#or on the cast album

[wolfythewitch]

Hadestown au perchance

[marlowe-art]

some eggs for eggtober 🍳

[thewhizzyhead]

how genderbending the warriors (2024) is done not for the sole sake of "bad-assery"

okay here we go feminist ramble time for our newest chick on the block: warriors. now i'll be honest, prior to listening to the album, when i first heard that the warriors main girls were originally dudes in the movie and the novel, i thought that the decision for the genderbending, in lmm's perspective, were from the following: 1.) girl power move in like a very basic meaning of the word "bad-ass" 2.) simply a twist on a cult movie about big gang bros loved by the film bros, and 3.) a way to have the schuyler sisters back together gjfkdfldf

but when i read more about warriors and its development and how lmm took inspiration from the gamergate controversies of 2014-2015 aka among the peak of gamerbro misogyny campaigns, that's when i realized that Oh Shit Is Serious - because adapting a story about a group being framed and targeted and harassed for something they are accused of doing without any substantial proof other than a man screaming "THE WARRIORS SHOT CYYYYRUUS" with 21st century misogyny campaigns in mind makes the theme of fighting back a lot more complicated and a lot more resonant, going beyond just marketing a cast you can call "badass"

take the hurricanes' quiet girls, for example. the hurricanes (concept album version) is the only gang that lets the warriors off the hook and with a stern warning: quiet girls don't make it home. here, the hurricanes berate the warriors for not saying shit or attempting to defend themselves from accusations they know well aren't true. THIS MESSAGE IN PARTICULAR is what stays and influences ajax, fox, and swan til the very end of their stories.

literally one song after this does ajax show how easily she resonated with the hurricanes' lesson by finally sticking with her gut and actually choosing to fight back against both the baseball furies AND against the sleazy undercover cop. the latter encounter is one of the instances that really solidifies the recontextualization of the story because in the OG movie, ajax (a dude) WAS the sleazy fuck up harassing a woman in a park - and now with the literal character switch, ajax goes from being just a rebellious gangbro dude bro into someone whose want to fight is warranted. such a want to fight is seen in fox seeing as fox is the first to comment on the quiet girls scene and that, in the concept album, she is the one that instigates the rumble against the police in union square - saying that she is sick of being afraid of them and their 'fuckin powder blue' colors (also notice how she is the only warrior that really does say fuck the cops i think that's cool BUT I'LL TALK ABOUT FOX MORE NEXT TIME)

to a less obvious extent, swan also gets the receiving end of this recurring theme - by the album's finale, the usually violence-averse caution-first interim leader becomes a lot fiercer in protecting her crew. but perhaps among what i consider to be the biggest recontextualized change in the feminist sense is MERCY and her motivations to join the warriors in the first place. according to the wiki, her attraction to swan and the warriors and um seeing the orphans as wimps is what led her to switch sides BUT IN THE CONCEPT ALBUM, mercy's motivation to become a warrior is deepened, rooted in admiration rather than attraction - wanting to be like those women who hold their head up high. and again, we see this in Sick of Runnin' when she takes part in the rumble, finding her bravery within their ranks as they fight back. here, mercy becomes less of a swan tagalong and more of someone that wants what the warriors have: pride.

of course now that i type this out i realize that warriors is not based solely on the feminist rhetoric as with their theme of hope amidst adversity, the story is more intersectional and rooted in community struggle and wanting for more than that. but nonetheless, i genuinely believe that the twt filmbros arguments on why the genders should not have been changed in the first place just for "woke" points is kinda like,,,very shortsighted because not only does the narrative of women narrowly escaping unwarranted accusations actually fucking fit, but the act of learning to fight back amidst all odds - be it that of disbelieving, predatory men or the power of oppressive pigs - stays resonant for women yesterday, today, and the days to come.

ultimately, warriors (2024) is not solely a tale of female badassery - rather, it is a tale of the need for such "female badassery" in the face of past and present realities, which is why it somehow fucking worked.

[friendofozma]

Thinking about the line in hatchet town “Singing all these songs gives him greater windows to kill, but we're singing still!” and how it implies that the song is diegetic (the characters in the story know that they’re singing). In fact, according to the lyric, they know that they’ve been singing MULTIPLE songs throughout the show. I am thinking about the implications of characters IN A HATCHETFIELD MUSICAL being AWARE that they are SINGING.

PROMISE ME YOU’LL THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS!!

