Mother Knows Best (song)

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" Mother Knows Best " is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater for the 50th animated feature film Walt Disney Pictures Tangled (2010). Included in the official soundtrack of the film, "Mother Knows Best" is a theater-inspired pop and jazz ballad performed by American actress and singer Donna Murphy in her role as Mother Gothel, the movie villain. Combining a series of passive-aggressive insults into the lyrics, the song serves as Gothel's attempt to scare Rapunzel to remain in their remote tower despite her constantly asking to see the floating lantern so she can continue exploiting her hair regeneration ability to stay young. "Mother Knows Best" was eventually direprized in a more sinister and grudging manner by Gothel after Rapunzel, after leaving the tower, openly opposed it for the first time.

Menken and Slater deliberately wrote "Mother Knows Best" in the style of the old Broadway musical number after director Byron Howard and Nathan Greno specifically requested that they provide a movie with one. Musically, "Mother Knows Best" instantly contrasts with the more pop-oriented singer-songwriter style of Rapunzel songs, performed by pop singer Mandy Moore. Tony's award-winning Broadway performer, Murphy, recorded "Mother Knows Best" by imagining Gothel as a person who had fun in the spotlight and enjoyed being the center of attention.

Often referred to as Tangled's best songs, "Mother Knows Best" has gained wide recognition from both film and music critics, who identify it as a prominent prominent by praising its melody, humor and darkness. Murphy's vocal performance has also been praised, with critics voicing their preference for him over Moore, while comparing him to the likes of actress Patti LuPone and Julie Andrews. In addition, the song has drawn comparisons to composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, as well as songs from the music of Les MisÃÆ' Â © rables and Disney itself The Hunchback of Notre Dame > (1996), other Menken projects.

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"Mother Knows Best" was written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. Menken and Slater wrote "Mother Knows Best" as a music-inspired song on the orders of directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, who specifically requested that the songwriter provide Tangled with "musical theater moments". Initially, Menken was worried that the song did not match the soundtrack of the movie because his genre was quite different from the singer-songwriter's approach he used to write his songs. While most of Tangled music was inspired by the work of Canadian musician Joni Mitchell, Menken imagined the Gothel song as "classic" Broadway. Before writing "Mother Knows Best", Menken and Slater examine the exact moments in the movie where the main character has the potential to appear, ultimately determining that "Mother Knows Best" "flows directly out of the conflict between" Mother Gothel and Rapunzel.

Menken observes the similarities between Gothel and Claude Frollo, another Disney villain who has written songs while working as a composer at The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Menken describes Gothel as "a frightening part of work" while "Frollo is a much more sophisticated, but more easily understood criminal... than Mother Gothel", whose relationship with Rapunzel is more manipulative than the Frollo-Quasimodo dynamics. When writing "Mother Knows Best", Menken was worried that "there will be a rash of children trying to kill their parents after they see the movie." According to director Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, one of his lines, "somewhat plump", was lifted from an interview directed by some Disney female employees, where they asked them to describe their relationship with their mother. Menken "very happy" with "Mother Knows Best."

Especially the Broadway actress, Donna Murphy never voiced animated characters before Tangled , and decided to audition for her role spontaneously. Because the film is a musical, all potential voice actors are required to audition the song of their choice; Murphy auditioned the song "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods musicals. Menken said that Murphy, with whom the composer had previously worked on his music Little Shop of Horrors, "brought musical theater skills" to the song. Due to Akbar's extensive musical and theater background, Menken and his directors are open to his ideas and suggestions about Gothel music, on an occasion suggesting alternative arrangements "Mother Knows Best". Murphy imagines his character as an entertainer, describing it as "someone who imagines himself being regularly struck with the spotlight", which ultimately affects his appearance on "Mother Knows Best". New York Post writer Lou Lumenick feels that, as a songwriter, Menken and Slater have given Murphy a real "showstopper" of the film. The Korea Times reported that it was only after the animator Jin Kim heard "Mother Knows Best" for the first time that she was carrying a "Hollywood 1940s sirens screen motif" for Gothel's looks and personality.

