How Starkid MESSES with Musicals [Unstructured]
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- čas přidán 3. 09. 2021
- Starkid's 'The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals' may be about musicals, but it breaks a rule that is so essential to musical theatre that you'll find it in almost any show.
Plotwell's series "Unstructured" dissects popular stories and how they break the rules of storytelling.
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I feel not giving paul a concrete motivation actually makes him more relatable in this case. A lot of people are unsure of what they're looking for in live. And it's nice to have that be portrayed too.
Absolutely!
It’s a plot point too, the aliens spread by corrupting your motivation since that’s what makes a good character. Paul has no motivation so he’s resistant, until he meets Emma and gains a motivation and a weakness which the spores can exploit in the second to last song
There's actually more to this. The aliens don't turn someone until they know what they want, what to tempt them with. "Please, I just want a cup of black coffee!" Cue 'Cup of Roasted Coffee'. Or when Charlette says "I didn't want him to die" Sam comes back to life. Early in the play, Paul says he doesn't want to give money to a corporate bigwig (starbucks) so they try to tempt him with saving the world in La De Da Da Day. By not having an I Want song, they can not turn him. "I want you to want 'to want'" means that the need him to have a want, which he refuses until the end of the show when he finally has a goal.
i love this!
omg you're so right! "all I want to do is spend the day with..." and then they show up and take him!
Of course... Paul strongly implies that he wants the whole "musical invasion" to be over... and so they give it to him in a very confusing, but nonetheless disconcerting finale.
I mean, they didnt tempt ted, but they did sing about what he was talking about when they turned him, so i guess?
At the end he “wants” to save the world. Finally giving them an opening. That’s actually pretty genius.
It's even cooler that later in the show Paul gets a chance to escape the hive mind, but wants to stay behind a little longer to save his friends. He essentially has an "I want" moment and after that there's no chance for him to escape.
Exactly - such a meta way to set up the show
The other facet that makes Paul not wanting so interesting, at least to me, is how little he invests in his own life. He doesn’t join the softball league, he doesn’t spend time with his friend Bill, he doesn’t try to help the world, or even try to really flirt with Emma. He says it himself: “I’ve never been happy; wouldn’t that be nice? Is this the secret, singing and dancing through life?” But over the course of the show, he does begin to want something: to get out of there safely with Emma. And only when he has a want does he become susceptible to apotheosis.
He's the perfect protagonist for the story - someone who doesn't want anything
Not only does Paul not have an I Want song, but none of the protagonists sing at all unless it is forced upon them in one way or another. Every song, technically speaking, is a villain song. Imagine any other musical where the protagonists don't sing.
Well, Professor Higgins wasn't forced to sing... though that makes it even more of a villain song, I suppose.
“Paul”, if you can really call him that anymore, does have an I want song though. It is at the end of the musical, wouldn’t Inevitable be an I want song?
@@bluestar4408 it could be an “I Want” song, but it is after paul gets infected, so it’s most likely another one from the aliens. it became clear later in the show that paul’s eventual “want” is to get out of hatchetfield alive with emma, but that’s hardly what he sings in inevitable. the aliens’ goals were to take over hatchetfield and the entire world, which seems to be more of what inevitable was saying
@@venegene9112 True
Technically, he does admit what he wants during his conversation with McNamara:
“Who’s Emma, Paul?”
“She’s a… a friend.”
“Friends don’t move my heart, son, is there a chance at something more?”
“I think so. I’d like there to be. I _want_ there to be.”
And by then he's starting to want - which is how they get him in the end
@@plotwell So Emma unintentionally turned him into an alien which also circles back to when Paul saw his first musical it was Emma's HS play and he hated it and Emma jokingly said she was the reason why he hated musicals in the first place. Damn. Spoiler alert: Paul turned Emma into an alien. it's a circle!
Hey mellissa messes with this a little
@@cecilikhavlogs6738 "It's just a fucking loop?"
@@nemo53FUCK HOW DID I NOT GET THAT
It gets better. There actually is an I Want song near the end: Let It Out. In it, Paul suddenly starts singing. The first thing he sings about? His motivations and what he wants. It's a genius moment, followed up by the next genius moment of the Finale song where Paul sings about having accomplished those Wants and being happy. And that could not be more terrifying. It fully turns the whole trope on its head and I love Starkid so much for it
I feel like Starkid really likes toying with and making fun of "I want" songs. Twisted also has an anti-"I want" song from Jasmine.
