Who put the lad in gladiator My Twitter: @B_Mask_ My Patreon: / bmask My Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/b_mask My Discord: / discord One last hope cover created by Trumpet Cat: • Video
GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK GET UP ON THE HYDRAS BACK *G E T O N T H E H Y D R A S B A C K*
As a music minor and theatre major in college, we actually study stuff you put forth in this video in serious classes. In fact our theatre teacher has referenced Hercules in a similar manner. Your on the right track.
There's a reason Hercules is still performed live so much in various Disney side attractions! I've seen it kept in the lineup of live performances on the Disney Cruise almost every time I went, even when Frozen came out. Some of their renditions would even add more song lyrics or story prominence to the Muses, since they're clearly so much fun to portray on stage and when interacting with the audience.
“Is this a joke? The music is melting - Am I having a stroke!?” Jesus man, you’ve inserted more memorable lyrics into a song with such classic lines as “T’is - T’IS!” Also made me lowkey appreciate Hercules more than I did before, good job!
Haha, I knew _exactly_ what song this was going to be in reference to before it ever came up -- although I almost didn't believe it was possible, since that would mean the number of people I know who've heard that song would suddenly jump from two (my brother and I) to four (plus you and B-Mask).
THANK YOU for saying that about Tangled, Frozen, and Moana. While good movies (especially Tangled), I would not put them on the same pedestal as the Renaissance musicals. That isn't just nostalgia talking, either. Princess and the Frog absolutely deserves a spot on the same pedestal. Tangled has At Last I See the Light which makes me bawl like a baby, but the other songs are pretty forgettable if it's been a while since I watched the film. Compare this to Beauty and the Beast where many people can probably name every song in the movie. Don't even get me started on Frozen 2. "Rough draft" was the perfect term to describe these films, and I'm just glad someone who knows their stuff had the guts to say it.
While I'm all in favor of bashing _Frozen_ and _Moana,_ I take issue with your criticism of _Tangled._ There are lots of neat storytelling-through-music moments, especially the way reprises are used to highlight character arcs. "When Will My Life Begin" is a painfully bog-standard pop song (because Rapunzel is painfully bored with her life) but then *explodes* into a triumphant reprise when she escapes the tower. "Mother Knows Best" is superficially cutesy with creepy undertones (underscoring Gothel's insidious psychological abuse), and later returns as a full villain song (when Gothel loses her temper and lashes out at Rapunzel). But my favorite is the way Flynn's character arc is conveyed through his participation in two musical numbers: in "I've Got A Dream" he needs to be coerced into singing, but in "I See The Light" he spontaneously joins Rapunzel for a duet. It is, IMO, an *excellent* work of musical theater. Too bad about the animation, though. ;P
"the GOAT beauty and the beast" lol in elementary school we took a class trip to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway and the most memorable part of the trip was watching Shrek on the bus. Make of that what you will.
It's so weird how Doug is what got me into the whole "content dissection" side of youtube-- and now all of my favorite people to watch throw shade at him. And I kinda love it (despite also feeling a little sad about it).
Hercules has always been my hands down favorite Disney film and you so perfectly articulated why that is! Adored the video and I’m currently bugging all my friends to watch it. Keep up the good stuff
I loved the gospel interpretations of the story. It really heightens the narrative and gives it real personality to Greek epic roots of yesteryears. And I miss 2D animations so much by Western studios. 3D may be the norm, but 2D had some amazing stuff.
"Now Danny's not really a singer" Proceeds to show the greatest vocal range currently walking God's green Earth. And he's usually so good with these match-on edits. Unsubbed.
I just saw this movie for the first time last week with my son, and he's watched it again at least every other day since (twice on Sunday). I think this is probably the best discussion of the movie I've ever seen, and a wonderful primer for the music (and musical genre) for people who are completely out of their depth in it. Side note... while I was typing this, my son turned it on again.
everything about this video makes me happy, its so well researched and developed and the bitterness toward doug walker and disneycember is the most relatable thing ive experienced in a video
My favorite Disney movie is The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. I'd love to see you do a video on it and you should also check out the off Broadway adaptation.
