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murroyilodel · 8 years

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THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (ORIGINAL TITLE: NOTRE DAME DE PARIS)

INTRODUCTION

I get asks from time to time about the differences between the book and the movie, so I figured maybe a post will help? Behind “Read More” is a revision of a write-up I did yearrrrrrs back, and covers both Victor Hugo’s book and the Disney movie. There are also links to old HoND shows in Disneyland back in the day like whoa.

P.S. I don’t claim to be an expert on the material or Victor Hugo. I’m just a big fan, so please let me know if there are any errors here. This post is also not meant to be comprehensive, I just hope it gets more people interested. :)

THE BOOK

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is usually depicted today as a love story, about a deformed bellringer and a beautiful Roma girl. But that’s not the whole story. Indeed, the original title given by Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris, suggests that there is no one main character, and no one main hero or villain as well. This is a sprawling melodrama set around the cathedral, a building that Hugo loved and inspired him to write the book. All the characters contribute in their respective ways, and each faces a type of tragedy in the end. In the preface, Hugo claims that while visiting or, rather, rummaging about Notre Dame, he found, in an obscure nook of one tower, the following word, engraved by hand upon the wall, and implies that it is this that propelled him to write the story:

ANArKH. [Fate]

Another romantic reason for writing the story was that Notre Dame was dilapidated and Hugo found it a shame. In the end, the book was attributed for helping start restoration efforts (let me point to this excellent post here). On the flip side, Hugo had a practical reason for finishing his book quickly - money. With the publisher’s deadline nearing, and a term forfeiting a thousand francs for every week of delay loomed, all Hugo had was loads of research material and nothing to show for it.

The story comprises of eleven “Books”. Purists may give me the side-eye for this (sorry XD), but first-time readers unused to long descriptions may wish to skip Book Three, which is basically Hugo’s thesis on the cathedral, and also Chapter Two of Book Five, in case they become bored and stop reading. Which will be a shame I feel!

CHARACTERS

Pierre Gringoire

“Will what they say be fine?” inquired Gisquette, timidly. “Very fine, Miss,” replied the unknown, without the slightest hesitation. […] “It is an entirely new play, which has never been performed before.” “Then it is not the same as the one performed two years ago, in which three handsome maids performed-” “As sirens,” said Liénarde. “And all naked,” added the young man. Liénarde lowered her eyes modestly. Gisquette glanced at her and did the same.

Gringoire is one of the first characters introduced. His lovely background is that his father was hanged by Burgundians and his mother disemboweled by the Picards. Gringoire grew up alone in Paris. He didn’t know how to steal, and survived on whatever charity people gave him. At sixteen, Gringoire wanted a profession, but found himself qualified for nothing. He tried to be a woodcutter, but he wasn’t strong enough. A soldier, but he wasn’t brave enough. A monk, but he wasn’t devout enough and couldn’t hold his liquor.

Hence, Gringoire became a poet.

Now in his twenties, and having written a play for the Festival of Fools, Gringoire sets out to prove his worth. Unfortunately, the play is disrupted, and a severely disappointed Gringoire finds himself on the streets without food and money, again. He meets Esmeralda, and follows her to the Court of Miracles. There, he is deemed an intruder, and is saved because Esmeralda agrees to marry him.

Gringoire is a self-professed philosopher. He takes things as they come and becomes a juggler. He accepts that Esmeralda does not love him, and becomes fonder of Esmeralda’s goat, Djali, lamenting how pretty Djali will be hanged when he sees Esmeralda and Djali prosecuted for sorcery at a trial. Gringoire values his life for “a thousand reasons”, like the air, morning, evening, three great books to write, blah, blah, blah. When captured and presented to the king, Gringoire denies being part of a mob that is attacking the cathedral to rescue Esmeralda, who is seeking refuge inside, though he is the one who concocted the plan to avoid sacrificing himself to save Esmeralda in turn.

Fate: He does escape with his life, and Djali, and goes on to reach a certain level of success with tragedy plays.

La Esmeralda

“Do you know what friendship is?”

