Kinda personal question but what makes Elisabeth special to you? (Trigger warning) And in your opinion, does it romanticise things like mental illness and suicide? I think that โDie Schatten werden lรคngerโ is a pretty apt metaphor for how it feels to have depression and suicidal thoughts (depending on oneโs interpretation of what Death is) or to be emotionally abused. I ask about the productions with Furuka Yuta as Rudolf and the recent one with him as Death.
โElisabethโ is my ultimate gateway down the rabbit hole of theatre and story-telling. Before โElisabethโ I was mostly a passive consumer of media, but after, I started to consider mechanisms of story-telling, and saw how different performers can tell different stories using the same script. This taught me how actions (dictated by the script) are just that - actions; and before we can understand a character, we must delve into what the context is of those actions.
Of course, the music is also just phenomenal, and it IS a musical, after all.
TL;DR: But importantly, I love โElisabethโ because itโs literally written to be a โF*ck you, Hollywood.โ
In this post I discussed how โElisabeth das Musicalโ managed to save crumbling European cinematic culture. I am very tired of the Hollywood conventions, and ESPECIALLY tired of the glorification of romance. โElisabethโ subverted both of these stale conventions for me, and I was able to enjoy an alternative to the popular tropes of: โthe superhuman lover, the caged bird, lonely at the topโ in a new context.
This post will be divided into the following chapters:
1.1. Deconstructing romance
1.2. Wife- and Motherhood
1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!
2.1. Deconstructing romance
2.2. Depression in children
2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness
2.4. Deconstructing masculinity
Trigger Warning: The text below contains mention of depression and suicide.
Romanticising mental illness?
โElisabethโ is admittedly a bit of a problematic fave to me; it does indeed romanticise mental illness. However! Contrary to mainstream conventions, โElisabethโs does not show that mental illness can be cured because of THE POWER OF LOVE! It unapologetically showcases the destructiveness of mental illness, and how it is a long and painful struggle without promise of success. And that is exactly what a mental illness can be.
1.1. Deconstructing romance
Elisabeth herself is the clearest example. She was a happy-go-lucky girl who was not destined to become Empress (her sister was), and yet she was chosen as bride by the handsome and young Emperor, Franz I, against his motherโs will. It is the dream many girls are taught to have.
And yet, it was exactly after becoming part of a fairy tale that her life sank into hell. Not just because of Sophie, but also because of her husband. Her husband did not turn out to be โa bad guyโ like Hollywood will make you believe is the only reason a relationship will fail. No, Franz was just entirely ignorant towards anything Elisabeth needed. Franzโ failure as lover was not what he โdidโ, but rather, what he โdid notโ. I think it is very important to show how real relationships require compatibility AND hard-work, but that without both, it just wonโt work.
1.2. Wife- and motherhood
In conventional media, a woman like Elisabethโs journey would be to find โthe love she deservesโ, she would still be โsomeoneโs romantic interestโ, just not Franzโ. But in the musical, her arc is preserving and exercising her autonomy, and make the best out of a terrible situation. Women are trapped in patriarchy, and usually there is just no escape. And therefore seeing the strength of a woman who makes the best out of her pain is inspiring, and more relatable.
Usually in media, if the woman is not โthe wifeโ, then the way she is strong is her focus on being โthe motherโ. Elisabeth however, was shown to be a terrible mother! She was not callous, she was very loving in fact. But because she had so much going on, she simply did not have extra mental energy to spend on her son. I find it very refreshing that love is simply not enough to make human-relations work, whether itโs romantic or familial relationships. Saying that somebody fails in a relationship โbecause you donโt love x enoughโ is shortsighted and backwards.
It is breathtaking for me to see a narrative that solely focused on a womanโs struggles without the romance, and without the shackles of motherhood. No, she was struggling because she could not be a person.
1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!
I also absolutely love how Elisabeth is not an idol that we are supposed to learn from. Itโs not: โwomen! Look at this woman and [be/donโt be] this woman!!โ. No, โElisabethโ leaves its viewer alone, and does not try to impose onto any โhow to be a womanโ.
We are simply supposed to see her life, and sympathise with her as human. The story never justifies her shortcomings, and never glorifies her as the fairy tale Empress โdie Junge Kaiserinโ would have you believe.
โElisabeth das Musicalโ does not treat its audience as people that must be educated; instead it assumes the audience has a mind of its own, and can participate in the story as Elisabethโs peer.
2.1. Deconstructing romance
Rudolfโs arc is likewise one wherein his mental illness is not โmagically cured by romanceโ. The historic Rudolf was married and he was VERY unhappy in his marriage. However, his unhappy marriage was not the cause of his depression, nor did it really matter that much in making it worse. Rudolf did have a lover (Mary Vetsera), and they loved each other deeply. However, that was not enough to make his mental illness bearable for him.
This forbidden-love part of Rudolfโs life was so insignificant to his depression, that the writers left it out entirely in โElisabeth das Musicalโ, and his arc was still perfectly round without it.
2.2. Depression in children
โElisabethโ is an excellent example of how depression is not limited to certain groups of people; anyone can be haunted by it. Rudolf is able bodied, white, wealthy, the crown prince of an Empire, intelligent, etc. etc. And yet he had crippling depression, and it is NOT because he was whiny within privilege.
