become their true selves.

and Jeff Blim wrote a banger melody to tell that story.

[24-guy]

I really want to hear the opinions you have on this! What horror movies do you think the main npmd characters like to watch? I don't know much about horror movies (yet) but I like to think Max is the kind of guy who is genuinely scared of the live action Scooby Doo movies

Yes absolutely! Enjoy below the cut!! (Cos it's long and I'm sorry about that-)

I'll start with Max since you mentioned him. He's absolutely scared of even the Scooby Doo cartoons. Because of the fear of skeletons and ghosts. So he stays right away from paranormal movies. I think Ghost face even is a hard no, too. However: I think he liked the purge movies. Because those are just guns, really. But like. That's probably the only horror he likes.

Stephanie I think is a bad movies and popular movies enjoyer. She likes the most popular movies (Halloween, Elm Street, Friday, Etc) but then will pull out the most random movie you've never heard of (Frogs) and it'll be a moment and a half. She collects the memorabilia and has the replica of the Reverse Bear Trap even though I don't think she loves Saw. She's seen all of them. But I don't think she'd intentionally go out of her way to rewatch them outside of watching with somebody else. Not to say she hates gore, though. I think she'd love Terrifier and it's sequel. She probably saw them at the cinema.

Peter mildly dislikes horror. He's probably more fond of horror comedies. Things like child's play and the more recent elm street movies. He probably likes the Jordan Peele horror movies, too. Other than that, I think he'd like making fun of shitty B movies with Steph because making fun of them is the best part. He also probably unironically enjoyed the original black and white Universal Monsters movies. He has those vibes.

Richie is a film geek who watches anime and because I'm those things he gets the "he's just like me" and he loves all sorts of horror but in a more pretentious way than me. He's a stickler for the classics, probably hates all the remakes/requels - he refuses to acknowledge their existence. He probably has a list of his top favourites which involves the original Psycho, Halloween, Alien, and basically any other movie that was "revolutionary" to the genre. He does have a guilty pleasure for so bad they're good movies though. Mainly killer klowns. Also his ass probably likes the unique/artsy films like Jordan Peele's Get Out and Skinamarink.

Ruth hates all horror and she only watches the horror musicals. Thus her favourite horror movie is Sweeney Todd. She will happily vacate the room or hide under a blanket, thank you very much.

Grace thinks horror is satanic and, as a joke, I think the nerds would show her The Nun. And she grows a minuscule obsession with horror movies with religious themes and backgrounds. Like the Exorcist, the other nun films, midsommar, and Carrie to name a few. She would refuse liking them, of course. But she gets away with watching them from describing only the religious meanings.

[corn-egg]

NPMD song tier list

Controversial

As cool as I think I am: I never really vibed with this song. I mean it's good but compared to every other song it just doesn't excite me as much. Although it does always make me laugh and cry.

If I loved you: I just started warming up to this song, but it's also like as cool as I think I am. And then also to sing this right after Ruth dies? If this was placed after they honored her a little more that'd be fine. The emotional whiplash from just for once to this song

The best of you: definitely an earworm. I love all the highschool characters we got from this one song (like brooke and rudolph) and also how this is like their up-town funk, that idea is absolutely adorable. But then, 3 kids died from murders (soon to be 4) in the course of one month and they just forget about it? I can't help but feel a little sour about that. But other than that I love it.

Cool as I think I am (reprise) this song brings me to tears every time I watch NPMD. LIKE joeys performance in this? Breathtaking. It's very sad but also very short

The summoning: I really want to put this song up higher but I do get second hand embarrassment for some parts. Other than that I love the LIB and was absolutely ecstatic we had something for them all together. I really love pokey after yellow jacket so I wish they evened out the lines throughout the song

Dirty Dudes must die: I love how batshit insane Grace became at the end. She is a true icon. And the vocals? CHEFS KISS! Her ending pose is everything. She is THE GIRLBOSS

Dirty girl: I'm going to be honest, I skipped this the first time I watched NPMD. But rewatching and relistening to it really made me appreciate the amazing harmonies in this song. I love them so much in this, although its extremely embarrassing watching with your friends

Literal monster: again, I would love to put this higher but it's hard to rate this. I love love love how max sings a verse in this. But also how the nerds sing too, god the choreography is just sjrjrntjng

Go Go Nighthawks! THE FUCK YOU CLIVESDALE VERSE HAS ME ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING. And Richie dancing in the mascot costume is so funny to me too. Especially cause Jon was battling to keep that on his head when he was in the play. Plus this song is the last time we'll see everyone happy together.

Bury the bully: this song is so funny. But also how everyones voices go together? Changing from bully the bully to bury the bully is GENIUS. the end when "I just cut off his nips" and grace screams "GIVE ME THOSE" is definitely an underrated line

Bully the bully: I know I keep on saying that these songs are hilarious, and that's because they are. Like, the chemistry all the nerds had in this scene? The spins? You can see how much more sure of this they are then in the 'reprise' and how they think this is going to solve all of their problems (it does for like two weeks)

Hatchettown: all the cameos in this made the hours of going through NMT so worth it. (I do recommend watching it. At least season two) even kn tje cast recording boy jerry is in it calls Jeri a dirty girl and I don't think many people know about that. And the bridge in this song? Heavenly. Actually a 10/10 song.

Nerdy prudes must die: this scene is heartbreaking but it was necessary for us to hear Jon's amazing voice. The little details where max uses his powers on him and he like flops to the floor? To good. And he thinks saying "I'm not a loser" will help his case like in all of his animes LMAO. This just really shows how far everyone in starkid has come.

Highschool is killing me: best opening number ever (totally not biased) the opening lines always give me chills how it always smoothly transitions. I think everything in this is perfect.

Just for once is one of the best songs of the hatchet field trilogy and here's why: it uses clever word play and shows how Ruth isn't just a throwaway character.

Jeff blim isn't really known outside of the fandom from having the best lyrics (I obviously love them but this is just some beliefs other people have) he really outshined with this. It just looks so dumb but when you really feel dive on what the double meaning for every lyric is you really start to appreciate it.(someone pointed this out once and I'm just obsessed:the joke of her brushing her hair with the grill brush is also funny because she doesn't have any hair from her chemo treatment)It's heartbreaking to see how Ruth longs for something people wouldn't consider a big deal; she wants to be a middle aged mom. That goal just to be found is so sad to see how much she wants it and then you see that she's never ever going to reach that goal because of Max jagerman. Ruth definitely makes people uncomfortable when watching the musical, but for her character saying the most out of pocket things is her way of getting attention, and then also to have such a pathetic death? It really rubs salt in the wound.

In many ways I can relate to Ruth. Her want to be something when she's older. Ruth's need of attention and affection is also kind of how I do it: with theater and saying weird shit. Although when I say weird shit I think it's hilarious to see their reaction. But she also wants to perform and I love to perform so much and being someone you aren't for just an hour seems so fun.

They couldn't have chosen anyone better but Lauren for this role. You can see how much thought she put into her acting: her little facial expressions, the slightest change in tone of voice and her posture. I love the way she acts in the beginning of the song with the eye batting and the over animated movements are so satisfying but also serve a purpose. It shows how Ruth is mocking the play, but once the movements become less and less animated you see that she longs for that life she is talking about. I just absolutely adore the song and character although she is seen as weird. ENDING NOTES: THIS SONG IS SO GOOD!! LISTEN TO IT RIGHT NOW

If you actually read the whole thing thank you :))