“Yes,” replied the g****, “It is to be brother and sister; two souls meeting without mingling, two fingers on the same hand.”

“And love?” pursued Gringoire.

“Oh! Love,” she said. Her voice trembled, and her eye beamed. “That is to be two and yet one. A man and a woman joined as into an angel. It is heaven.”

Well liked by everyone for “her gaiety, daintiness, dances, and songs”, Esmeralda is a mysterious and beautiful Roma girl of sixteen, who arrived in Paris a year ago. She dances in the streets and teaches her goat, Djali, tricks to entertain the public. These earn the ire of a monk and a recluse.

During an rendezvous with Phoebus, a captain who rescued her from an attempted abduction and whom she fell in love with, Esmeralda is willing to give up her virginity for him. She always protects her virtue because she is told that the amulet she wears will not work to find her parents if she loses it. At that moment, however, Phoebus is seriously wounded, and Esmeralda is charged with sorcery. At trial, the public exclaims in fear when a witness testifies how a coin has turned into a leaf, and Esmeralda is forced to confess under torture.

She is rescued from execution by Quasimodo and finds sanctuary in Notre Dame. Although Esmeralda is grateful, she cannot get past Quasimodo’s ugliness, and is insensitive towards him.

Esmeralda is arguably the most innocent character here. That’s not to say that Esmeralda has no flaws or bite. She won’t hesitate in using her dagger to protect herself from harm, which includes Gringoire’s initial advances. Her love for Phoebus is blind, even when she knows he does not intend to marry her and is no longer interested in her. When Quasimodo puts out two vases, Esmeralda deliberately chooses the withering flower in the beautiful, but cracked, vase that leaks water, over the fresh flower in the unbroken, but plain, vase.

Fate: She is ultimately captured again and hanged at the pillory.

Claude Frollo

“Reverend,” replied Tourangeau, “I am ill, very ill. You are said to be great Æsculapius, and I have come to ask your advice in medicine.”

“Medicine!” said the archdeacon, tossing his head. He seemed to meditate for a moment, and then resumed, “Tourangeau, turn your head, you will find my reply already written on the wall.”

Tourangeau obeyed, and read this inscription above his head: “Medicine is the daughter of dreams.-JAMBLIQUE.”

Meanwhile, Doctor Jacques Coictier […] whispered in Tourangeau’s ear, softly enough not to be heard by the archdeacon, “I warned you that he was mad.”

Known as the antagonist, it might surprise first-time readers that Frollo has the most detailed background and in-depth psychoanalysis. It is also through Frollo that Hugo introduces several themes, including ‘Anarkh’.

Intelligent as a boy, Frollo seemed to have only one aim in life: learning. He mastered every subject in Collège de Torchi, where he was always “biting his pen, scribbling on his threadbare knee, and, in winter, blowing on his fingers.” An alarming reality check came when Frollo’s parents died from a plague, and Frollo realised he had a baby brother, Jehan. Frollo dedicated himself to looking after Jehan, and an adopted child, Quasimodo. He became a priest; then, archdeacon.

Frollo starts off full of compassion and enthusiasm. However, by age thirty-six, he is bitter and discouraged. Jehan behaves dishonourably; Quasimodo turns deaf. So Frollo finds comfort by, well, studying even more. He gains a formidable reputation which attracts illustrious visitors, who consult him on subjects like alchemy.

Frollo is obsessed with Esmeralda. His efforts to forget her, by denouncing sorcery and forbidding Roma near Notre Dame, prove useless. Seeing Esmeralda with Phoebus, Frollo stabs Phoebus. When Esmeralda is in prison, Frollo confesses his purported love and gives an ultimatum: be his or die. Esmeralda rejects him. As her execution takes place, Frollo wanders the streets, delirious, despairing, but ultimately unrepentant. After learning that Esmeralda’s still alive, his obsession continues.

In a story with no real heroes or villains, Frollo is depicted rather sympathetically. But he is clearly flawed. Whether it is cowardice or desire to protect his reputation or something, he avoids the pillory where Quasimodo is punished for a crime instigated by himself, and swears jealously that no one else shall have Esmeralda.