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Context, sequence and analysis

A "great" music number, "Mother Knows Best" began within the first fifteen minutes of Tangled during the first film when, on the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel finally summoned enough courage to ask Gothel permission to traveling and seeing the lantern floating directly. Gothel, whose immortal youth and beauty rely solely on the safety and protection of Rapunzel's miraculous hair, refuses this request by sarcastically reminding her that "mother knows best," warns her ward that "the world is full of evil people who want to steal it. , "explaining to him that it was" for his own good, "claiming only to protect him. At one point during the scene, Gothel was completely at odds with himself; Teena Elizabeth of BookMyShow observes, "Gothel has no intention of letting him go.Although Mother Gothel sings, 'soon, but not yet,' but ironically then says, 'Rapunzel, never ask to leave this tower... again. '"Writing for Tulsa World, Michael Smith observes that Gothel used the song" as a lie/reason to keep the girl safe (holding his hostage) from those who might steal it for a hair-inspired earnings scheme. " Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew feels that the scene is funny and frightening, citing Gothic "gesture theater" and "claustrophobia-inducing stark black backgrounds" as an example of both. "Cementing the cruelty of character," Gothel finally ordered Rapunzel to promise never to ask permission to leave the tower again. Moviefone's William Goss cites music numbers as an example of "fear-mongering," which has been defined by Dictionary.com as "the person who creates or spreads alarming news." Jennie Punter of The Globe and Mail wrote, "The lively Mother Knows Best conveys [s] the fear and guilt that has made Rapunzel in her own tower of will." In his book Marvels & amp; Tales, author Kendra Magnusson observes that, during the musical sequence "Mother Knows Best", "Rapunzel's hair manipulation leaves her female body grabbed in one moment and tied in it" next, describes it, while Rapunzel's hair can be used to defend herself , "it is both an obligation" and can also be used to harm it.

A writer for Disney.com observes, "The song's exclamation lies in the fact that untrustworthy Mother Gothel positions itself as a helpful figure for Rapunzel." Brian Galindo from BuzzFeed writes that the song, whose purpose has been summarized by Curt Holman of Creative Loafing as "just to manipulate Rapunzel to stay at home," "perfectly disguise Mother Gothel's true motives." According to Simon Miraudo from Quickflix, Gothel cunningly uses the song to guilt travel Rapunzel "lives in the tower... afraid of imagining the horror that is outside his door." In his book How The Fairy Tales Live Happily Ever After: Analyzing Adapted Art The author, Conny Eisfeld observes that "Mother Knows Best" emphasizes Gothel's "superiority" status, despite the fact that "its existence depends only on Rapunzel. " Bitch identifies Gothel as a rough mother, writes, "he is manipulative, dishonest, and dedicated to undermining his daughter's independence.This is shown consistently through all his appearances in the film, but it comes out clearly very early indeed, with "Mother Knows Best." Critics often identify the sequence as one of the darkest and most edgiest moments of the film.According to the very dark undertone, Anthony Falco of Class Junkies wrote, "This song is heard in the fact that a child can be influenced ; Rapunzel believes that Mother Gothel has the best intentions, but obviously, evil wizards use the princess for her own benefit. Falco continued, "The audience knows what Gothel wants with Rapunzel, but the fact that we can not protect naÃÆ'¯ve daughters produces further hatred for magicians." Falco also concluded that "The evil reprise of Gothel at the end of Tangled allows for a terrible tone to appear, which makes 'Mother the Best' one of the most evil villain tracks in the Disney library." Similarly, Elissa Smith of Paper Droids writes that while the audience is fully aware of Gothel's evil intentions, Rapunzel is denied "the outsider's point of view." Glen Chapman of Den of Geek wrote that the scene "strikes a balance between sophistication of melody and narrative, as well as being equally sweet and spooky." Gothel then reprises the song "in indelible fashion."