Good show, sir. I'm very much in agreement. I'm also a great fan of the catharsis of musical theatre. Speaking as an illustrator who has dabbled in animation, I honestly think Hercules is the visually strongest (no pun intended) of the '90s Disney films. That could have something to do with Gerald Scarfe being a major inspiration for me, but I really think it's the way all the shapes click together. I'd like to see something new done with Disney Herc these days.
I came here for a review of Hercule with some musical element to it. I was left with knowledge about musical analysis, Broadway history, history of Greek theory, influence of Jewish culture of modern American popculture, theory of psychology and music and stupid grin on my face. B-Mask, what have you done to me?
Disney has had a frustrating tendency to scrap early drafts, concepts, and shoots in favor of what they ended up releasing. I've seen multiple times in which a director or writer was laid off a project despite having a better idea than what we got (Antman is currently coming to mind)
I'm only recently a new subscriber, but I love musicals and this was such a treat. The level of analysis was so much deeper than I was expecting and I really came away from this video with a newfound appreciation for one of my favorite musicals. Thank you for the excellent video and I hope I'll get to see more passionately written essays about theater from you, soon.
a really great video my man.. as a layman to musicals but having found an appreciation in them and the disney movies of my childhood, you hit the notes that are important as well as giving interesting sight on things i was unaware of..
Disney's Hercules whether this version of the legendary myth is completely flawed (or not) will always be one of my favorite animated movies next to The Pebble and The Penguin.
Thank god this was freed from copy right strike! There’s clearly a lot of work and dedication in this one. Definitely something I’ve gotta view a few more times
This is great stuff. Even though you are objectively wrong about Tim Minchin, this is great watching you expand creatively and possibly move into this. Musical theatre (and theatre in general) is barely touched on youtube so, Please Do It
This video is amazing, just fantastic - and I haven't even finished it yet!! Thank you so much for making this, that Disneycember video has frustrated me for years. I really hope you might consider making more videos like these about the other movies in the Disney Renaissance!!! They all deserve a video like this one!! Subbed in the first few minutes, keep it up! ^^
This was a good watch, but now you've made me want to see you talk about Nightmare Before Christmas, or Corpse Bride, or Coraline. Take responsibility.
Not sure why RU-vid put this in my feed but I'm glad it did! I have mixed feelings about the movie as a whole (mainly because the representation of the source material is.....SO wrong.....) but the music was always 100% the best part and it does hold up. It's so cool to see the behind the scenes footage you dug up!
I think people tend to diminish Hercules due to it not following certain patterns or trends of story telling. If you actually go back and rewatch the movie it's actually pretty bizarre compared to the movies coming out. However I think that is probably the best part about it.
My first musical in High School was Little Shop of Horrors. We did the Bad Ending, with the Plants winning and dropping vines down with the curtains. It was fun. Thanks for this video essay on Hercules, I really enjoyed it's narrative being balanced with song.
Gonna throw ya a loaded comment here. First, I loved this video. I teared up a few times reliving so much about what makes Hercules so great as you shared your take and insight on the film. Second, I've been going nuts finding a full video of Howard Ashmen doing the american animation and american musical theater lecture. If you have a full version of it, I'd LOVE to see it. And Third (might not like this one) I find it a little odd you spent a half hour explaining pretty much what makes Hamilton and In The Heights so great and then concluding with "I don't think Lin get's Howard's mentality". Though, I'm not apposed to hearing why you think that, so eh...if you ever wanted to do another musical video essay about your take on Lin Manuel Miranda I'd tots check it out.
I could watch you talk about anything, and honestly this doesn't seem like as much of a curveball as say your Hill Street video, which I also loved. Basically what I'm trying to say is you always put out amazing work man and no matter if it's a mascot platformer, musical, animated something, or anything else I can't wait to see what you do next.