Fate: Quasimodo throws him off the top of the cathedral, and Frollo’s body is not buried in consecrated ground.

Quasimodo

The provost addressed him sternly, “What have you done to be brought here?“

The poor devil, supposing that the provost was asking his name, broke his habitual silence, and replied, in a harsh and guttural voice, "Quasimodo.”

The answer was so little related to the question that the spectators began laughing wildly. Messier Robert exclaimed, “Are you mocking me?”

“Bellringer of Notre Dame,” replied Quasimodo, thinking this time he had been asked his trade.

“Bellringer!” returned the provost, who had woken early enough to be in a sufficiently bad temper […] “I’ll make them ring a peal of rods on your back through every street of Paris.”

“If it is my age that you wish to know,” said Quasimodo, “I think I shall be twenty next Martinmas.”

On Quasimodo Sunday, 1467, a four-year-old child was left on a wooden board, and everyone marvelled in horror and glee at the monster. Frollo, who overheard the conversation, adopted the child and named him Quasimodo.

Quasimodo lives in Notre Dame and knows the whole place intimately. At fourteen, he was ecstatic to be appointed bellringer. Sadly, constant exposure to the loud ringing of bells turned Quasimodo deaf. He became more miserable and withdrawn. Nevertheless, Quasimodo’s love for his bells remains. While people believe Quasimodo to be Notre Dame’s demon, Hugo notes that he is, in fact, its soul.

During the Festival, Quasimodo is elected Pope by virtue of his ugliness. In his confusion, Quasimodo is happy that people are cheering for him. Later, when Quasimodo kidnaps Esmeralda, under Frollo’s orders, he is caught by Phoebus. After a farcical trial where a deaf magistrate questions a deaf Quasimodo, Quasimdo is sent to the pillory. Whipped and humiliated by the masses, Quasimodo is stunned that the only person who heeds his request for water is Esmeralda. He seems to first love Esmeralda for her kindness. In a laugh that is “the most heartbreaking thing”, he tells her that he never understood his ugliness until he saw her.

Quasimodo isn’t a likeable protagonist, with his menacing ways. He shows no apparent compunction in killing people (ooh, molten lead, I likey). However, his humanity gradually unfolds. He is completely faithful and grateful to Frollo, and is selfless in his devotion towards Esmeralda. Hugo comments that Quasimodo’s malevolence is, perhaps, not innate, but stems from the hatred surrounding him.

Fate: After the deaths of Esmeralda and Frollo, and lamenting that he has lost all that he has ever loved, he disappears. Eighteen months or two years later, it is heavily implied that it is his skeleton that is found embracing Esmeralda’s, and when his skeleton is detached from the other, it fell to dust.

Phoebus de Châteaupers

“Phoebus,” she said, with an expression of infinite love, “instruct me in your religion.”

“My religion!” exclaimed the captain, bursting with laughter, “I instruct you in my religion! Corne et tonnerre. What do you want with my religion?”

“That we may be married,” she replied.

The captain’s face assumed an expression of mingled surprise, disdain, carelessness and libertine passion.

“Why should one marry?”

Phoebus is a captain of the King’s archers, and is betrothed to Fleur-de-Lys. When he visits Fleur-de-Lys, he feigns interest in what she does. He is clearly uncomfortable in the presence of nobles and their classy manners, even though he, too, comes from a noble family.

This is because Phoebus has spent most of his life in the countryside with the military. He is more used to the commoners and their supposedly cruder ways. He is extremely vulgar (but the swear-words are mild by today’s standards. Pope’s belly? Blood and thunder? Phoebus, you can do better.). He watches his tongue when he is with Fleur-de-Lys, but feels free to talk however he likes with Esmeralda.

Whilst Fleur-de-Lys is depicted as a typical noblewoman, elegant and non-confrontational, she is aware that Phoebus is not interested in her. When Esmeralda enters the picture, she and her friends recognise a threat and seek to belittle Esmeralda. Phoebus, however, is amused, and openly expresses his admiration for Esmeralda’s beauty.