It wasnt anti. It was just an “I want” song. She sings about what she wants aka “everything and more”
@@bargasfam they're making fun of "I want" songs. "anti-" in the sense that it's against them (not as a hard stance but as a goof) rather than "anti-" as in the opposite.
I WANT THE MOON
@@akkadia_6605 I WANT TO LIVE ON THE MOON
@@jailiay AND EAT IT AS A PIE
I've always loved how tgwdlm basically has an anti-"i want" song! This is such a great explanation! Tbh I'm astounded this doesn't have more views and likes, it also just so well made and feels so polished and professional, it deserves more!
Thank you so much Aly! We're trying to make the highest quality videos we can and we're very happy you enjoyed :)
additionally, paul is only able to be infected when he admits he does want to be in a relationship with emma at the end of the musical, further cementing the idea that the hivemind needs its participants to want something in order to have something to latch onto.
for Emma, there's a bunch of fanfiction post-apotheosis where Paul and the others try to turn her into an alien. All of them have Emma wanting Paul., and I am yet to find one where she wants a pot farm, her true love.
At the end of the show, when all Emma wants to do is reunite with Paul, they tempt her with that. But halfway through the song she realises he's been taken over, so she no longer wants to associate with him - "You're not Paul, you're one of them!" - so they have to forcibly remove her from the 'stage' to be able to turn her, as she is not willing to oblige anymore.
you could argue that the majority of the songs in tgwdlm are "i want" songs, just not in the typical way. a lot of the songs focus on the aliens wanting to infect paul and the other citizens of hatchetfield, and of course show stoppin number is primarily about professor hidgens' want to stage a production of workin' boys (a new musical). it's almost like every character gets an "i want" song except for paul! it's very interesting the way they turned that on its head.
Paul does technically get an “I want” song but it’s also the finale
“Emma, I want you to join the party!”
One of my other personally favorite meta aspects to the musical is that fact every song in TGWDLM is a villain song, every single one. They're all sung from the antagonist's perspective because it's all diegetic within the narrative. Truly a marvelous production all around, it deserves every bit of praise it gets.
This is so good! It explains TGWDLM and why it doesn't have an "I want" song realy well! This realy needs more viewes after 3 months
Thanks CoolLasmucis!
tgwdlm is like my favorite musical just because of how it uses it’s music. Most musicals just have music and that’s where criticisms like “why are they randomly singing?” comes from. Tgwdlm uses its music in a creative way. The music itself is the villain and the horror. Usually in musicals the songs are the most exciting part and that’s true with this one too but it also makes songs like Let it Out or Inevitable terrifying. The first time I watched inevitable I actually cried because I was so sad he was taken.
It also allows the story have long spaces between songs where the characters are supposedly safe until the music comes back and kickstarts the whole plot.
Sorry I just love tgwdlm a lot (although if you are reading this I urge you to watch all of their musicals. I think there are 12 and they are all good. Yes even the Star Wars one)
Absolutely! It totally flips the idea of musicals on their head - and a big step in the horror musical genre, which is pretty rare and hard to pull off!
What do you mean "even" the Star Wars one?? Ani has one of the hest Starkid Soundtracks, every Talkfine song is a bop. So yes, go watch all Starkid Shows everyone, especially the criminally underrated Ani!
I love this analysis. Another thing I want to add: I think a big reason he doesn’t have an I want song is because this is one of the rare musicals where all the songs are diegetic. No one sings until they are taken over by the alien. So it would lessen the impact of ‘let it out’ where Paul is physically fighting the urge to sing if he’s already done so earlier in the musical. That’s probably my favorite thing about this musical. Because of the context, all the musical numbers have an unsettling/creepy edge to them (I personally find the idea of being possessed/taken over to be horrifying)
holy heck, this was so in-depth and really shows the hidden genius the "wacky" musicals Starkid has. Great video, dude!