So I discovered you today thanks to your 2 sly cooper retrospective videos, wanted to find the 3rd one in your chqannel and discovered this little gem of a video. My favourite 2D animated movie is Hercules, and one of the things why it is is the music (of course, as an animator and concept artist myself I also love everything else behind it). But yes, the music is a big part of my love for this movie and I feel it has something over all other Disney 90's musicals (apart from Beauty and the Beast and only repeated on Princess and the frog), after the less bombastic romance song all the other movie just stop having musical pieces, and when you are coming for repeat, it really shows. Time to kill the villian, good ending and thats it. A Star is Born (and in a lesser way the ending of beauty and the beast, as its just a repeat of the chorus of the main romance theme of the movie, although in a great crescendo and Princess and the Frog that is also a reprise of the first song, although again in a great way) is like the ending of a firework show, a huge bombastic song, with an incredible emotive part ("there's Phil's boy!") that ends the movie in a bang. Everytime I watch it I know that after Hades is beaten I still have a great surprise before the movie ends with this song. Its so sad to see my favourite type of Disney musical getting so near to be replicated into a new golden age with Princess and the Frog, and the audiences just not giving a damn, that while I like new disney movies, is not the same for me. And I will never understand the "I dont undertand why this movie is gaining such a huge cult following its not as good as other 90's disney movies..." from some internet personalities (fuck Doug Walker btw), they also say the movie is a mess of ideas when, as you have perfectly summarised, everything makes complete sense. Its a superhero movie (best superman movie we will ever get it seems), its a sports movie (I always like to compare it to the Rocky 1 and 2) and its a gospel musical, and everyone one of those 3 aspects are tightly themed with Greece and Greek mythology (heroes and gods, the olympics, mythology music and greek theater). So after all the three videos ive seen from your channel, you got a sub and huge like from me. Keep up with the amazing work!
It seems that with the transition from 2d to 3d, there was less need to have decent vocals/music and, as a result, less decent vocals/music. Why focus most of your budget on music when most of the audience only recognizes the improved visuals? Once the 2d style had passed, most 3d movies were crowned as visual achievements and not for their musical and storytelling prowess.
This is a well put-together perspective. Thanks for the video! :) Question: Have you seen Lindsay Ellis' video on Hercules regarding the plot? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Just curious.
I've always loved animation and music ive even studied a bit of music theory and i really liked this video kinda just hit two subjects i really love in it.
Their inability to flesh out what should have been an excellent villain, whose villain song had such promising bones, in _The Princess and the Frog,_ told me that the genre was well and truly over. That, and the arrival of an element that stalks Disney to this day (and negatively affects the quality) -- they made themselves pushovers to people who came complaining, even to the detriment of the final product. At the time of _TPatF,_ the previous three Disney Princess movies (fully half the Disney Renaissance Princesses) were non-white, and yet, Disney allowed itself to be bullied so much about needing to "do better" that it almost scrapped the whole movie when it was deemed insulting that Tiana would spend much of the movie as a frog. They changed her name from Maddie -- a popular name for young black women in the South at the time the film is set -- to Tiana -- a name that wasn't even in existence at the time the film is set -- because there were complaints that her name "wasn't black enough." Her occupation was changed from a realistic one to an unlikely one (for the era), because her job as a housekeeper was a "demeaning stereotype." Dr Facilier was criminally excised from large portions of the film because having a black villain doing voodoo was a "harmful stereotype." They apologized for the "racially coded" alligators, which were somehow seen as offensive (even though the coding was because they were talented New Orleans jazz musicians). And all this _sturm und drang_ because Disney "wasn't diverse enough," despite the _last three_ Princesses having been Asian, Native American, and Middle Eastern. [But those movies were before we became obsessive about race again, so I guess it's different? 🤷]
I am a serious person, and one who seriously loves almost all the songs in this movie (though where's my iconic Hades villain number to stand alongside _Be Prepared,_ _Trust In Me,_ etc.?). And yet I'm stuck on your explanation of a Greek chorus, because all I can think of is the incredibly witty moment in _Legally Blonde: The Musical_ where we're introduced to Elle's singing sorority sisters... a Greek chorus!
The mournful version of Gospel Truth is Hades' villian song. Having Hades himself sing might have taken away from the character a little. Being a smooth talking dosn't always translate into being a singer and it kind of fits his character better that his ego is so big he'd have other people singing on his behalf. In the same way he has Pain, Panic, Meg, the monsters and Titans do all the actual work for him.