The book is a story of contradictions, and Phoebus, whilst being very handsome, is also very shallow. His friends include Jehan, and they visit taverns and prostitutes. Phoebus uses his looks to charm women. He does not love them, and Esmeralda is no exception.

After Esmeralda’s alleged assassination, Phoebus tries to forget her and returns to Fleur-de-Lys, who is safer. He lies that he received his wound from a dispute. Later, Fleur-de-Lys witnesses Esmeralda being brought to the gallows, and sees that Phoebus is disturbed. Not knowing the real reason, she forces Phoebus to watch the procession with her.

Fate: To quote the book, “Phoebus de Chateaupers also came to a tragic end. He married.”

OTHER NOTABLE CHARACTERS

Clopin Trouillefou

“By the devil’s claws,” interrupted Clopin, “your name, knave, and nothing more. Listen. You are in the presence of three powerful sovereigns. […] You have violated the privileges of our city. You must be punished unless you are a […] thief, a beggar, or a vagabond. Are you anything of that sort?”

“Alas,” said Gringoire, “I have not that honour. I am the author-”

“That is enough,” Trouillefou interrupted, without permitting him to finish. “You will be hanged.”

There is more to Clopin than meets the eye. He feigns disabilities while begging for money. He auditions for Pope of Fools, and “God knows what intensity of ugliness his visage could attain”. Later, he reveals himself to be leader of the Court of Miracles. He attempts to hang Gringoire, but then remembers a custom of asking if any woman will marry Gringoire.

When Esmeralda disappears, Clopin is genuinely worried. After learning where Esmeralda is, he gathers the Truands to besiege Notre Dame. He yells that Esmeralda is falsely condemned. Unfortunately, Quasimodo thinks that the Truands are going to harm Esmeralda, and attacks them. Louis XI also sends his soldiers to subdue them, and Clopin is described as severing men’s limbs with a scythe.

Jehan Frollo du Moulin

“It’s Master Andry Musnier,” said one. “One of the four appointed booksellers to the University,” said another. “Everything goes by fours there,” cried a third; “four nations, four faculties, four holidays, four proctors, four electors, and four booksellers.” “Well,” began Jehan, “we must play four devils.” “Musnier, we’ll burn your books.” “Musnier, we’ll beat your lackey.” “Musnier, we’ll kiss your wife.” “That fine, big Mademoiselle Oudarde.” “Who is as fresh and gay as if she were a widow.” “Devil take you,” growled Master Andry Musnier. “Master Andry,” said Jehan, still clinging to the capital, “hold your tongue, or I’ll drop on your head.”

Although enrolled into Collège de Torchi like Frollo, Jehan left an entirely different reputation. Jehan got into mischief, and enjoyed leading student uprisings. Frollo often receives reports about Jehan’s unruly behaviour.

A disorderly man, Jehan frequently asks Frollo for money. With a shrewd and charming disposition, he disregards Frollo’s lectures. Jehan thinks that life is a joke and indulges in wine and a good uproar, and is usually present in scenes where Quasimodo is humiliated.

When Frollo gives up on him, Jehan scurries off and joins the Truands as they prepare to save Esmeralda. He revels in being an outcast on a fine expedition to pillage Notre Dame and rouses the Truands with his speech. “Long live mirth!”

Gudule

The recluse trembled, rose erect on her bare feet, and leaped at the window with eyes so glaring that Mahiette, Oudarde, and the other woman and the child recoiled […]

She cried, with an appalling laugh, “It’s the Egyptian who is calling me.”

No one in Paris knows who Gudule really is, until three women visit her and one recognises her. Her real name is Pâquette le Chantefleurie. She was a prostitute and gave birth to Agnes. Among other things, Pâquette made a pair of pink satin shoes for her beloved child.

Pâquette took Agnes to some gypsy women, who foretold that Agnes would be queen. Pleased, Pâquette went to inform her neighbour, during which time Agnes was kidnapped from their home. One shoe was left behind and in Agnes’s place was a “hideous little monster”.