Thank you!!
the "i want song" is typically the 2nd song in the musical - this, in TGWDLM's case, is La Dee Da Day, the
_actual_ i want song. here's some excerpts from la dee day day:
Do you wanna save the planet? / Of course you want to save the planet / Well, there's just one way you can do it / By singing a song / Singing along
it's a big piece of foreshadowing because the traditional place is not paul's "i want" song, it's the hive's - which paul ultimately becomes a part of. the hive's goal is to "save the planet" through turning everyone into a singing alien
What he wants is only shown in the song 'Let It Out'. Right before he's taken by the Hive Mind he finally has a moment of singing about his wishes. It's not so clear, but in the line "I've never been happy" he makes it a bit obvious what he WANTS to be happy. This is furthered in the line "What will I let in if I let it out?" where what you said about the divide between him and the aliens by him not singing his wants ("let it out") is made clear, and that Paul is aware of how following a musical structure of expressing his wants is likely to push him closer to his 'Apotheosis'.
Actually if you notice that everyone who gets caught by the aliens wants something the only reason why Paul isn’t snatched until the end is because he wants to be with Emma,
Randomly came across this due to the many StarKid videos I watch (oops heheh). This was explained so well and I don’t know how I didn’t realise this before. I understood the importance of ‘I want you to want’ and the lyrics but it just goes to show how clever and amazing StarKid and Nick Lang is at writing these shows. Like all of the thought to make the Hatchetfield universe is insane in the best way. One of the many reasons I love them and the fandom so much ❤️
You can never watch too many Starkid videos! They're incredibly clever and have a ton of depth - the writing is just spectacular
One of my favorite things about TGWDLM is the fact that literally all of its songs are technically Villain Songs.
Yes!!
I really want to live in a universe where TGWDLM gets as popular as little shop of horrors and gets adapted into a film. I know the musical is already filmed but I kinda want to see what it would look like.
But also, the lack of him singing an “I want” song, and stubbornly refusing “what do you want, Paul?” Is essentially showing what he wants anyway. He wants to not be in a musical, which is the central plot, that’s why he’s our hero, he wants to stop it all.
Yeah, one of his lines in “What do you want, Paul?” Is literally “I wanna go home!”, like his “want” is just to get out of there and not be in a musical
this video was really well done! Starkid is a speical kind of genius.
Thanks Lauren! Starkid is wickedly clever - some of the best shows out there
I always love seeing analysis of my favorite shows, but WOW the production on the video itself was excellent.
Thanks helatonin! What are some of your other favorite shows? Maybe we'll use one for a video!
TGWDLM was, and probably still is, one of my absolute fav musicals. When i first saw it i was amazed by the plot and the idea of a main character hating the genre he's in. and now seeing this video makes me wanna go and rewatch it so bad, just because i already forgot how fun the show is. i absolutely love starkids cast and ive been watching their stuff for a long long time, but TGWDLM is probably the most genius thing they've done. thank you so much for this video, i love how short but still easy to understand this video is. hope it will get more attention!
They also play around with the I Want song in the follow up musical in the same universe, Black Friday. The I Want song there is actually "What Tim Wants," and the main character's motivation -- and this song -- is entirely centered around what his son wants, not his own desires.
I had no idea that was an actual rule for musicals! I just thought about it on a more basic storytelling level, which also works. But as has been probably pointed out below, that choice is also strongly motivated by the plot. Both Paul and Emma are basically directionless and desire-less. For different reasons, they want nothing from life and that's why the aliens can't make them obey them. All the characters display strong wants, dreams and fears - only Paul and Emma are exempt. But by the end, Paul falls hard for Emma and starts to want her... And that's when he succumbs to the aliens as well. All of this is just brilliant. I do not understand how Starkids have still not been offered some kind of a deal with a regular theater.
My favorite part of this musical is how Paul isn’t doomed until he admits what he wants (in the scene with general macnemara). I don’t really know how to put it into words, but that’s when his fate is sealed, I think.
Another point on which what makes this great is that every song is a villain song, which is, in my opinion, the best parts of a musical (Be Prepared, Mother Knows best, etc.)
High production video and only 8k views???