I just realized one of the things that has me seeking you out. (I'm hoping you read this after my other comment.) It's that you don't use jargon. I can understand what you're trying to communicate without having to slow the video down. This means I can watch your videos in the pace you meant them to have without having to pause to look something up and this makes your message come through more clearly as tempo is also importan when you put weight on different things.
Wonderful video!! Definitely brought the magic of the film's soundtrack to life for me! I say sod the story, for me this movie has the best overall Disney soundtrack, though my favorite Disney songs come from The Lion King 2 which wasn't even a theatrical release. I also prefer Oliver & Company's mix of story and music, but the quality of those songs can't match this film's.
I can't believe you'd make a video about Hercules and its music, but not even mention the best song, Aphrodite's jingle from the animated series. But seriously, it's nice to see more people giving this movie the love it deserves. It's not my favorite 90s disney movie, that's probably Hunchback(despite all attempts to make it worse by having the gargoyles), but it's up there.
If it makes you feel any better you've dissected this more thoroughly than anyone I've seen saying the movie is bad or a mess so I'd say your argument has far more validity. I like Hercules anyway and always thought there was something off about the critiques of the movie's style which I couldn't articulate so you done good.
Thank you! I did a full two hours on the musicals of Don Bluth, which has a lot of general musical theatre discussion in there. Hoping to cover Sondheim and Howard Ashman someday...
@@BMask Sondheim is my religion!!! I discovered you with this video and added the Bluth video to my watchlist and I’m excited to dive into your content!
So, there was this "Animated Storybook" PC CD-ROM Disney released for Hercules (alongside the Action game that was on PC and Playstation). Hermes' voice shows up at various points throughout, and I'm FAIRLY sure that when you select the end level/page from the "Pick a Page" menu, he says that phrase.
Ill be honest, i dont care for musicals, never seen Hercules and dont particularly understand what your saying. But i just love listening you talk about stuff your passionate about so ill eat it all up :)
I really want to know how B feel's about Alan's TV series -- Galavant -- I personally love it and would love to see how this review contrasts with his thoughts on Galavant's music and ideas
To specify, I agree with every other part of your video. I adore the work of Tim Minchin and I personally think that Groundhog Day was fantastic- I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
Yo dude, nice work :) Btw, the occasional quip of self-deprecation is funny (and yours are good at that), but don't overdo it :x It feels a bit too apologetic at times, and you needn't be. Your videos are your impressions and opinions, and your audience enjoys them; so stand by it ;)
I’m gonna respectfully disagree on the thing about Moana since to me that was a return to form of the Disney that many of us 90’s kids missed. I guess in a way it did harken back to some classics like how the song Shiny felt deliciously evil much like poor unfortunate souls and Ursula from the little mermaid. And in Zootopia the song Try Everything told you the overall theme but by the end we know what it truly meant instead of just in a general sense. Frozen to me felt like a traditional broadway show which makes sense since Idina Menzel was a broadway singer with experience under her belt but I agree about the stories for the songs being a little weak. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure has a much more defined theme which I think they did a great job of nailing since it was Christmas and all, and also has a better story so I see where you were going with that notion. I’m surprised you didn’t mention Coco(I know it’s Pixar but you could tell Disney played a part) since everyone loved the music in that one. In Coco we’re quickly introduced to the song Remember Me and don’t think of where it came from at first but later on we find out the true meaning behind the song and here come the waterworks, all the rest of the songs and the movie in general a personification of Mexico in general and they hit it out of the park. I might be biased since I’m Hispanic but I thought it was fantastic. Anyway sorry this went on long but I’ll say one more thing. They’ve been doing 2D animation ever since the 20-30’s and have been doing 3D animation ever since the 2000’s. The only way to go from here is up so I do think Disney with 3D will evolve for the better.
It wasn't just Idina Menzel. Josh Gad originated the role of Elder Cunningham in Book of Mormon and Jonathan Groff was King George on the Hamilton recording. Frozen is loaded with big-name Broadway talent.
