Angel de Quinta's blog Response

Angel de Quinta’s blog had many different Broadway show videos, all very interesting and fun to watch.  I’ve always wanted to go to a Broadway show in New York but I just never got to it. Watching these videos made me even more intrigued to go see a Broadway show, or any live show for that matter! I had the pleasure of seeing Les Misérables in London a couple of years ago when it was playing in the O2 Arena and it was completely mesmerizing. One show that I would love to see live after going through this blog is The Color Purple. I've seen the film many times and I've even heard about the Broadway show, but this was the first time I actually saw it performed on stage. Just the trailer for the Broadway show was so powerful, and so was the beautiful duet between Cynthia Erivo and Jennifer Hudson. There's so much to the choreography and music that makes the show feel the way that it is. A broadway show requires more "obvious" acting, where the actors express themselves very clearly in their movements and lines. However, it doesn't feel like the acting is being overdone, instead it makes the characters and the story feel more real. 

Another video that stood out to me was Bea Arthur singing the song “Fifty Percent” from a show called Ballroom. I’ve never heard about Ballroom before but the song made me interested to know more about it. "Fifty percent" is a love song, but it’s also very humorous, which makes you pay more attention to the words, as well as the performer.     

"Aria" Animation

The Aria animation was very fascinating to watch, mostly because of the animation itself. It was somewhat uncomfortable to watch because of the movements of the dolls. The movements weren’t smooth, they felt more like cutting movements, for example, Aria’s hair flying from the wind. To me, this animation is all about mixing imagination with reality. As an audience, we’re aware of the fact that these are dolls, and we know that they are non-living, but it is because of the animation that we are able to look past that fact, and actually invest in the characters, as well as the story. 

One part of the story that stuck out to me the most was the way they chose to show time passing from when the Sailor left to Aria getting pregnant and the child growing up, Those are all just visual elements showing us through the pregnancy that it has been 9 months, and by the child growing up, we know that there have been several years. Showing this time capsule shows how committed Aria was to the sailor, that even though she has been waiting for years, she is still standing on that hilltop, embracing his return. 

It wasn't until the end of the film that I noticed the opera music in the background. It blended really well with the story and followed the arc of a love story and then ending with heartbreak. As mentioned earlier, imagination and reality seem to be a theme in this animation, especially the ending. Aria runs through what looks like a studio and starts to tear herself a part. It reminds the audience that we're just watching a show, but it also signifies Aria's pain and how she felt like the was living a lie.