Oy vey.

I really need to work on posting more often. I think I would be less of a rage machine if I let what's currently IN my head OUT. This, I shall do!

Tonight, though, I'm indulging in an almost guilty pleasure. I'm listening to this fantastic Latin choir/instrumental track from... of all things... Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. Listen with me!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8axNKiFETrk&feature=related

I had a love/hate relationship with this movie when I was younger. Like so many, I grew up in the generation where Disney was basically God, and everything they did was pretty frickin' sweet. I also loved the character of Esmeralda. What was this, 1998? I was turning from a little girl into a teenager. I was becoming more independent and headstrong, and entirely too vocal about what I disagreed with. What's not to love about the character who's a grown and actualized woman? She's morally upright, kind and accepting, street smart, and drop-dead gorgeous in that animated-by-Disney way. Add the subliminal elements of her being in touch with and confident in her sexuality (seriously, watch her writhe on Frollo's lap and tell me that any other guy wouldn't breathe a little harder), and you've got an idol for any burgeoning teen. I even dressed as Esmeralda for Halloween that year. ^^;

Then I realized that I was too old for Disney movies. And so I began to deny the fact that I still found them awesome, along with so many other delicious bits of my childhood. Another decade and some maturing later, I'm grown enough to admit that I'm still a sucker for Disney. Especially, I'm realizing, for this movie.

It helps that the Nostalgia Critic* pointed it out, but Hunchback is a really, REALLY dark film to come from the Happiest Place on Earth. It touches on racism, murder, sexuality, REPRESSED sexuality, corrupt politics, and the violent collision between secular and sacred culture that rages to this day! Darth- err, Pope Benedict freaked out about James Cameron's Avatar because it was about Pagan culture, Nature Worship, and rebelling against the system. And there were blue alien boobies. Those have been a problem lately.**

Isn't it a really deep moment, though, when the movie's bad guy laments his attraction to a lowly gypsy, and the fact that his virtue doesn't mean enough for him to let her go? Or when the man who was trapped inside his entire life realizes that the one person who claimed to love him the whole time is a person who is INCAPABLE of real love? The fact that Quasimodo doesn't interfere with Esmeralda and Phoebus in their flirtation, even if it means his massive crush will forever remain unrequited? When a pretty girl decides she'd rather be WRONGFULLY EXECUTED than give her body to the corrupt old man who's threatening her? This stuff could be in a Lifetime movie, it is that depressing!

Let's not forget the art- from a traditional standpoint, it's very pretty. The Disney artists did a darn good job of representing Notre Dame itself, which is regarded as a pinnacle of gorgeous architecture. And the music! ~sigh~ Call me biased, but Latin is an amazing language, and it translates into song so beautifully. Plus there's the instrumentation and the chords the composer, Alan Menkin, decided on. For example- The scene where Frollo tries to burn Esmeralda as a witch. The notes themselves are discordant, almost like they're lamenting the character's fate. The tempo's slow and has a very organized march feel to it, and then more discord as Frollo offers her one last chance to give in to his advances. She rejects, and the choirs' voices swell with the flames that engulf her. The tempo and volume both pick up, and you can hear the driving timpani under everything, imitating the pounding of the hero's heart as he swoops down and pulls her loose. Then, soaring resolution as the choir supports Quasimodo's claims of "Sanctuary!"

Call me a sucker, but this is what I call BAD ASS. It's beautiful music in and of itself, but what makes it really awesome for me is that it's part of the story-telling! This is the part of the movie where (if you're like me) your arms erupt into goosebumps. That feeling is worth any amount of heckling. So, yeah, I really, really like 80-90s era Disney. (Not High School Musical Disney, because that's a whole other can of beans.)

I also like Sailor Moon, the princess from Voltron is pretty, and the original Power Rangers were the fucking bomb. These are a few of my favorite things.



*The Nostalgia Critic can be found at thatguywiththeglasses.com, and, in my opinion, rips some of our childhood favorites a well-deserved new one. Seriously, did you ever WATCH Captain Planet? Maybe you've forgotten how awful it was, but the Nostalgia Critic remembers.

**The blue alien boob joke is a reference to a shit-storm that arose a few years ago related to a game called Mass Effect. It's a fun game set in kind of a choose-your-own-space-adventure scenario, with one of the possible outcomes of your character's choices being a brief, not-at-all pornographic love scene with a hot blue alien. Double points if the player character is female. Needless to say, the conservative demographic, the video-game-hater demographic, and a few other whiners went positively CRAZY and blew the entire thing way out of proportion. Claims were made that the game would turn kids into xenophiles, promote lesbian unions, cause bestiality and public masturbation, etc. After a few embarrassed apologies by professionals who had testified before they even saw the game, most of society just shrugged and moved on.