[youaremydearestdream]

the outsiders musical rant !! sorry if this doesn’t make sense, i just had to get it out there !

i find it interesting that despite being the main character of the outsiders musical, ponyboy does a lot of harmonizing with others instead of just taking the melody

he takes the melody when he’s narrating,, especially about his problems (tulsa ‘67, his solo parts in i could talk to you all night and far away from tulsa, etc.) but when he sings with other people, he is normally heard harmonizing

he opts up in grease got a hold and great expectations, leaving everyone else behind as they sing the melody. this shows his yearning for a life outside of tulsa, and a life outside of his problems. he takes the lower harmony in i could talk to you all night with cherry, and the highest harmony in throwing in the towel. he is always consumed by the need to get away.

cherry keeps him grounded. he can relate and connect with her, but it’s not enough. meanwhile, pony is disconnected from his brothers, but with darry most of all (darry sings the lower harmony, musically the furthest away from pony) while soda is the connector between the two, which is why soda is the one who takes the melody during the chorus of throwing in the towel when all three brothers sing together— soda is literally in the middle of them, stuck between a rock (darry) and and hard place (pony)

ponyboy is almost always harmonizing with everyone, except for when he’s with johnny. johnny is who he sings of running away with. by killing bob (in self defense!!) johnny is the one who makes running away a reality, which is why it’s fitting that johnny is the one takes the harmony when he sings with ponyboy in far away from tulsa and death’s at my door. he’s the one that pony feels the most safe and comfortable to be himself around because pony knows that johnny always understands him.

it’s only until after johnny dies that pony begins harmonizing with him instead, jumping between low and high harmonies during stay gold. this shows how affected he is by johnnys death— his harmonies are as “unstable” as he is. he finally comes back to the melody when he sings the last line of the song by himself, internalizing johnny’s message: to stay gold, to be himself, and to learn that there are so many more reasons to why life is worth living.

during the finale, he lets darry and sodapop read out the narration, showing that he has successfully mended the gap between him and darry. he sticks to the melody throughout the entire song. he no longer opts up like he did in the beginning because he has realized that running away from his problems (and running away from the melody) cannot solve anything. by the end of the outsiders musical, ponyboy has finally grown into his own skin and is no longer ashamed of where he comes from.

[shmunter]

what year is it again?

[titstatstummy]

Oliver Stark's pit hair is a thing of beauty

+ bonus sweaty pits

[junocornkiwi]

"You can relax, my friend~"

Polites, lil' sunshine 🥺✨🤲 In my head his concept must contain lotuseaters and lotus fruit itself

BECAUSE of the reasons

and some long thing like a scarf hanging from one of his shoulders

And curly hair :3

Why does lotuseaters look like cats? Who knows, probably bc cats are as cunningly evil (I worship them still) they'd sent you to THAT cave just for fun too I suppose

Also, love his smooth palette

[the-uninformed-zennial]

Do you ever have those days where you wake up, thinking everything is wonderful and right and it’s gonna be such a chill and easy day, only to turn on your computer and see your album has released a whole week earlier than you thought it would?

No?

Well um… completely and totally unrelated to that… My last Fable album is out streaming… like right now. And I was so very prepared for it. Mhm.

[map-of-obsessions]

Hatchet Town is such an interesting song. Aside from being a banger, it suddenly shifts the focus of the show from the teenagers up to the adults. And they're acting so much less rationally than the kids are.

Idk, I just thing it's such a great insight into hatchetfield as a town

[wolfythewitch]

In my brain somewhere the hadestown au is cyclical in a way where everyone, once, a lifetime ago or now, has in some way been Orpheus and Eurydice. Jon and Martin were Orpheus and Eurydice before tim and Sasha were, and the story was still the same. Jon turned to look and came up to the surface alone. Their Hades and Persephone were Peter and Elias. Maybe even before that, maybe Peter and Elias were Orpheus and Eurydice once. One of them must have turned. Someone will be Orpheus and Eurydice after, and maybe Tim and Sasha will be their Hades and Persephone. Orpheus will always look back. Eurydice will always forgive him

[gncrezan]

happy three years to @chrysanthemumgames !!!! as always i'm a little biased towards drawing hermes, but i love the entire cast and at least wanted to draw all of them :') and ofc, thank you jess for a game i always love and keep coming back to!!!

[candygoop]

wow these bitches gay! good for them! -Adil probably

[toiletpotato]

Hinton Battle was the original Scarecrow in The Wiz, Mabel King was the original Evillene* (in both the stage show AND the movie), and Tasha Thomas was the original Aunt Em.

*Evillene is the name of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wiz, so this is a picture of two Wicked Witches of the West meeting (!!!!!!!!!)

BONUS:

[b0n3l3ssbaenanas]

anyone else completely loosing it over Jonathan Groff’s choice to have Frank’s voice get progressively less harsh and textured as the show progresses (or, as he becomes younger and less… harsh and textured)?

at the beginning of the show (and the END of his cannon arc) in “That Frank,” he growls frequently in his singing (“…let it never stop!”) and thoroughly textures his louder line deliveries (“PARAMOUNT!!!”), whereas by the finale, (and the END of his cannon arc) “Our Time,” he’s skillfully tapered out the texture throughout the course of the score. totally buttered my skunk, and was an elegantly effective focal point for my second listen!

[visenyaism]

also district 12 being actual appalachia was great. folk music canon where somehow the only part of pentecostalism people remember is the fucking with snakes part but not the jesus part