Seven brides for seven brothers - Assignment Example

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Table of Contents 2. 3. 4. 5. References The story has universal appeal, is original, and is heartwarming. The story therefore arguably has a lot to do with the enduring appeal of the movie and the play, and its initial success at the box office and at the Academy Awards. Looking at the narrative, for instance, one sees the universal appeal of love at first sight between Milly and Adam. The gradual domestication of the six brothers, the planned kidnapping of the six other brides, and the marriages at the end of the movie also all add up to movie’s charm.

The musical score too has universal and timeless appeal, and adds to its enduring popularity in theatre (IMDb, 2015). 2. The setting of the story in Oregon in 1850, a time of expansion to the west in those territories in conjunction with the notion of Manifest Destiny, gives us a background with which to understand the situation facing the brothers in the place, as basically rough men who had no access to women, and who were basically frontier people staking out the land for their own. The brothers were basically outsiders who were isolated and were venturing out into new territory.

The place also was characterized by the relative absence of the rule of law, so that the abduction of the women to be the brides of the six brothers makes sense. The time and place setting of the story contextualizes the way the brothers were socially formed, why they were in Oregon at the time, and gives a context with which to understand their actions relative to the women (US History, 2015; Oregon Secretary of State, 2014; SparkNotes LLC, 2014). 3. The men here are characterized as brutes unfit for female company, though Adam was an exception and was lucky to have gained the heart of Milly so easily, on just a single meeting.

The six brothers were portrayed as probably representing the large mass of men who could not find wives, and were relegated to their lonely existences out in the frontier. That said, the women were characterized not as helpless creatures in need of men, but rather as being domesticators and bearers of culture and refinement. Though the men abducted their wives, and Adam put Milly on his list of items to shop so to speak, the women had their own mind and had some control over the actions of the men (IMDb, 2015). 4. There is an element of the immediate in the live musical that is not present in the filmed musical, as can be gleaned from the Ellen Eccles staging of the movie.

The live musical captures the film’s spirit to the extent that the former faithfully reproduces the excitement and the special feeling that is embodied in the movie, as if new and being done for the first time. The immediacy of the live performance adds to this (Utah Arts & Cultural Coalition, 2014). 5. The barn raising dance is my favorite musical number because the dance production is beautiful and captures the spirit of courtship and the contest among the male protagonists that was embodied in the dance number, fighting for the women.

The dance production is superb and very original, something that arguably is no longer seen in modern cinema (33Evenstar, 2013). References33Evenstar (2013). Barn raising dance (7 Brides for 7 Brothers) - MGM Studio Orchestra (HD). YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TygmMPbwfjAIMDb (2015). Synopsis for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. IMDb.com. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047472/synopsis?ref_=tt_stry_plOregon Secretary of State (2014). Oregon History: Chronology- 1543 - 1850.

Oregon Blue Book. Retrieved from http://www.bluebook.state.or.us/cultural/history/chron01.htmSparkNotes LLC (2014). The Pre-Civil War Era (1815 - 1850). Spark Notes. Retrieved from http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/section4.rhtmlUS History (2014). 29 Manifest Destiny. US History. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/29.aspUtah Arts & Cultural Coalition (2014). Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Now Playing Utah. Retrieved from http://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/detail/441841381/Seven_Brides_for_Seven_Brothers