Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods is probably my personal favourite musical, for many reasons. Firstly, the song 'Agony' and its reprise are hilarious. Secondly, the music is beautiful- there's one harmony in the song 'No One Is Alone' (particularly well sung in the movie version) on the line 'maybe we forgot' which I just love. Mostly, however, it's the aspects of plot and characterisation that add up to a meditation on parenthood, growing up, dealing with the trials of life and morality. Sounds deep, but when presented in this format- a musical based on fairytales- it's something you don't necessarily realise you're thinking about until it's over. Almost every time I watch or listen to it, it reminds me of something I'd learnt but forgotten. Here are some of the life lessons from Into The Woods that come to my mind- leaving out the obvious, like 'don't piss off a witch'. SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FILM AND THE SHOW (THERE ARE PLOT DIFFERENCES)
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"It's ABOUT Facebook. But it's not about Facebook. Know what I'm saying?"That quote is about The Social Network, and is from a video by Jack Howard (YouTuber, filmmaker, one half of comedy duo Jack & Dean) called My Favourite Films. I really recommend this video, by the way: there are lots of good recommendations, an infectious amount of enthusiasm for films and some interesting discussion of the different reasons we have for picking favourite films and stories. But the idea here is one that particularly struck me when I first watched it (and actually was the thing that got me to watch The Social Network for the first time) and is one that is still in my brain whenever I watch a film or watch/read/consume any kind of story. That idea is that films are really about more than what they seem to be about.
For example, Howard also says in this video "ultimately, [Jurassic Park is] about a man who's learning he's ready to become a father." On the surface level, Jurassic Park is about an island theme park where a bunch of dinosaurs escape and pose a threat to the people there. But when you look beyond that, the story is really about something much more meaningful, and that's what makes it worth telling and listening to. In his work on dreams, Freud talked about 'latent content' and 'manifest content'. Manifest content is the obvious, what-it-says-on-the-tin content- in the case of Jurassic Park, Grant having to protect the kids from the dinosaurs. But the latent content is what goes beyond that, what the meaning behind it it- which here, as Jack Howard says, is Grant learning he's ready to be a father. The manifest content is the basic factual stuff, the latent content is up for interpretation. What's The Social Network really about? Friendship. Rivalry. Betrayal. What's Beauty and the Beast really about? Embracing difference. Seeing beyond appearances and first impressions. Thinking for yourself. What's the musical Hamilton really about? Doing the best you can with life to not just take opportunities but to make them for yourself- to "not throw away your shot." Side themes of love, rivalry, parenthood, fighting for the rights of yourself and others. The 'what it's really about' could also be rephrased as the 'why it matters', or just the themes of the story, or what I like to think of as the emotional core. It's the thing that makes the story worth telling- that makes it human, emotional, relatable (not that films always have to be those of course; they can make you think rather than feel). Most of all, it's what makes a story memorable. Something can be eloquently told or completely hilarious, but if there's nothing human, real or meaningful at its core then there's nothing to make it matter. Something I've been thinking about recently is where stories come from and how they get to the point of being told. This led me to thinking about some of my favourite musicals and where their stories originated. A common theme that occurred to me is that some of my favourites (obviously not all, but enough for it to be interesting) are based on existing stories that, in turn, are based on something else. Let's have a look at a few examples.
Recently I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at the cinema, and (as you can expect from its performance at the box office and the general online reaction) I loved it. Yes there were issues- some clumsy exposition at the beginning and a certain character name that was a bit on-the-nose with his relation to another character- but overall I was so much more impressed than I thought I would be. Baby Groot was hilarious and adorable, and all the characters were compelling and really made me care about them. The music was great as expected, and the themes explored were really nice to see in a superhero film- the overall theme (no spoilers for now) rooted this story of fantastical aliens and saving the galaxy in something very human and relatable. One thing I thought the film did masterfully though was guiding my emotions, and even combining several ostensibly incompatible emotions at once. In one scene, the comedy was as apparent as the tension, with neither being ruined by the other, which was very well done. I'm going to go into more detail now about exactly how the film did these things, so SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN. |
"After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."- Philip Pullman Archives
January 2018
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