| re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 08:01 pm EST 03/09/21 | |
| In reply to: re: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - On Stage Vs. Film - Chazwaza 05:18 pm EST 03/09/21 | |
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| I think you have the basics here, Chazwaza. What we need to remember is that the basis for this musical is a parody of a tale from the founding days of Rome (i.e., even before the Republic; we’re talking Romulus here, folks, the stuff of LEGENDS...and peeps, I did this stuff in grad school, so I could sit here and type, like Adolfo, for hours....). Plutarch and Livy and Ovid and a bunch of other old Roman types have handed down the secret of how Rome got so great: they needed women, so they raided the Sabines next door, and took a lot of their women. But, the learned Romans tell us, when the Sabine guys showed up to bring ‘em back, they wanted to stay with their new Roman boyfriends. Because. Rome. Anyhow, this cheery legend of rape and pillage exists in multiple sources (I had to translate the Livy for my many sins). And Stephen Vincent Benét did a parody of it, set in the pioneering Northwest. And the “Sabine Women” became the “Sobbin’ Women.” As for the movie, they set up the abduction with Adam reading the legend to his brothers, who follow through, in typical thick-headed, lumberjack fashion, bringing their sweeties back even though they’re depicted as crying. Well, gee, that’s what Brother Adam said happened with the Old Romans, right? Them Sobbin’ Women cried, but “secretly, they was overjoyed.” (Thus, perhaps, the decision to show the women “sobbin’” even if they would rather be with the woodsmen than their stuffy town boyfriends.) I don’t know that there’s any way to rectify what 21st century minds justly see as women taken against their will, except to remind ourselves that this is a parody of a legend that’s over two thousand years old. Here are Johnny Mercer’s clever lyrics that set the boys into action. SIX BROTHERS Oh yes! Them a women was sobbin', sobbin', Sobbin' buckets of tears On account o' old dobbin', Dobbin' really rattled their ears. Oh they acted angry and annoyed GIDEON But secretly they was overjoyed ADAM You must recall that when corralin' your streets BROTHERS Oh, oh, oh, oh them poe little dears. Laura |
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