Yes, the Disney movie. I mean, it's a damn good movie. I love it even more now that I'm older and can fully comprehend what I was only just barely catching onto when I was seven, when the movie came out. Like, in 1996 I didn't get that Frollo was really, really, really horny for Esmeralda. I knew he was a controlfreak...I think I thought he was just angry that he couldn't put a leash on her, so he wanted her dead. "What I can't have, I'll destroy." He's kinda like Muraki that way.

OMFG. YnM-HoND merger FTFW. Except I'd have to merge Phoebus and Quasimodo into one character, if I wanted Muraki as Frollo and Tsuzuki as Esmeralda, or have someone else as Phoebus and make Tsuzuki!Esmeralda fall for Hisoka!Quasimodo instead of Whoever!Phoebus (Tatsumi!Phoebus?). Or, you know, a threesome works, too. *See icon* Because Hisoka would so be Quasi, considering how they were both left locked up and reviled by their "parent(s)". Tsuzuki doesn't quite have the confidence to be a perfect match with Esmeralda, but he's definitely got that "I will protect the downtrod at infinite expense to myself" attitude. And Tatsumi and Phoebus both have that subtle but unmistakeable "Bitch I will cut you" thing going on when they're pissed off. Who'd be Clopin and the Archdeacon, though? Watari and Konoe, maybe?

You know what? I think someone actually started a merger story on FF.net, but gave up a chapter or two in.

Anyway. I love my Art History class, because I can use to to analyze Disney movies. HoND takes place in 1482, around the beginning of the Renaissance, and "Europe's Sweetheart" was Mother Mary. This was right after the Black Plague and everybody was either pissed off at, or terrified of the wrath of, God. So a cult started in France honoring Mary. Mary is the mama. She'll protect us. She'll never let us down. It's why there's ten trillion Madonna Enthroned paintings made during the Rennaisance. "Notre Dame" means "Our Lady" and is a reference to Mother Mary herself (Italy adopted it and took it up a notch: "Madonna', meaning "my lady", because everyone in Italy had a personal relationship with her, apparently). So I really freaking love that everyone is honoring her in this movie. When Esmeralda sings "God Help The Outcasts", she looks to a Madonna and Child statue. Frollo begs Mary to remove his lust for Esmeralda when he sings "Hellfire". I'm a little disappointed that Quasimodo didn't have an affinity for Mary, seeing as he should have abandonment issues and be looking for a mother figure, and there's a church honoring Mary, the mother to end all mothers...

The music is beautiful, too, and I love how actual pieces of Catholic liturgy is thrown in there. Where else besides church are you going to hear "Kyrie Eleison" and "Confiteor"? The next couple chapters of "Oni no Ko", that's where. And all the original songs are lovely. "Hellfire" is badass. "God Help the Outcasts" makes me ache (especially since you can apply it to a lot of things going on now, from the gay rights movement to the wars in Africa/Middle East). The other day at work all I could sing was "Heaven's Light". "Topsy-Turvy" makes me wish we had a Feast of Fools. And Clopin is frigging nuts with "Bells of Notre Dame".

I also like that while Disney definitely toned down the original novel, they still made it pretty hardcore for a kid's show. I mean, they made the setting very Catholic, first off. Then they explored themes like prejudice, religious hypocrisy, black magic, lust, obsession, and murder, without trying to wrap it up in a pretty bow. I mean, five minutes in and a woman's already dead, and Frollo's about to commit infanticide.

I also like how the archdeacon is a good guy. I wish he'd had a bigger role in the story.

And you know what? I like the ending, how Frollo dies. I think it throws back to Victor Hugo, who wanted his novel to be about the cathedral (not the characters), to have the cathedral gargoyle come to life and send Frollo into that whole molten metal thing. Plus, that way, it keeps our heroes actual heroes. They remain pure and guiltless by not dirtying their hands with killing Frollo. For a movie so concerned with sin and guilt, I think a deus ex machina--literally, almost--is actually the perfect way to wrap up the storyline.

And yeah, the characters are Mary Sues, but they're not annoying. Disney movies are morality plays, so it's fine to have "perfect" characters...they're role models to be emulated, not dissected.

I give the movie 5 stars, definitely. So much love. I'm a Disney Dork.