This is million view quality right here
Paul does have a want in the musical:
"Now you know what it is to want"
*"I wanna go home!"*
this has given me new appreciation for one of my favourite musicals!! General McNamara thanks you for your service.
2:17 -MORE THAN ANYTHING!
I think the end of the musical has another big reason for the lack of an I Want Song.
SPOILERS
At the end of the musical, as Paul is being turned into one of the aliens, we discover there is a part of him that actually loves musicals - in fact it was earlier established that his hate for them comes from a place of envy he developed in highschool. In a sense, being a part of the Hivemind is exactly what gives a core part of him fulfillment. If he were to have an "I Want Moment" the twist would either be spoiled or contradicted.
yeah, I can relate to that hahaha. Paul's HS didn't have a theater department and they were forced to watch Emma's HS play
Pokotho: 🎵What do you want Paul?🎵
Paul: AHHHHHHH
I think Paul does have an I want song but it's at the very end at a point in the story and his character it makes sense he's being possessed and it highlights his three wants he wants to not be part of the musical he wants to blow the aliens to hell and finally he wants to survive and honestly none of it matters literally stated in one of his first lines during the sequence putting it at the end means we already know what he wants but that's not the point the point is to contrast the beginning and the end
Alsooooo "Let It Out" is kind of an I Want song, but its very late in the musical and very conflicted
Also, what alian alice said after shoting bill. It was something along the lines of the leader of the hire mind having chased Paul across the universe. So him not having a motivation could of been the thing that stopped them from getting him.that could pose a threat of some kind to them so why they seem to target him at points
Love to see some appreciation for Starkid's subversive genius laid out so nicely, and all the analysis in the comments!
This channels deserves so many more subs! Very well-edited!
Immediately subscribed. I adore Starkid & they build so much more into their works than we realize. Kudos!
i am amazed by how good this editing is. I love how the shapes in the background react to the music.
Wow what an insane quality
You definitely earned a new subscriber!
This video is very well done and fascinating and I love reading the comments and furthering the theory. However, I think there actually IS an I want song, but its a very twisted [pun not intended] one. Towards the end when Paul is being faced with the meteor and his proximity to it causes him to begin singing. He is fighting it.
I’ve never been happy Wouldn’t that be nice?
Is this the secret? Singing and dancing through life?
Is my integrity worth anything at all? But happiness can’t come before its fall
His integrity and pride is keeping him from wanting happiness maybe? Or perhaps he is too prideful to dig deeper and realize that his life is boring?
A complete opposite look at this is to say that Paul has always been content, as when he is talking to Emma about how crappy the town is, he claims he likes Hatchetfield and never wanted to live anywhere else. Perhaps why he is fighting so hard against the aliens to keep it normal.
Just some random food for thought of course. None of this is confirmed by Nick or Jeff.
I think it's also no coincidence that Paul's boss is the one who says he wants him to want to want. On one level, it's the alien hivemind trying to find an anchor point so it can body-snatch Paul, but on another level it's an employer trying to get his employee to engage emotionally with his work.
Without the song, the interaction Paul has with his boss is something that happens often in real life; A manager, trying to "motivate" their employee (i.e. make them more productive,) awkwardly asks them about their ambitions. The goal is not to actually help the employee to achieve those ambitions, but to find a way to link them with their job, thus making them more "motivated."
Paul's refusal to entertain this charade is mirrored with Paul's love interest, Emma, who is also dealing with a workplace that wants her to sing (even before they're taken over by alien goo.) She, like Paul, sees her work as just a paycheck, while her employer is trying to get her to increase her personal commitment to the job for no additional pay. As she puts it "it's like having another shitty job on top of my already shitty job."
I would also point out that the parasite doesn't seem to be changing the town all that much. Yes, it makes people sing and dance, but it doesn't change their situation. The local homeless man is still homeless, he's just singing and dancing about it. What is actually spreading through the town is contentment by way of narrativization; a way of seeing the world as a story and keeping a positive attitude, despite nothing ever actually changing or getting better.
my guy, your content is so far above the average that I, personally, am beyond astounded at the perceivably below average numerical symbol that you obtain for those that look forward to your content. this led me to purposely "smash that subscribe button" as previous have described said action. fantastic stuff good sir.
