The Stacks *

therearecertainshadesoflimelight:

expositionfairy:

Hellfire is, to put it simply, a masterpiece. We don’t even need to look at the main lyrics to get an understanding of the genius put into this work. Listen to the Latin Chanting as Frollo sings. It is a prayer Catholics recite during mass that is an admission of guilt… so we have Frollo singing how the current situation isn’t his fault, whilst our red hooded friends are chanting ‘mea culpa’ and ‘mea maxima culpa’ (through my fault, through my most grievous fault) - showing the dual natures of humankind, religion etc… it also shows us Frollo’s mental state, obviously a precarious one as he fights his inner demons.

This song is also a parallel to Quasimodo’s earlier song Out There - both start begging for forgiveness, then grow into revealing the performers true feelings (Wanting to go to the festival and wanting Esmeralda respectively) which shows a similarity between the two which in turn shows that despite differences in appearance, status etc they are the same - which the film is showing. Regardless of appearance, if you are considered ‘normal’ or not, we are all the same.

By having this technique, it also sets the stage for Frollo v Quasimodo in their views of Esmeralda, this is emphasized by having Heaven’s Light sung and leading into Hellfire, creating another paradox of human nature and how appearance can be misleading (Quasi thinks she is angelic, Frollo thinks she is a witch… both don’t fit and are extremely exaggerated viewpoints, once again fitting the theme of appearances being a mask worn and you shouldn’t be judged on that).

On a totally separate note, another piece of genius from the music score of this film comes in the shape of ‘dies irae’ that plays whilst Frollo chases Quasimodo and Esmeralda. This translates as ‘Day of Wrath’ which is how the wicked shall be punished in eternal fire… this piece was also used whilst Frollo chased down Quasimodo’s mother. Both times he was using religion to justify his actions. Additionally, the inclusion of this results in Hellfire not just foreshadowing Esmeralda’s brush with death, but Frollo’s actual death.

He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit…

To this day I remain in unfettered awe that they actually got away with Hellfire, a chilling (not to mention unsubtle almost to the point of being explicit) sequence in which a man sings about his agonizing, sanity-destroying lust for a woman and how he plans to burn her alive if she refuses to sleep with him.  It is absolutely the best part of the film, and the Genius Bonuses discussed above are just the icing on the cake.

It’s a terrifying song and one that is only more terrifying the older you get and the more you understand it.

So many reasons  I love this song/sequence

(Source: kingcandies, via liamdryden)

smalllindsay:

I’M LOSIN IT

Accurate 

(Source: kingdomkeytomyheart, via itscarororo)

kanerd:

#F IS FOR FRIENDS WHO DO STUFF TOGETHER #U IS FOR YOU AND ME #N IS FOR NOT TELLING YOU THAT I’M THE CHESAPEAKE RIPPER SO I CAN SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOU WILL #DOWN HERE IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

(Source: hxcfairy, via haliameguid)

The best thing that ever happened was definitely during “The Message”. I think for some reason it wasn’t on the gag reel. It was possibly the best piece of acting I’ve ever seen, which is the three-sixty [360 degree camera rotation] that Tim [as director] did while everyone was listening to the farewell message from Tracey [played by Jonathon Woodward]. And Nathan is standing with Zoe, looking kind of stricken - this is his old friend - and the camera pans around to Kaylee - and Nathan’s sitting next to Kaylee, looking kind of stricken in another way. And he managed to duck under the camera and get to every single member of the cast and just look really sad [laughs]. And some of them just could not keep it together and some of them did. But I’ve got to tell you - it’s hard to describe. And then when it finally panned down to the body in the coffin, Nathan was lying in [Woodward’s] arms, looking stricken. It was unbelievable - not only hilarious, but technically proficient. He really put some thought into it. But that’s Nathan.

— Joss Whedon, Firefly - The Official Companion. Volume Two x

(Source: agirlwithoutaspleen, via liamdryden)