Star wars version of Disney’s Esmeralda in her Red Dance costume, Azalea Sci-Fi Doll Game
What can I say? I’m currently obsessed with Star Wars. This is a re-endering of Esmeralda using the Sci-ff Doll game from Azalea Dolls. Would you believe Esmeralda’s red costume is easier to re-create than her usual look?
Warning, Kind-Rant-y
Disney Princesses
In liking some more nerdy media, like Game of Thrones or Star Wars, you find yourself looking into Fan-Theory. Personally, I enjoy fan-theories and speculating but sometimes they can be a bit of stretch especially all the ones for Star Wars,#Reysfatherislonestar (let me know if you get this.) The fan-theories that are really the most annoying to read or hear about are the ones about Disney movies.
The Lamp Seller Aladdin
The Disney Fan-theory just take whatever Easter Eggs or aspects of the production and just try and give it a deeper meaning that are often beyond ridiculous. The only one I really do subscribe to was the Genie being the Lamp seller and I don’t really want to pat myself on the pat but that was my thought when I first saw the movie in theatres as young child and I was by no means a smart child. But while we’re on the subject of Aladdin the one that annoys me is because of the mere fact that Robin Williams ad-libs and did impression in the movie led some people to think Aladdin took place in a post-apocalyptic world. Not that this REALLY debunks it but I had this mini Aladdin hardcover book that was a summary of the movie, and I swear it had a year given in it for when it took place. I can’t recall exactly but it was around 900 A.D. Again doesn’t debunk the theory but the point is Williams ad-lib and they took it as a cue for a deeper meaning.
Tarzan Parents
All the Disney theories are just so far-reaching. I won’t say that Game of Thrones or Star Wars aren’t but they are not bad as the Disney ones. My least favorite has to be Tarzan’s parents are Anna and Elsa’s parents but Tarzan takes place sometime during the Victorian era but Frozen doesn’t seem to and Rapunzel is in Frozen and that is certain not Victorian. Your eyes will go cross if you think about it for too long. Also they look nothing like Elsa and Anna’s parents in fact they look more like Anastasia and Dmitri but darn, not a Disney movie, plus again wrong time period.
Belle, Carpet, and Pumbaa
Also speaking of Tarzan, another theory is Belle is an ancestor of Jane BECAUSE Jane has a teapot and cup that looks like Mrs. Potts and chip. It’s not an easter egg it’s a clue. But then how do people explain how Hercules got Scar’s pelt? Did the Lion King take place at the same time as ancient Greece? Wouldn’t have the Hyenas torn up Scar’s skin when they ripped him apart? And then with all this logic is Little Mermaid a contemporary of Aladdin since Sebastien was in Aladdin? Is The Little Mermaid post-apocalyptic? Are Mermaid’s mutant? But isn’t The Little Mermaid in Neverland since people think Ariel’s mom is one of those Mermaids in Peter Pan because one of the mermaid looks like Ariel even though Ariel was going to originally have Blond hair till Splash happen. Oh but Belle, Carpet from Aladdin and Pumbaa are in Hunchback! Where is the theory to explain those? I’m confusing myself now.
Belle and the Provincial Town, Beauty and the Beast
Well since Hunchback doesn’t have any popular theory here one that doesn’t make sense but doesn’t not make either. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle acts like she is rather above the village. She calls it poor and provincial and she fully admits she doesn’t fit in with the townspeople. So WHAT if Belle and her father were originally from Paris. They had to move to the quiet provincial town to escape Frollo’s genocide of the Gypsy as their house had gotten burned down in the fired Frollo created. The farm the live in the move belonged to Belle’s mother. This theory also ties into the adsenty royal family as Frollo doesn’t have to deal with a King and why one cares or knew about a Prince seemingly vanishing. Despite the fact that Hunchback is clearly medieval and Beauty and Beast has a somewhat 18th style especially since Cogsworth mentioned the Baroque era which was from 1600-1750 seems unlikely and Beauty and the Beast have a bonus that they take place in the some country at the very least. I guess I need to figure out Pumbaa and Carpet since theories have Carpet in a post-apocalyptic world and Pumbaa lived sometime during 5th century. Also why does Hercules have Gospel music with an Ancient Greece setting? Off Subject,
Djali Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The point is these theories have no sense of the movie’s setting and tone and rely on Easter Eggs and other production decisions to connect dots that aren’t really there.
