Monday, June 11, 2012

Suburbs of Our Discontent

Somehow I've managed to get this far into parenthood (12 years) without having to go to Disneyland/World or to see The Lion King on stage. Well, that party's over. This weekend I caved and took my daughter to see a Disney movie come to life on Broadway.

A few thoughts about this: 1) Disney is a plague. A very colorful and upbeat plague, but a plague. 2) Julie Taymor is a genius, so I can't totally dump on The Lion King. The puppets and other anthropomorphic creations are stunning. 3) I take comfort in the fact that the only gorilla bigger than Disney is Shakespeare. Hamlet is everywhere in that storyline: fratricide, a son lost in his own emotional turmoil, a dead father visiting his son to tell him to man up and right the kingdom, an annoyingly talkative advisor, you name it.

Of course,  Disney had to break the chain of tragedy and end with some healthy, procreative sex. Circle of life and all that. Shakespeare definitely wouldn't have signed off on that.
Posted by Caroline Bicks at 4:13 PM
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1 comment:

  1. DesdemonaJune 12, 2012 at 12:27 PM

    My coping mechanism for getting through the Elton John's horrendous film soundtrack was to minutely consider the ways The Lion King is a sort of mash-up of Hamlet and Richard III. I salute your intestinal fortitude in sitting through the live version - you're a better mom than I, Gunga Din!

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