But there's something so captivating about it, and I think Disney movies appeal as much to or more to teenagers (read, me) because Quasimodo is the ultimate teenager: for the first time seeing and wanting to experience the world beyond the one set up by his protective guardian (though hopefully, no parents are like Frollo in any other way....... any ulterior motive-d, creepy, menacingly lustful way... see Hellfire)
And he's seeking a self amongst the constructions of the lives of people "out there"--
I was talking to Julia last night about how we always seem more complex to ourselves. Or maybe it's the other way around-- we always simplify everyone around us. I remember reading something -- maybe in one of John Green's books? where a character realizes that if we felt the true depth of everyone's joy and pain and lethargy and grief, we'd shut down.
Quasimodo has the hunched back and worries about physical appearance that teens thrive on, but he's in the position to have a clouded, far-away view of Parisians below the bell tower--
"All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone/ hungry for the histories they show me/ All my life I memorize their faces/ Knowing them as they will never know me/ All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day/ Not above them, but part of them"
Other favorite parts:
crazy friends: "and since you're shaped, like a croissant is, no question of, she's gotta love, a guy like you!"
"ooh la la! she wants you la la!"
and of course:
"we find you totally innocent, which is the worst crime of all!" Which, pretty much.
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