Measure for Measure... and Music!

While I was in the shower, I started to think about how lonely a quiet shower is, especially in the morning, when I'm trying to get energized and ready for the day ahead. I wished that my iPod had better portable speakers so that I could wrap it in a plastic bag and listen to my music in the shower so I wouldn't have to hear the extremely annoying muffled conversations of every other person in the bathroom with me.

Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if the books we read in class had a soundtrack?" This thought was born out of desperation, I'll admit, and the need to talk about other things for this blog. But hey, music!

 Also, I don't remember if anyone else has done this before. If so, thank you so much for inadvertently inspiring me! You are a magical human. If not, then cool, too, because I sort of borrowed the soundtrack idea from Tumblr, as well.

So here's  my music series for "Measure for Measure". I came up with songs that I think say a lot about the three main characters: Angelo, Claudio, and Isabella. They might be songs that have to do with their characters, or songs the characters might listen to, were the play set in modern times.

Angelo (the dirty bastard)
"All These Things That I've Done"-- The Killers
"Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone you Shouldn't?)" -- The Buzzcocks
"Turn Me On" -- Bromheads Jacket
"Arabella" -- Arctic Monkeys

Claudio (ya hecked up big time, buddy)
"Apple Tree" -- Wolfmother
"World Spins Madly On" -- The Weepies
"The Lion and the Wolf" -- Thrice
"Older Brother" -- Pepper Rabbit

Isabella (oh girlie, ya got some decisions to make)
"Almost Pretty" -- The Perishers
"Awake my Soul" -- Mumford&Sons
"Dead Sea" -- The Lumineers
"Mace Spray" -- The Jezabels

Back to Utopia

While I was reading "Utopia", my mind, as it often does, drifted. (Not the "Pacific Rim" sort of drift, but rather the "hey, this sounds like this! There's food there in that place. I want food..." sort of deal.) However, unlike the desperate, hunger-driven drift that is my norm, my mind wound up drifting all the way to my sociology 101 class that I took first semester freshman year.

Even though I wound up skipping half of that class (I did not have time for useless Friday morning student-run-lectures, thank you!) I distinctly remember learning about "ideal places" that people create, and the internet's role in creating this sort of "utopias". There was an entire section on other lives people lead on the internet, and how platforms like Sims and SecondLife allow people to create places, people, and situations that they find ideal, and live vicariously through their fictional alter-ego.

This got me thinking about how Utopia, to us, is not necessarily the greatest place on Earth. It's really more of a dystopia, with slavery and women's rights, as well as a strange lack of will. But it's only a created place. Yes, there are elements of satire, but it's still an entire fictionalized universe. A historical AU of how England might go. Man, Thomas Moore would have loved the Sims.

The game is set up so that you can create your own little universe bubble, essentially, and create people with personalities and aspirations that you want them to have. The annoying part is taking care of all of your citizen's basic needs, but it turns out okay. There are a lot of hacks to make your SimWorld ultra-customizable, which is something that a lot of people really enjoy.

People live in their versions of paradise online, and often are subject to a lot of criticism because their ideal utopia does not line up with another person's... but that's the whole point.

Wowie wow wow; In Which I Make a Strange Comparison

SO today in class (yesterday, really), when we started to talk about Angelo's scumminess and his general self-awareness, and his creepy lust for Isabella, I started to think about other characters with the same amount of ick and self-righteousness.

As per usual, my brain danced it's way to Disneyworld.

I hope that y'all remember "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Because, to me, Angelo is definitely exhibiting some Frollo-like tendencies over here (Speaking of more Victor Hugo characters; I saw the Javert comparison, and that was GREAT).

The scumminess and righteous/just/cold Carl attitude, the crazy lust for a fairly innocent maiden who just wants to do her own thing, while trying to do the right thing... It's intense, man. Especially when I start to think of Angelo singing "Hellfire", because then things get weird but they start to make a whole bucketload of sense.

Frollo knows he shouldn't be lusting for Esmerelda, but he cannot stop himself. And if he cannot have her, than no one can. He even attempts to guilt her into having sex with him so she can 'save' the gypsy camp. Disney gets dark, man. I rewatched this in my history class in high school, and it was definitely not the same film I remember as a youngster. But that's okay.

So. What do y'all think?!

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"Measure for Measure" :

So. "Measure for Measure" is actually really interesting! I've never personally read it before, but I know that it is actually my high school English teacher's favorite Shakespeare play as well. This is a fascinating connection between two teachers that actually might have a supernatural origin, but that's beside the point.
I've heard of it called 'a problem play' before, as well, when said English teacher was trying to describe the plot of it before. And, to be honest, I never really grasped what that meant. It was funny, like a comedy, but things weren't so black and white and twin-switchery and such. But that's about it.
Now, though, I think I'm beginning to understand the concept of a problem play, which is nice. It's funny enough, but with wayyy darker tones than most comedies usually have. I also am much more emotionally invested in these characters than I usually get with a Shakespeare comedy. For instance, in "A Midsummer's Night Dream", I really don't care what happens to the characters, as I know it's going to turn out pretty okay at the end. But with a play like "Measure for Measure", I'm genuinely concerned with what's going to happen with Isabelle, and her idiot brother.
This play hurts in a way that a usual 'comedy' would not. I don't want Isabelle to compromise her ideals and what she believes is moral and right in the eyes of God, but I also don't want idiotic Claudio  to die for having sex with the woman he loves. So I'm conflicted, and I can feel the problem here.

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