#deh discourse

[djbead123]

An Essay on how the movie fucked up connor and why no, he's not like the movie shows him as.

"The movie showed connor's bad side but that's what he was like"

No. That is not what he was like, that's not what the original Connor Murphy was like at all.

Now I'm gonna tell you a story and about a man named Mike Faist, the original actor for Connor Murphy.

The suicide attempt of one woman inspired how connor was played in the musical.

How One Woman’s Suicide Attempt Inspired This Actor's Performance in "Dear Evan Hansen"

Mike Faist talks with the founder of Live Through This

"I decided to try and research more about people like Connor, the troubled character I play in the musical." -Mike Faist

What the movie pretends to be is a "troubled" teenage boy, comes off as a raging psychopath with anger issues who's abusive. Not troubled and mostly just deranged.

Take this scene, the original, connor freaks out because he thinks Evan is laughing at him because of what jared said. He says "you think I'm a freak??" Because he's also panicking and put of impulse he pushes Evan

"I'm not the freak, you're the fucking freak!" Connor is panicking because he assumed and felt insecure and at the moment he just reacted. You can hear it in his voice that he sounds hurt. He runs after pushing him because he's scared.

Now in the movie, nothing like that happens. He yells at Evan and tells him to stop laughing. No emotion or nothing just anger and rage then he leaves. There is no insecurity, Evan laughed out of nervousness and connor yelled because he was what? Angry?? That's it

Connor casually walks away, like a bully would after intimidating a victim.

Another scene

Is this supposed to be a horrifying? To show that connor is an angry monster who punches holes in the wall??

As my friend said "this makes Cythina sound delusional" and it does! They're setting connor up to look like a fucking mentally ill crazy person when no, deh movie, THAT'S NOT WHO CONNOR IS!!

on the topic of custom too (yes that's important)

See Con Here? Dirty, absolutely not that well groomed, a mess. He's supposed look rough because he's going through it!

Connor here looks like an edgy white boy

That's it

Also

"Teehee connor is such a problem <3"

Fuck you

[thewhizzyhead]

so yup i just saw the ben-platt-defends-the-deh-movie-casting-him thingy from 4 days ago so i'm a little late to the party but oh God i have a lot of thoughts woo here we go

so i'm gonna use The Prom as an example here since it's also a broadway musical-turned-movie that also features teenaged characters. Ariana DeBose and Jo Ellen Pellman (28 and 23/24 years old when they filmed the movie) are NOT teenagers and although they look quite young in the movie, I wouldn't really say that they look a lot like teens. But those two still gave outstanding performances as Alyssa Greene and Emma Nolan and them starring as teens still worked! Why? Because even though they don't look like teens, there is still a suspense of disbelief present because of the extravagant tone of the musical and the movie. Is the plot of The Prom at all realistic? I'd argue that it's umm probably not. Are the musical numbers realistic? DEFINITELY NOT. The fact that the setting of the musical and the movie is rather fantastical makes us excuse the teens-thats-don't-look-like-teens because it is clear that the film isn't at all supposed to be realistic.

Dear Evan Hansen, a show with themes such as anxiety and suicide, IS THE OPPOSITE OF FANTASTICAL. DEH is a show so deeply rooted in dreary and depressing realism that having someone that doesn't look like a teen play Evan in the film adaptation doesn't fucking work because it jars the overall realistic setting. The immersion is lost because the actor sticks out like a sore thumb. And for something like Dear Evan Hansen aka a show that relies on how hardhitting the emotional aspect of the show is, immersion is a MUST especially if the realism aspect is turned up a notch by adapting the show into a film. AND THAT IS WHY A TEEN SHOULD'VE BEEN CAST FOR THE FUCKING FILM MY GOD-

[ratcarney]

Jo. I have a question for you. Let’s say, the people who wrote DEH came to your door. They handed you the script, book, characterizations, everything, and told you that you could change anything about it. No forcing it back. No throwing it in the trash. No ripping up the paper. Rewrite DEH. What would you do?

hm let’s see. i would make alana a real character. i would make more of the cast people of color, except evan, because of the Symbolism. also because i would throw him in jail at the end. physically. i would physically go onstage, take that puny little crybaby in my goddamn hands, and throw him into the audience. whoever catches him gets to meet the cast and come backstage so i can give them tickets to hadestown. our first performance, only his arm is in a cast. but i slowly break more and more of his bones as the show goes on. yes evan is played by ben platt

[venussheglows]

DUDE someone else that hates dear evan hansen on this godforsaken site? i can't believe it. sometimes i think of the 2017 tonys and i start raging again

The 2017 Tonys were just,,, so messed up. Great Comet, Come From Away, AND Falsettos all got robbed.

[quarktrinity]

why does it not surprise me that there are only 2 women on the DEH creative team, whose roles i couldnt even remember the names of because they were so miscellaneous

why does it not surprise me that the entire DEH creative team is white

[redamancy-and-daisies]

I LOVE DEAR EVAN HANSEN BUT I CAN STILL POINT OUT FLAWS/CONCERNS/QUESTIONS SUCH AS

Does Evan always have to be white??? Can Zoe be cast as a poc not just the swings for Alana/Zoe LITERALLY ANYONE in this show could be poc so???

The Murphy’s are 100000000% okay with their 17 (maybe 16) year old daughter’s  boyfriend spending  the night to the point that he has a toothbrush?? i didn’t date in high school but i can't IMAGINE there are parents so okay with this and that THE MURPHYS OF ALL PEOPLE would be okay with knowing their kid is probably definitely having sex all the time

Teens do not email each other. They just DON’T. This is my biggest concern for the show bc of how fast it will age. I think it gets by on how desperate the Murphys are to believe something good about Connor but really? In three years you will have 16 year olds who were born in 2005 who were ELEVEN in 2016 and went through their preteen and teen years in the snapchat, instagram, youtube “only old people use facebook” scene bc like even now I saw DEH when I was 18 and the last time I used email to contact someone was 2012 and thats bc I was a weird kid without a smart phone like?? concerned????

[themadburnish]

stop calling Evan a “cinnamon roll” and stop giving him a free pass for lying to the Murphy’s because he has anxiety. He’s a compulsive liar! Acknowledge the shitty parts of him too! Y’all are so quick to jump on Connor for shit that he did but suddenly you’re eyes and ears stop working whenever Evan tells another lie because he wanted a girlfriend and parental figures. 

[flyawayrachel]

Kristolyn's beautiful response to the discourse™