remade

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Raúl Esparza in Chess (2003, 2018)

Bonus:

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got some cheap vintage and not so vintage playbills yesterday :)

south pacific (1951)

porgy and bess (1953)

hairspray (2003)

gypsy (1991)

Hi! Thank you for asking this doesn’t come off as rude it’s understandable to want to know why.

So firstly, I’m gonna explain that I think Melchritz is a legitimate ship. In fact it’s essentially canon in the play. There’s this whole metaphor of Moritz identifying with the Headless Queen who is given a head by a king whose heads were always arguing and when she gets his head they always kiss and are at peace. And Moritz claims he wants someone to complete him. Meanwhile you have Melchior who is at war with himself and whose name LITERALLY means “ruler” (it comes from the Hebrew word Melech for king). So Wedekind kind of lays it on thick. And at the end Melchior calls his time with Moritz the best in his life and Moritz basically just talks about Melchior when he’s gonna kill himself and asks him to touch him and like I can go on but it’s really fucking canon. Like Moritz is IN LOVE with Melchior in the play (and musical as well but it’s less textual more subtext) and by the end Melchior realizes he may have been as well.

However, I find the dynamic super toxic. Firstly, I think that Melchior ultimately ignores Moritz and his needs and pushes things on Moritz that he may not have been ready for. And Melchior is so wrapped up in himself that he can’t really give Moritz any attention and help which Moritz DESPERATELY NEEDS. In addition Melchior has a sort of intellectual bond with Wendla that he isn’t capable of having with Moritz. Wendla challenges him and debates him and he respects her in a weird twisted way that he just doesn’t with Moritz. (Not saying Melchior/Wendla is a good ship or anything healthy AT ALL but the chemistry is there more). Moritz admires him way too much and is just too obsessed with Melchior like the scales aren’t even. Moritz thinks very highly of Melchior and Melchior really doesn’t think of Moritz as anything but inferior. 

But my major issue with the ship is that it’s essentially between a r*pist and a boy terrified of sex. Like in my personal opinion that’s really messed up. Moritz in both the play and the musical is so scared of sex and all pertaining to it. He’s intrigued yes, he wants to have it, but it scares him a lot. And he’s not ready to have sex like even Moritz knows he isn’t emotionally ready for sex. Meanwhile Melchior is a hypersexual person who wants sex desperately. He literally has a line in the play that says “I don’t want anything I haven’t had to fight for” and the manipulative behavior he exhibits in the hayloft, the “why because it’s sinful?” dialogue and making Wendla doubt herself and her choices are things he could totally use with Moritz and would be just as damaging. In addition, in the play Moritz basically claims he wants to be r*ped and dominated like with Melchior’s “I don’t want something I haven’t had to fight for” stuff that’s just not a good mix.

Figured Tumblr might find this interesting.