We deeply appreciate your astoundingly kind words and commitment to "absolutely destroying" that subscribe button
I happened to click this video on its two year anniversary, damn
Finally enough, Paul ends up getting body-snatched at the end, and therefore ends up having an I Want song...
Really love the editing style and content of this channel! Looking forward for more keep up the good work!
The quality of this video is top notch!! Great job with it and I hope to see more in the future!!!
Thanks Andrew! We'll be posting once a month and another Starkid video is currently in the works!
More TGWDLM analysis content showing up in my recs? Hell yeah! Love this!
"what do you want, paul?~" 🎶🎵🎶
This is amazing, keep going!!
I adore you for making this, how wasn't it recommended to me sooner??
Thanks serene! We're working on another Starkid video that will be out soon so stay posted for that one too!
I would love to see you dig into some of their other musicals (twisted could be a good one to do).
I'm surprised you didn't throw in a mention to show stopping number (other than 1 quick sentence/clip) and how it also pokes fun at musical tropes.
We are definitely planning on covering more Starkid! Show Stopping Number is a great song but it wasn't related to the I Want song closely enough to warrant inclusion in this video - but that's not to say in won't be covered in the future...
Yes!!! A video about my favorite musical
It’s not really a “musical” in the traditional sense. It’s more like a hybrid between play and musical because normal people don’t burst into song in real life. But the aliens (who are actually Pokotho, the Singular Voice - long story) makes them into one Hivemind that can make them do perfectly choreographed song & dance numbers with ease. Hence why “La Dee Da Day” is a perfect opening number for what is to occur, it juxtaposes to the first scene the other day where everything was normal, and after the meteor where people are now getting infected. It’s similar to setting up the mood to a zombie apocalypse where you can see something is wrong but shit hasn’t hit the fan yet.
i had a tgwdlm phase and then this showed up, couldn't be any better also i really like these kind of vids, and also luv the edit! how come this channel only has hundreds of subs? would like to see more of ur vids :>>
Thanks yaneeyea! We're still a pretty new channel - we're hoping we grow in subscribers soon! Until then, we'll be posting one video a month and the next one should be out in the next few days!
I think you misunderstand something. "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals" is not a musical. Every song in the show (save the intro) is diegetic. In any other musical, the songs are metaphoric, expressions of emotions the characters are feeling at the time. The characters aren't literally singing in West Side Story, but we hear it to convey what pure words can't. In TGWDLM, every song is literal, characters react to people singing out of nowhere. That makes it simply a play with songs.
I love that Starkid’s best singer is the guy who plays Paul.
I just realised… it’s not until he has a goal that he loses.
i love this video, you deserve so many more subscribers!
Thanks daniela! Glad you enjoyed :)
very cool video! props!
Paul’s discomfort during the song is definitely what seals the deal in my opinion. It adds a lot of comedy yes, but it also makes people sympathize with the very real experience of not knowing what you want in life. Ironic considering how Mr. Davidson implies that this lack of direction makes him unsympathetic.
And then there starship with a song called I wanna be
here is another layer to it, by the nature of "what do you want paul?" the highlight how highly unnatural and often even slightly inapropriet and unwanted an I want songs can be if not well implemented . . . Like who would just sing and share aloud what they want and sometimes it even is for the best if it where left unshared
'The guy who didn't like musicals' video is literally under this video-
Very nice video!
Thanks Figo3!
I’ve forgotten the meaning of the word want now lol
What do you want Paul is absolutely the perfect anti I want song
Saying that Paul "refuses to sing" doesn't feel right to me. The singing in TGWDLM is diegetic, unlike in most other musicals where it's not really part of the story. Paul doesn't sing until the end because he's a normal person and not infected or a theater kid (and even at the end it's not clear what happened and the actor himself said that he played it both ways in different performances)
That difference is the reason Paul can't have an "I want" song, so if anything, the anti-I want song he gets sung at him is a way to not break that rule
The Aliens are the protagonists and the first song is their 'I want' song.
Not really :)
Dope
!!!
I want the moon!
I waNt to LivE oN thE mOoN!
I'm not sure about Paul. A man that's so vague just... Can't be trusted.
Dude your production is amazing! How do you not have more subs?