Distraught, Pâquette led the authorities to the gypsies’ camp, but the gypsies had already left. It was surmised, from ribbons and blood found, that the gypsies had eaten Agnes.

Pâquette disappeared and came to Paris, with a shoe she worships and a hatred towards gypsies, especially Esmeralda.

Louis IX

“The day must come when there shall exist in France only one king, one lord, one judge, one headsman, as there is in paradise but one God!”

Although Louis XI is old and complains about his ailments, he is still sharp of mind.

He is also distrustful, malicious, and miserly. He moans about the Crown’s enormous expenses, ignores a prisoner who pleads his innocence of treason and laughs at his people’s audacity when sedition against the bailiff is reported. When it turns out that it is actually Notre Dame that is attacked, Louis XI freaks out. The cathedral is under his protection. An attack on Notre Dame is an attack on him.

One subject deduces (wrongly) that people are displeased because an impure witch resides in Notre Dame. Louis XI thus orders that the people be exterminated and the sorceress hanged.

STORY

The stage is set, literally, on 6th January, 1482, for a play in the Great Hall. Gringoire takes extreme pride in his play. However, hassled by Jehan and Clopin, the play fails to start.

Meanwhile, people contest to be Pope of Fools and display their ugliest expressions. When Quasimodo appears, everyone admires his remarkable grimace, and Quasimodo is elected.

Gringoire seeks the warmth of a bonfire and sees Esmeralda dancing for a captivated crowd. However, two people appear non-appreciative. Gudule curses Esmeralda while Frollo condemns the tricks that Djali performs. Later, Quasimodo kidnaps Esmeralda, but Phoebus intervenes and Esmeralda falls in love with her knight in shining armour.

Quasimodo is punished at the pillory, and onlookers turn nasty and blame Quasimodo for their misfortunes. When Quasimodo asks for water, Esmeralda takes pity and lets him drink from a gourd.

For all its seriousness, the book is funny in Hugo’s sardonic way. Still, passionate pleas, coincidences and events that spin out of control ensure that this is a story of Shakespearean proportion. Everyone is led inexorably to a climatic end.

In other words, people die. If they don’t, Hugo is considerate enough to give them a wallop of tragedy.

DISNEY’S THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

Not having done as well in the US box-office as other animations, like The Lion King, have, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame is now quite obscure. That said, it is considered by many to be one of the most underrated Disney animations and one of the last films in the Disney Renaissance. It’s been exactly ten years since the film premiered on screens worldwide in June, but fans have certainly not forgotten this film.

CHARACTERS

Quasimodo Voice: Tom Hulce

Quasi, as Quasimodo is affectionately called in the film, is a much gentler, sweeter and kinder character than his counterpart in the book. Animators have also succeeded in designing him to be supposedly ugly, but, nonetheless, adorable.

Unlike Quasimodo in the book, who walks the streets as and when he chooses, Quasi is forbidden to even step out of Notre Dame. Throughout his life, ever since he was a baby, Quasi has been abused psychologically by his guardian, Frollo, into thinking of himself as a monster and that his mother abandoned him a long time ago.

A submissive Quasi can only observe Paris and the citizens from above the bell-tower, and carve out of wood a miniature Paris of his own. His desire to be out there increases when the Festival of Fools approaches. Encouraged by his friends, the gargoyles, Quasi leaves Notre Dame and becomes caught in the frenzy of festivities. Quasi finds himself crowned the King of Fools, and is tremendously happy and touched. Soon after, however, he learns a harsh lesson in return.

“No one wants to stay cooped up here forever.”

Archdeacon Voice: David Ogden Stiers

The Archdeacon acts as the voice of reason and sympathy. He is the only character that Frollo pays any amount of respect to. The Archdeacon reprimands Frollo severely, after witnessing a gypsy woman die while trying to run away from Frollo. Frollo thinks that the bundle she is carrying is stolen goods, but it turns out to be a baby Quasimodo. The Archdeacon warns that Notre Dame is watching (it’s got eyes, yo) and successfully persuades Frollo to raise Quasimodo as penance.

