Today I tried to clean up a house a bit, as I have been neglecting chores recently and it is rapidly approaching the point where it is less a Welcoming Home and more a Slovenly Embarrassment, and I'll have to step out on the front porch to visit with the neighbors rather than inviting them in. So I set Connor up to do his stander time, turned on the 25th anniversary version of Les Misérables, and got to work.
Les Mis may not be the most appropriate musical in the world to let a six year old watch. It's chock full of depressing themes like prostitution and suicide and the looting of dead bodies and such, which are not generally things Sesame Street addresses (T is for Tuberculosis, kids!). However, Connor absolutely loves Les Mis-- probably because literally the entire thing is music. He also probably likes it because there aren't any visual depictions of any of the action to distract him from the music, and to top it all off there are tons of flashing light effects. I doubt he's picking up on the fact that all the people who step away from the microphones are dying, because he's not so good at subtext, he's not picking up all the words anyway because of his hearing loss and also, hey, he's six. He probably just thinks I'm weird when I start bawling every time Eponine opens her mouth.
It's not like Disney hasn't done Victor Hugo before. I still wonder who the heck read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame-- a book in which almost every main character dies in despair in a horrible, horrible way-- and thought it would make a fantastic children's movie. I mean for Pete's sake, Esmerelda is tortured into a false confession and is hung, and Quasimodo starves to death embracing her dead body in the cemetery after murdering his father figure and a couple dozen other people. It's a cheery story.
Connor has never seen Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and there are plenty of other Disney movies he won't be seeing any time soon, either. The whale scene in Pinocchio terrified him, and the wildebeest scene in The Lion King had a similar effect. He doesn't like the voodoo skulls in The Frog Prince, and he isn't a huge fan of the end of Hercules, either. I think it's the visual stuff that really gets to him; Les Mis in his mind is simply good music. This is why even though he loves the musical, he will absolutely not be watching the new live action version when it comes out at Christmas.
I need to find some opera DVDs. He'd probably love them too.
~Jess
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4 years ago
8 comments:
Connor has great taste! Colm Wilkinson is amazing and the 25th anniversary DVD is one of my favorite ways to listen to/watch Les Mis. Not super excited about Anne Hathaway as Fantine in the new version though...
Please check out The Metropolitan Opera. They still have Saturday Matinee Broadcast. You can see some of the shows on demand. Another generation who enjoys good music.
Disney disneyfied Hunchback of Notre Dame by turning the gyspy-hating captain Phoebus into Esmeralda's faithful boyfriend and Quasimodo into their pet-like sidekick, and everyone lives happily after.
For opera DVD's, try Ingmar Bergman's version of Mozart's The Magic Flute (sung in Swedish!) Yes, the fairytail-like story has abductions, attempted murders, and two attempted suicides, but all with a surreal, comic touch,and the music is magnificent. It even has a major part for a trio of little boy sopranos! Snippets can be seen on Youtube.
What about the old musicals like the Music Man and Hello Dolly? My 5 year old adores them, and while there may be some themes that aren't appropriate for that age they pretty much go over her head. Plus unlike the Disney movies nobody's mother or father dies, and the number of rude jokes about bodily functions is pretty much zero.
My girls are scared of many Disney movies but love musicals. Favorites around here are Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, the High School Muscials (which are really not racy at all and appropriate for my little girls), LemonadeMouth, etc. You might want to give them a shot, too, if he likes musicals so much.
Ben's a big opera fan; he has several almost-child-friendly operas on DVD. He doesn't get the age-inappropriate bits yet. He was a big fan early on of the Beatles Yellow Submarine movie -- plenty of swirly psychodelic effects and (of course) great music.
Great suggestions, everyone! Looks like I have plenty of ideas for Connor's Christmas this year.
Julia, when I was a kid one of my very favorite movies was The Point, which is every bit as crazy as Yellow Submarine. I found out later that Harry Nilsson was on acid when he wrote the songs, and suddenly the movie makes so much more sense. I still catch myself humming "Me and My Arrow" every once in a while. Maybe I'll have to find that one on DVD for Connor too.
This reminds me to go out and purchase the Yellow Submarine movie. My kids like almost all musicals. From Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (Donnie Osmond edition) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to The Magic Flute, they're fans. Wall-E scares the bejeebers out of my almost-7 year old. Disney movies are freaky.
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