Not the communist party manifesto set to music: A Dollhouse diptych

[hazelk]

I think a Marxist reading of Dollhouse works best and no one plays musical Marx better than Kurt Weill. With or without that Brecht guy. Youkali Tango is intended as a doll’s eye view of the show - an interpretive dance of false consciousness. Mandalay speaks for the clients (and not so much with the dancing).

Title: Youkali Tango
Song writers: Kurt Weill & Roger Fernay
Artists: Jeff Cohen, John Mauceri, RIAS Sinfonietta Berlin & Ute Lemper
Fandom: Dollhouse
Spoilers: S1.1-12
Warning: Scenes from the show
Format: DivX
Size: 42.7 MB

Summary: The sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. The opium of the people.

Download here (Right/control click and save target as)
Stream at BAM here. Embedded below.
Lyrics with translation

Title: The Mandalay Song
Song writers: Kurt Weill & Bertold Brecht
Artists: The American Conservatory Theatre Cast
Fandom: Dollhouse
Spoilers: S1.0-13
Warnings: Sexual assault, institutional rape, violence, exploitation, abuse and bloody revolution
Format: DivX
Size: 34.8 MB

Summary: The universal prostitution of the worker

Download here (Right/control click and save target as)
Stream at BAM here. Embedded below.
Lyrics

Comments

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

Why haven't I seen this before? What an amazing idea - a dollhouse vid from a doll POV set to a French Weil song - and beautifully executed. I loved the dream-like, disjointed flow of non-narrative that captures the doll experience so perfectly. Normally I'm not a big fan of excessive use of FX, but here they are totally fitting, they perfectly match the FX in the source and are such a great visulal representation of the de/reactivating of the dolls.

I also really like how you used long, slow clips and short fast clips to create an interal, visual rhythm that keeps the viewers intersts right to the end. It complements the music - by the way, inspired choice there!