A Disney Post a Day: Day 5: The Moment Tramp Fell in Love
I find it interesting, when I think of a love story, to determine when exactly did the characters fall in love with each other. When it comes to "Lady and the Tramp" (1955), easily one of the most famous love stories Disney have ever made (really only trumped in iconography by "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), I believe most people would just point at this image, the most famous the movie has created, one that has literally become a trope, invoked, parodied, echoed across time. One of the great cinematic kisses.
Not on it being iconic: You'd be a fool to look at this moment and scoff at its importance. This is obviously a great moment, AND an important one in the story, as the attraction between the two dogs is made most apparent (and attraction is integral when one falls in love, after all).
But to me, this is not the same as falling in LOVE. Love is a word thrown around a lot, but it's not a small term or phase by any means. It's the difference between a crush and devotion. You might LIKE that one nice girl down the street, but would you die for her? Would you kill for her? Would you spend every moment thinking of her? Would you question your own soul if she questioned it?
To me, that's what love truly is, in that context: You don't just fancy someone, you feel almost... Broken. They're not just a pretty face, they're something you're missing, a second half. Someone who can finally mend your jagged self.
So, to me, that moment above? That is NOT when either of them (but specifically Tramp) fell in love.
Oh no... THIS is when Tramp fell in love, right here:
Now, I admit this moment may seem a tad surprising. Why THIS one? For those of you who don't recall the movie (or have just rewatched it like I have), let me set the scene: Lady has just returned from the pound, having learned that Tramp is not only a bit of a scoundrel (especially with the ladies), but also that he just might lose his focus if hitched to one girl, which would cost him his life. After a failed attempt by Jock and Trusty to cheer her up, Lady sees Tramp return with a pitiful apology in the shape of a bone. It feels rather pathetic, and for the first time in the entire movie, Tramp isn't presented as either a cool, debonaire vagabond NOR some great romantic NOR some worldly protector of the less fortunate. Up until this moment, the movie had been firmly on Tramp's side, at least, it seemed, and his words were starting to make sense, both to Lady and to us. Why IS Lady being so devoted to owners that clearly prefer the baby? Why should she care? She's not the baby's mother, nor does she truly have any responsibility for the child, and after what Aunt Sarah did, who could blame her for just abandoning her home to find out what the world could be like beyond the fence?
But see, that's the genius of a well-executed flat arc: The movie was never truly against Lady, it agrees with her. But her arc won't hit as well if it's made abundantly clear that she's right. What makes Lady a great character is that Tramp isn't totally wrong: Yeah, Jim Dear and Darling ARE less attentive. Yes, the Baby IS currently more important than her. Yes, there are humans who AREN'T kind to her, who will mistreat her. No longer is her life that one of comfort and perfection. There is now strife in her love, concern in her homestead. Tramp, for all his tough talk, is ironically presenting a life that he claims Lady has: One of no responsibility, cares, pain. An easy life, because when one doesn't love, one doesn't hurt.
It's why Tramp has a house for every day of the week; it's why he plays with the puppies for a moment but doesn't liberate them from the store; it's why he takes the time to mock those with leashes while sleeping alone in a junkyard; it's why he's had so many lovers, but not a single great love. Tramp chooses not to love. Is it because he once had an owner who mistreated him for a baby? Is it because he's never HAD an owner? Who's to say, the movie chooses to keep that a mystery. What matters is that Tramp has CHOSEN this life, whether he can admit that to himself or not, and so, he has chosen the easy path.
Lady COULD run away with him to the great horizon and live a life of chaos, with no real tether, no real aim. She could reject the love she had for it's prickles sting her paw.
But she instead chooses to remain, to take care of the baby, as she says herself earlier in the movie. That love was given to her through kindness, it was real... Should she not fight for that love, return it, despite it all? Real love isn't perfect, it's messy. There will be times it turns muted, dull, even displeasing.
But real love doesn't run away the moment it turns hard. Real love stays with you, till the bitter end.
When Lady rejects Tramp in that scene, the text indicates it's for his womanizing ways. You can also read it as her protecting him from taking the long walk, as she saw earlier in the pound.
But the truth lies in between the words, in every single moment of the movie: Lady chooses love, Tramp chooses the easy path. Who's to say he won't abandon her the next time he sees a cute looking dog? Who's to say he won't get them into the pound, never to walk the streets again? Who's to say they'll find any happiness out there? There is no love there, simply an empty adrenaline chase.
So when Lady rejects him in that scene, she's telling him in between the words "You don't need me, you don't burn for me, you don't care for me, you just want me.". This isn't love, it's just a hookup. Real love would make sacrifices, take risks, real risks, not the prank risks Tramp takes.
So doesn't it say everything that right after this moment, when the baby's in danger, Tramp returns? The baby's in danger, Lady needs him. The easy solution would be to keep walking away. She doesn't want him. She just told him that. Besides, what's he gonna lose? A baby that's not his? A woman that cares not for him anymore? Tramp can walk away with no consequence.
But if he chooses to go back there, there IS a consequence now. If he goes back there, that baby becomes someone he can never stop protecting. That woman becomes someone he has to change for, to commit to. There is no longer an easy road if he takes this path.
And lest we recall what he did?
He fought that rat to the bitter end.
And then he never left again.
So, yes, the spaghetti moment is iconic, cute, romantic, and an important step in the way.
But Lady and The Tramp, Disney's iconic couple, didn't fall in love at their closest...
They fell in love when they were furthest apart.
For at that moment, Tramp realized this lady was his total opposite, the counter to his entire being...
And he couldn't love her more for being so.
baratheonpilled
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
prguitarman
gracieabrams
theartofmadeline