The Archdeacon also protects Esmeralda when she finds her way into Notre Dame. He reminds Frollo of the sanctity of the Church and denies him the chance to capture Esmeralda. The Archdeacon then guides Esmeralda through the cathedral and cautions against her rashness.

Esmeralda: “No one out there’s going to help. That’s for sure.” Archdeacon: “Well, perhaps there is someone in here who can.”

Clopin Voice: Paul Kandel

Clopin is an enigmatic storyteller, and has a puppet whom he interacts with and bullies often. He opens the film by enchanting (or terrorising, it depends) children with a tale of “a man and a monster”, which is an important motif in the film. He is also the Master of Ceremonies for the Festival of Fools, and leads the public on in the celebrations and fun. This is the moment when Quasimodo first ventures out of Notre Dame, and all the principal characters collide, er, meet.

A mercurial and flamboyant character, Clopin is also dangerous and not to be trifled with. As the leader of the Court of Miracles, which is a secret haven for gypsies, Clopin watches out for spies and intruders, and is ready to kill anyone who finds his way in. That includes Quasimodo and Phoebus. The man does it in song and dance too, and isn’t too pleased when his puppet decides to intervene.

“We find you totally innocent, which is the worst crime of all.”

Phoebus Voice: Kevin Kline

Phoebus’s character is thoroughly changed here. He’s the good-natured cop around the block, complete with integrity, comic expressions and buffoonery. He does sometimes act like a goof, what with getting injured by other characters and not knowing how to read maps properly. But part of the goofiness is due to his ability to poke fun at himself. He also has a horse, Achilles, who is trained to sit on people.

A soldier who has been away in the battlefield for years, Phoebus returns to Paris a war hero, and becomes Captain of the Guard. He is instantly attracted to Esmeralda when he sees her dancing in the streets, and helps her escape two soldiers, the latter having presumed that the money she’s earned is stolen from someone else.

Unlike the other soldiers, Phoebus disapproves of the crowd’s humiliation of Quasimodo during the festival, and wants to stop it. Although Phoebus is initially respectful towards his employer, Frollo, he constantly shows his reservations towards Frollo’s methods.

“I was summoned from the wars, to capture fortune-tellers and palm-readers?”

Esmeralda Voice: Demi Moore; Heidi Mollenhauer (singing).

How do you turn an ethereal and dreamy creature into someone with supposedly more depth and whom the audience can relate to?

Disney’s Esmeralda is given a worldly awareness of the gypsies’ outcast status, something that Esmeralda in the book is unconcerned about. Disney’s Esmeralda does not have the same innocence and gaiety either. If anything, she is more jaded and mature than the Disney heroines before her. Nevertheless, Esmeralda is kind, independent, feisty, and, at times, vulnerable. She reveals her sadness for the gypsies’ plight when she finds solace in Notre Dame.

A dancer who survives on the streets, Esmeralda hides Djali and herself under a simple cloak to evade soldiers. During the Festival of Fools, she performs to the crowd’s applause and catcalls. Later, however, she silences that same crowd when she tends to a helpless Quasi, who is being tortured and humiliated, and openly defends Quasi. She and Quasimodo become friends and she teaches him that he is not a monster.

“What do they have against people who are different, anyway?”

Djali

Although a ‘she’ in the book, Djali is a ‘he’ here. He is Esmeralda’s companion and is protective of her, in his head-butting way. He has a propensity for wood and eats up Quasimodo’s miniature sheep and shepherd, when he and Esmeralda explore Notre Dame.

Phoebus: “I didn’t know you had a kid.” Esmeralda: “Well, he doesn’t take kindly to soldiers.”

Victor, Hugo, and Laverne (from left to right) Voice: Charles Kimbrough, Jason Alexander, and Mary Wickes (later, Jane Withers)

Following the serious tone of the film, the production team make certain to point out that, while they move and function on their own, these gargoyles are not magical creatures (although the fact that Djali can see Hugo raises some question). They are a figment of Quasi’s imagination, a manifestation of Quasi’s twenty years of isolation and loneliness. They are still when people are around, and come alive when Quasi is alone. Just like Calvin and Hobbes, actually.

