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) There is such a thing as sheltering your child too much.All you need to do is look at Rapunzel and the Witch to see this. On the other hand, stranger danger.That's a lesson for you, Little Red Riding Hood. Think you've learnt it. Nice is different than good.This is something I personally have to be reminded of now and then, and it has two meanings. Firstly, someone who seems nice (as in the case of the Wolf and Red Riding Hood) could secretly have malicious motives. Secondly, being a nice person doesn't mean you are a good one. Being 'good' means actually doing good things, not just being pleasant and friendly. Empty words aren't enough. Don't be goaded into doing things for dares.Or you might be pursued by a giant. Maybe not literally, but you get the idea. Appreciate what you have.As shown in the cases of the Princes and the Baker's Wife. The Princes are stereotypical men- they enjoy 'the chase', and once they are married to the women they pursued, they are no longer content and move on to a new target (this isn't shown as well in the film except in the case of one Prince, which I feel diminishes the impact a bit.) The Baker's Wife, however, doesn't feel content with the Baker, sleeps with (or kisses, depending if you're Disney-fying it) the Prince and feels guilt- "knowing that you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or'... makes the 'or' mean more than it did before." It makes her appreciate what she's got, and contrasting her with the Prince showcases the right way to be. Life is hard. Bad shit happens. But you learn something every time you go through stuff, and it'll help you out next time."Into the woods you go again, you have to every now and then Into the woods, no telling when, be ready for the journey ... But everything you learn there will help when you return there" This summarises a lot of what the show has to teach us, I think. The woods are a metaphor for any difficulty, any crisis, any calamity, any shitty situation you could come across in life. And that happens a lot, to everyone, over and over, in different ways. But every experience teaches you something and makes you stronger and wiser for the next time you have shit to deal with. Blaming people in a crisis doesn't fix the situation.This is demonstrated by the song 'Your Fault'. Everyone is hurting, everyone wants to blame someone else, and that's perfectly understandable and human. Not particularly helpful in a crisis though- working together to fix the situation is needed. No one knows what the hell they're doing."People make mistakes" "Into the woods, you have to grope, but that's the way you learn to cope" Fairly self-explanatory. Humans are humans, and you can't expect them to be perfect. And you can't expect yourself to be perfect, either- you can cut people some slack. Wanting to give up is human, but you have to carry on anywayThis is what my favourite song from the musical, 'No More' (tragically omitted from the movie) is about. The Baker has lost his wife, he's devastated, there's a giant on the loose and he's ready to give up. This song is him- perfectly reasonably, to be honest- saying look, I don't want to do this anymore, it isn't fair, I don't know what I'm doing. Haven't we all felt like that at some point? But despite this, he gets his feelings out and then he gets up and he carries on and helps defeat the giant. I find that really motivating- after all, when I feel like giving up, at least I'm not about to be killed by a giant!
In the words of Little Red Riding Hood, isn't it nice to know a lot? (And a little bit... not.)
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"After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."- Philip Pullman Archives
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