It’s Christmas time! A great thing to get for yourself or as gift are ornaments. Disney puts out a lot of ornaments and Hunchback has gotten a few, won’t say a lot. I do like this one because it depicts a nice scene from the movie and has a nice sense of togetherness which just sums up the Holiday times.
Quasimodo and Esmeralda Christmas ornament
However maybe you’re not in the market for a Hunchback ornament. Don’t worry there are plenty and I do mean plenty of other Disney Holiday ornament for you. These are really just a few, there are so very, very many. This isn’t like a list or anything just a super minimal sampling.
2016 Disney Ornament
I like how simple and to the point this one it. It’s classic Disney yet fun and simple.
Eeyore Ornament
I admit it, I have a soft spot for Eeyore. I like how he is tangled in lights.
Elsa, Anna, Olaf Ornament
I love how wintery this one is plus it has that feeling of togetherness that Hunchback one also has.
Moana Ornament
The Newest Princess.
Also if your if more Holiday crazy and ornament are too basic for you there is this Disney Christmas insanity,
Disney Tabletop Christmas Tree
This is for serious Disney/ Christmas fans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wzGASxNwo
At the 2016 Rostelecom Cup, American, Courtney Hicks skated to a medley of Disney’s Hunchback. It’s a rather curious medley as it uses an instrumental version of The Bells of Notre Dame, the movie version of God Help the Outcast and the reprise of The Bells of Notre Dame from the stage musical. Hicks also placed third*.
I spotted this while I was at my local comic book store.
Pop-up Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame Book
Isn’t it beautiful? Who doesn’t love a pop-up especially a Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame pop-up book? There were actually like two copies of them at the store but I was unable to obtain it.
DTV Monster Hits was a big thing in my childhood, my family recorded it on VHS (oh yeah) and I used to watch it a lot. Sadly this is pre-Disney Renassiance so no Hunchback but it defiantly a call back to 1980’s sentiments where you could scare child so long as it ended happily. I do prefer Disney being scary than sweet Princess stories but what can you do, I’m not an executive at Disney (Hire me Disney, we can make a scary Princess!)
Just click the picture below to watch the special (only only I could share it.)
DTV Monster Hits
So this is basically Disney music videos with spooky songs. There a few other things that are creepy and Halloween-ish, like the Evil Queen’s magic mirror and Witch Hazel. Also just to date this special, it has a preview of the newest movie at the time which was the The Great Mouse Detective, which was a fun movie! The special a great blend of old-school Dinsey charm and spooky creepy stuff. I think my favorites of the music videos are Bad Moon Rising (not my typical style of music), Sweet Dreams, Monster Mash, Somebody’s watching, Better Run and Heffalumps & Woozles just to name a few. I really do love this special.
Happy Halloween!
Djali and Clopin are great ideas to pair with an Esmeralda costume to make a couple costume duo.
Djali Costume options
For Djali there are two methods, one is get a white goat costume
or you can get a goat mask and pair it with is white clothing. I would suggest getting clothes made from fleece for the texture but you can use whatever you have in your closet.
However the most important thing to do to turn this costume from a boring goat to talented Djlai is cutting a hole in the ear of either the mask or costume and putting a gold earring though.
Clopin costume option
Disney’s Clopin is harder to buy items for given that his clothes are two tone but fear not you can get an approximation of this costume. You’ll need yellow pants or better yet leggings, a purple shirt, long or short sleeves though long is better. You’ll also need a yellow cape or shawl or poncho. If you’re the crafty type you can sew some bell to the hem. In addition you’ll need a few accessories, like a gold earring (see above,) a purple venetian mask, a hat, and black gloves. The hat is a little tricky as purple renaissance hats are not in a ready supply but I tried to give some options of hats that could work.