Although the gargoyles’ humour is meant to be comic relief, it sometimes jars with the mood and pacing of the film, and many have described the gargoyles as a mistake. Still, the gargoyles serve to be Quasi’s friends and advisors. Victor is level-headed and snobbish, Laverne is the maternal one who is constantly irritated by pigeons which roost on her, and Hugo is the loud mouth who thinks he’s the “cute one”.

[As Quasi walks away.] Victor: “Aren’t you going to watch the festival with us?” Hugo: “I don’t get it.” Victor: “Perhaps he’s sick.” Laverne: “Impossible. If twenty years of listening to you two hasn’t made him sick by now, nothing will.”

Frollo Voice: Tony Jay

No longer an archdeacon but a Minister of Justice, Frollo is immediately presented as fearsome, arrogant and merciless, with a touch of wry humour thrown in. His zeal to destroy all gypsies can be attributed to religious fanaticism and his belief that gypsies represent all that is heathen and immoral.

Frollo detests the Festival of Fools, but has to attend it every year simply because it is required of him as a public official. This year’s festival turns out to be different though. After seeing Esmeralda for the first time, Frollo finds himself trapped in an inner conflict between the virtues he clings to and the undeniable lust he feels for her. He blames Esmeralda and concludes that she is a witch, who must burn in Hell or belong to him alone.

A more villainous figure in the film, Frollo truly believes that he is above the weak-minded common people and that his actions are just.

“You don’t know what it’s like out there. I do.”

TALE OF A MAN AND A MONSTER

From what I gather when the movie came out, I think effort was spent to make the film light-hearted, since people had come to expect a feel-good experience from Disney movies. There were the McDonald’s toys to promote the film, and the snappy slogan (“Come join the party!”) slapped across the posters. Still, after the film was shown, some people were led to wonder how it was that the film had managed to snag a ‘G’ rating. This is admittedly a more ‘adult’ animation than the usual Disney fare, dealing with issues of racism and religion, but also acceptance and forgiveness. The film is not without its anachronisms (Balloons! Tomatoes!) and plot-holes, and Disney does take liberties with Hugo’s story. But looking at other adaptations, one will realise that Disney is not the only one. *points to my other post showing that Victor Hugo himself memed his own meme in an opera.*

The film opens with Clopin singing about bells, bells, bells, bells, and more bells. In between is the story of how a group of Roma tries to enter Paris, only to be cornered by Frollo and his soldiers, and how Frollo comes to raise Quasi (because the Archdeacon guilts him to do it).

Twenty years later, Quasi is now bellringer of Notre Dame and yearns to see what life is like outside the cathedral. His venturing out, during the Festival of Fools, will trigger off a series of events that will lead Quasi to meet new friends, question the beliefs that he has been instilled with, and become an unlikely hero.

POSTSCRIPT

There have been two stage adaptations since the movie. The first version opened in 1999 in Berlin, and was entitled Der Glöckner von Notre Dame. The script was rewritten by James Lapin, who also directed the show. Some old songs and scenes were taken out, and some new songs and scenes were added in. The musical ran for three years and was a success, not just among the locals, but also the tourists.

The second version premiered in La Jolla Playhouse in 2014 and the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2015, and that version continues to play across the USA and now all across the world, from Denmark to Japan.

CONCLUSION

I hope this write-up helps! Any mistakes, please let me know! If you’re interested in old gems, below are stuff I dug up! I have also set out links to old English translations of the book if anyone is interested.

Disneyland: These are different performances which I wished I could travel back in time to watch! USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpnNk4TCpZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcOXslkwyOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfPxpoGwx0s Paris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpijTkwvcF4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QAXhhaciXM

Book http://www.bartleby.com/312/ http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/victor_hugo/the_hunchback_of_notre_dame/ http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/hunchback_notre_dame/

These versions are antiquated and contain typos. Online original French version: http://www.livresse.com/Livres-enligne/notredameparis/01-1ndp.shtml

Many, many thanks for reading! hond musical tag & hond movie tag

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