Just like with his mother, Rudolf is also not an idol weโre supposed to imitate. However, we are supposed to learn from seeing him. We first meet Rudolf as a young child, and because he was not given any help, his depression escalated into suicidal depression later on. Many people either donโt believe that children can be depressed, or simply donโt take it seriously. Rudolf however, shows everyone how depression can in fact destroy the lives of children, not unlike adults. Even better; he is a historic character who actually existed. Good luck denying that!
2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness
As discussed above, Rudolfโs struggle has nothing to do with romance, but crushing expectations. As Furukawa explained in this interview: โWhen Rudolf finally figured out what he wanted to do, he was faced with his country sinking into crisis. He was stuck in the situation where he did not have the power to say anything, and yet had the status wherein everyone expected him to act for the benefit of the state. If he did not act he would be a neglectful man, unworthy of the title of โcrown princeโ, but if he did act for the benefit of the state, he would be a rebel.โ
I think it is very refreshing too that despite all the good qualities Rudolf has (2.2.), he simply could not live up to the crushing expectations. It is very important to see how failure is often not the inability of the person, but that too much was expected of ONE human being to begin with.
2.4. Deconstructing toxic masculinity
Rudolf performs a very refreshing form of masculinity that is a departure from Hollywoodโs โmale heroโ model. His entire character is centered on his vulnerability, but he is NEVER portrayed as the loser. Instead, we see a man admitting his vulnerability and looking his depression in the eyes, and never being ashamed of it. He never blames himself for โnot being man enoughโ to live up to social expectations. Instead of โbecoming a proper man!!โ Rudolf knows that what he needs is compassion, a person he can talk to (his mother), and a fucking break.
Death is almost always without exception โpunishmentโ in stories. However, with Rudolf there were clearly external factors that have nothing to do with his supposed inaptness. The perpetrator was active in the sense that LITERAL Death manipulating him into committing suicide. Rudolf was a victim instead of someone punished for a โsin of not being man enoughโ.
I am very tired of the good vs evil dichotomous story telling of Hollywood. Another thing I love about this musical is how it is entirely ambiguous who the villain is. Itโs easy to point at Der Tod, but is he really the villain?
The script of this ingenious musical is written so freely that depending on the performers/director, the villain is either ambiguous, or non-existent, WITHOUT the story being vague. Depending on the actor of Der Tod, he is either an actual entity who governs over life and death, or the product of oneโs imagination.
Der Todโs existence and his pursuit of Elisabethโs โloveโ is the main factor that plays in saying โโElisabethโ romanticises mental illnessโ. But depending on how the performers of Elisabeth and Der Tod interpret these roles, the story either becomes:
a toxic romance that is self-aware of its toxicity,
or like how Furukawa Yuta and Manaki Reika in 2019 managed, into a heroic tale of preserverence and a battle of wits.
Most importantly, in (most) non-Takarazuka versions, after Elisabeth dies, she is not there anymore to โreciprocateโ Der Todโs feelings. She is just gone. Only in the Takarazuka version (I believe) does she enter the Underworld and actively becomes Der Todโs lover.
So outside Takarazukaโs version, Der Tod is never rewarded with โa loverโ; he simply gets his prey as a predator. Whether this โpredatorโ is a lover however, is again up to interpretation. But otherwise, death getting a mortal is just a very natural phenomenon, not victory as Furukawa puts it.
In conclusion, yes, โElisabeth das Musicalโ does have many elements that may qualify it as โa romanticisation of mental illnessโ, but ultimately I think it is not just that simple.
We must consider what the message is that the musical sends, and it is NOT: โbecause Elisabeth/Rudolf are mentally ill, they embark on an epic journey.โ If anything, the musical makes very clear that the mental illnesses of Elisabeth and her son are the main culprit that MAKES them miserable, and that Der Tod is the personification thereof, hence his predatory nature. In โElisabethโ, mental illness โpreysโ on its victims.
The romanticisation mostly (though not solely) comes from the consumers, because we are conditioned to read stories like โElisabethโ as a romance.
We see a man (???) claiming to love a woman, and he chases her and wonโt take โnoโ for an answer. He goes through extreme means to impress her, and the story even comes with a โlove rivalโ (Franz).
We see a woman โyearningโ for something, and that something can only be given by Der Tod, and finally she does find peace when she is with him.
But, we must pay attention to what Elisabeth says when she is dead. It is not: โIโve been looking for true love, and now I found it,โ orย โI wanted freedom, and youโve been kindly offering it to me, but I was too foolish to accept earlier.โ No, the very last thing she sings is:
โI have cried, laughed, been disheartened and I have prayed. There had been days where I tasted defeat in my senseless battle.Regardless, I have entrusted my life to myself alone!โ
โWinning Elisabethโs loveโ is the term Der Tod set without Elisabeth having any say in it. The term she set for herself is staying true to herself and not giving up; which she NEVER did. As such, THAT โ was Elisabeth claiming victory of always having stayed true to herself, and it has NOTHING to do with Der Tod. She does not need Der Tod, she simply needed freedom.
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