Saturday, December 4, 2010

Bursting into song

"I hate it."
I looked at him, utterly shocked. "You... WHAT?"
"I hate movies where people burst into song, can't stand them."
"What's wrong with you?"
My friend M.H. is crazy, pft. I LOVE musicals. Can't get enough of them. And today, after I got back home from work, I decided to watch one of my fave movies ever: The Sound of Music.
It was the first musical I ever watched - well, not counting Disney classics. My parents loved to try and make me love the same movies they did - sometimes it worked, at other times not so much. But one fine night dad came home with The Sound of Music for me to watch, and I was immediately fascinated by all those people singing right and left. Not to mention the story's pretty enticing in itself, and they got some great dialogs, very witty. And I remember wanting to be like Liesl, Captain Von Trapp's eldest daughter, when I grew up.
Needless to say, I look NOTHING like a 16-year-old Austrian Girl from the 30's - with my being Brazilian and all, with native Brazilians as grandparents.
Point is: I love those singing Austrians, I really really do. And the speed at which the Von Trapp children learn how to sing never ceases to amaze me. I mean, seriously? They go up to Maria and say: "we don't know any songs, we don't even know how to sing"; then she sings the magic "Do-Re-Mi" song, and all of a sudden, they're a singing phenomenon?! Dude!!
And Rolfe, the telegram boy - could he be ANY gayer?! Nothing against it, far from it, but Liesl should've realized that guy was really not into it. The Nazi thing was just an excuse to get out of it. There's the girl, throwing herself at him, wanting to kiss him... and he pushes her aside and goes "Your life, little girl, is an empty stage...". C'mon Liesl, wake up and smell the flowers.
I love all the songs, even though the whole thing is extremely farfetched. Really: Maria and the Captain finally admit their love for each other, they kiss - it's most likely Maria's first kiss ever, and what does she do? Does she take the time to enjoy it? Nooooo, she bursts into song about her wicked childhood. I'm like "Sister, zip it! Really not the time!"
I caught myself wondering whether she sings in bed too. You know, while AT IT. I wouldn't be surprised! That must be such a turn off for the poor Cap.

But that's the thing about musicals: the burst-into-song thing rarely makes any kind of sense. I mean, no one in real life - at least no one I know - is capable of coming up with wonderful songs out of the blue, not even people who deal with music in some way or another for a living. And when the characters start DANCING together in a perfect coreography?! My eyes sparkle and all! I mean, take Grease for instance.
"What did you do over the summer?" Cue song about summer love - and in no time they're all dancing on the benches.
"Let's pimp this ride!" Cue song about the Grease Lightning, and John Travolta dancing around said car.
"I turned into a jock for you!" "And I turned into some kind of slut for you!" Cue "You're the one that I want", and they all start dancing to it.

I dare anyone to say Singing in the Rain is a bad movie. Whenever I'm really happy, I look up at the sky in the hope I'll see some drops of rain, so that I'll be able to sing and frolic in it! And whenever someones mentions anything about diction, I just wanna sing "Moses Supposes".

Do these things happen in real life? No, they do not! And that's the beauty of it! Wanna see reality? Tune to CNN then. Rio de Janeiro was all caught up in a kind of civil war last week, and things got real tense around here. We have our daily share of reality everyday - there's no harm in seeing people singing and dancing about, I don't know, getting someone else a glass of water! If everybody burst into song and danced more often, the world would be such a better place to live in. According to Fraulein Maria, all you gotta do is know the notes: "When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything!"

8 comments:

Stephanie C said...

You are definitely a person I could get along with. I LOVE musicals! I always wanted my life to be a musical. To sing and frolic and break into perfect choreography.

Have you seen Moulin Rouge? I mean a penniless writer who knows how to sing and dance and make up an amazing story line right on the spot!

Great post, it made me laugh and reminisce about all the musicals I used to watch religiously.

LuMa said...

lol.It's exactly how my co-wroker reacted when I told him I had never seen "the sound of music". he was like "are you crazy!!!?" I have watched Grease and i love it, but that's pretty much all my experience with musicals..o wait, does High School Musical count? ;]

beanizer_05 said...

do.ti.la.fa.mi.do.re...
do.ti.la.ti.do.re.do...

when you know the notes to sing..you can sing most everything..

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious even though the sound of it ...ok enough..i'm carried away again..

that's my mom's fave movie..ask her what movie she wants to watch,it's always SOUND OF MUSIC..Julie Andrews..tsktsk..Princess Mia's granma..right?..Princess Diaries...
i love that queen..

your post caught me..nice one

Rml said...

@MeiBelle: Thank you! I SO wish my life were a musical! I also have this theory that no one who likes musicals can be a bad person!
I LOVE Moulin Rouge! And I have it, of course - I have all the movies mentioned here, and I can sing all the songs. And Christian-the-penniless-writer is totally the man of my dreams! ;)

@Lupe: LOL, High School Musical does count! I like it too - but I'm CRAZY about Grease!
Girl... you should watch The Sound of Music ASAP! It'll make you go around singing about musical notes, saying goodbye and being 16! Please please watch it!!!

@Beanie: Thanks! Ha, I bought Mary Poppins the other day, and I'm gonna watch it today for the 1st time ever! I can't wait!
Hahahhaha, yep, you're right: Maria's also Princess Mia's grandma! I love that queen too! =)

Nashe^ said...

LOL... This is weird but I was just telling my friends how we should all be "bursting into song and dance" at least once a day. hahaha! Reality just bites.

Musicals are great, especially if the songs are good. Another reason why Indian Bollywood movies look set to stay, what with their 15000 extras all singing and dancing!

Ricademus said...

I hated it!!! Did they mention Hitler was Austrian? Anyway, I saw bits and pieces of it over the years. My family watched it, but not me.

Then a few years ago I was alone in the family room and found myself watching the movie. I liked it. I watched the whole thing. So there's always hope for people--even me!

Hey, since when do we have to resemble someone physically to be like them? The real question is how's your singing voice??? =)

Rolfe was self-hating and it drove him into facism--we've had a few politicians in the US who were very anti-gay and turned out to be gay themselves. It's a sad situation.

On a happier note...summer lovin' can be quite fun. I suppose. At least that's what the TV tells me, so it must be true.

Tomorrow I'm going to sing in the subway station. Let's see if some smartass speaks up! ;P

Rml said...

@Nashe^: hahaha, great minds and all of that! I love Bollywood, they all look so happy dancing and singing there!

@Rick: Whoa, you gave me a scare for just a sec there! "Omg, could it be possible that Rick doesn't like The Sound of Music?!" Phew! That was a close one! =P
My singing voice... SUCKS. Too bad for people all around me, cause I never stop singing, LOL!
I hope your subway singing goes fine! If you're lucky, people will instantly join you - maybe even break into a perfect coreography! ;)

Ricademus said...

RYC: Wow, I really served that up on a silver platter for your humor to pounce on. Hahaha!