Pants
Cape
Mask
Hat
near shape of Clopin’s Hat with a feather
Jester hat with the right colors
Gloves
If you want a ready-made-costume, this one is close, just add a gold hoop earring, the mask, a hat and black gloves.
I could not resist sharing these.
Disney Esmeralda Balloon
They are Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame Balloons which I only found as the result of a typo. Typos are magical
Ensemble performing Esmeralda
Last time we talked about the overall set from the American version and in general I liked it. It was a good simplifying of Notre Dame itself. Click here to read that post. However the problem that arises from fairly stationary main set piece is they way other scene outside of Notre Dame are communicated to the audience and in some case even the faced of Notre Dame itself. The American version of the Disney musical used moving set pieces as well as lighting. This also the approached that Notre Dame de Paris used and still uses today, albeit they have less set pieces and use more lighting and abstraction.
Hunchback of Notre Dame Set
While I do like the primary set, all the other such i.e the set pieces, the extras and the cast does make for a lot of chaos on the stage and makes it at time seem like a cluttered mess. There is just too much and to be fair the differing patterns of the floor with the Rose window of the backdrop doesn’t help. If anything, it like the use of the extras made it lack focus.
On Top of the World Der Glockner von Notre Dame.
The American Musical version’s closest other version besides the movie, is the 1999 version musical Der Glockner von Notre Dame. Glockner also had a lot of moving parts but in a a very different way. To communicate the height of the Cathedral they used hydraulic lifts with screens and projections.
Ciara Renee as Esmeralda, Papermill production of Hunchback of Notre Dame
Both approaches is an apple and oranges kind of thing and not every production can have hydraulic lifts, moving set pieces are an easier more flexible approach. By I won’t pretend that I don’t like hydraulic lifts, they are cool to see in action. However there is a price, having your character higher in the high makes them higher from the audiences and it easier to loose that characters connection to the audience.
Michael Arden as Quasimodo, Musical Production of Hunchback of Notre Dame
The use of the American Musical moving set pieces isn’t the issue, the issue is how clutter it made things. And when compare to Der Glockner which has it levels and tier that coalesce better and seem more purposeful, it does seem like American version once again could have use some editing.
And again if haven’t voted in the poll for the next version you still can.
What should be the next version?
Total Voters: 17
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And I still sick so I’m sorry this post is more confused than normal.
Hunchback of Notre Dame Set
I have a bit of a confession to make, I really wrote myself into a little corner with this post as originally I had planned to discuss the Gargoyles VS the chorus but I just did that in a more organic fashion last week and I don’t what to be knowingly redundant. After looking through the production, I found my muse, one Alexander Dodge.
Alexander Dodge was the set designer for the American production of the Disney Musical. His other work include, The Tempest, Ghost of Versailles and Anastasia for the Hartford Stage. Anastasia is based on the Don Bluthe movie and is going to Broadway. You can check his work here which is gorgeous.
The Hunchback set is lovely. It does a good job of basically simplifying the cathedral into its main parts os action but working upwards. The floor represent the Sanctuary, the Rose window and the Statues the Middle portions and the bells for the Bell Tower. It’s not hard to understand. Places outside of Notre Dame are communicated more with set pieces and lightening.
I feel like there is a large disconnect between the vision of the musical trying to slightly minimal with Quisimodo’s deformity and the extras filling in as set pieces with the grand vastness of the set. For instance when Quasimodo is saving Esmeralda, he goes through the Gallery of Kings. The Gallery of Kings is represented with the Extras but they are also part of the set on the sides. It would have been confusing to an average viewer and the set could have allowed for that. I guess because the extras go back and forth between the animated and stone states that their poses made it clear but I was even confused for a second.
Overall the sets were not so much the issue the vision of the production was problematic. Also a lot of the time it was hard to even see the set through all the moving parts, i.e the set pieces and the extras.