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Music and lyrics

According to the official music sheet of the song, which has been published by Walt Disney Music Publishing on Musicnotes.com, "Mother Knows Best" is a "brash," inspired Broadway musical upbeat written in key F major in moderate tempo 66 beats per minute, done "with rubato." With a total length of three minutes and ten seconds - the second longest song on the soundtrack of the movie, behind "I See the Light" - Io9 writer Meredith Woerner described the ballad as "a crooked song about" a mother "who protects her fake daughter from the real world so he can live forever. "According to Tom Charity of CNN," Mother Knows Best "is a" big number, theater "with jazz and pop influences. Michael Smith of Tulsa World called the song "a little rocking Freudian dream". Musically, "Mother Knows Best" is a "dangerous show-stopper" that uses a "warning" melody, with one critic identifying it as "drag-song". Sharing a similar sentiment, Justin Chang called the song "authoritarian anthem." Justin Chang called it "an authoritarian anthem." Describing "Mother Knows Best" as "fiery number", Andrew L. Urban of Urban Cinefile writes that the music and lyrics of the song "are theatrical as much as their characters." According to Anthony Quinn of The Independent, "Mother Knows Best" is "a creepy ode for personal gain." Joe Williams from St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the song as a "Broadway-targeted song" with "mercenary undertone." In the subtle darkness of the song, Filmtracks.com writes that "beautiful melodies and romantic instrumentation are betrayed by its really evil lyrics."

The lyrics, the song mentioned all the "crimes out to get Rapunzel" and basically about manipulating one's daughter. Featuring "aggressive-aggressive temptation a la Mommie Dearest," the song begins with Murphy speaking, "You want to go out? Why, Rapunzel!", And feature the lyrics "skip drama, live with mama," one of the most memorable songs, according to Kenneth Turan from Los Angeles Times . Like Gothel, Murphy lists some things for the dreaded Rapunzel, such as bastards, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals, snakes, and plague, in an attempt to prevent it from going. Teena Elizabeth of BookMyShow also observes that at one point the song was against himself, with his first lyrics implying that Rapunzel could leave "soon, but not yet," only to finally conclude, "Rapunzel will not never left it the tower ever. "Brian Galindo from BuzzFeed says" never ask to leave this tower again "as the song" the most evil lyrics. " John Roebuck from ReelGood observes that the song's lyrics are basically "Snide's comment on the appearance and ability of the stolen [Gothel] girl... disguised as a mother's attention." Writing for Slant Magazine, Christian Blauvelt feels that the lyrics are similar to Disney's "Out There" lyrics of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), especially Judge Claude Frollo verse. Both "Mother Knows Best" and "Outside" are, in fact, compiled by Menken. Also comparing songs to Menken's earlier work, AllMusic James Christopher Monger wrote that "Mother Knows Best" is "cut out of the same pop fabric as all 20th/early 21st century Disney offerings."

Murphy's vocal range on the song covers about two octaves, from low tone F ₃ to high notes C ₅ . According to James Kendrick of QNetwork Entertainment Portal, the song gave the actress "the opportunity to stretch her Broadway vocal music." Writing for Little White Lies, Georgie Hobbs argues that Murphy "performs... Mother Knows Best... with schizophrenic madness", compares the song with composer and Broadway lyricist Stephen Sondheim, while Jeff Bayer from The Scorecard Review compares it to the "Master of the House" of Les MisÃÆ' Â © rables music. Meanwhile, Dan Kois from The Village Voice compares the song with Sondheim's musical Gypsy . Norman Wilner of Now wrote that Murphy's vocal appearance "is clear," "rang," "power plant," which Marjorie Baumgarten from The Austin Chronicle drips [s] with sarcasm and biting, "reminded her of Broadway actress and singer Patti LuPone. Meanwhile, Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph equated Murphy's performance with actress and singer Julie Andrews, describing it jokingly as "Julie-Andrews-on-stimulant." According to Bitch , the replay of the song "presents a much darker harmony and a slightly revised melody compared to the original rendition of the song." In addition, reprise serves as "a dark twist on the original performance with much more pleasant sounds both in singing and orchestration."

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Reception

"Mother Knows Best" has gained universal recognition from both film and music critics, some of whom claim to enjoy the song despite being unimpressed with the majority of Tangled music. Writing for The Blade, Kirk Baird argues that most of the movie songs are "not very impressive" except "Mother Knows Best". Likewise, Lindsey Ward of Canoe.ca writes, "music numbers are not the best thing in Tangled - the exception is 'Mother Knows Best', an insolent song that steals Tony-the winner of Murphy's own scene turned into a spectacle giant with his voice ". Recognizing that "The songs... are not heard in the first hearing like Menken," Richard Corliss of Time describes "Mother Knows Best" as a "poisoned honey pot". Similarly, Anthony Quinn of The Independent wrote, "The songs are not very good... apart from 'Mother Knows Best'." Michael Smith, writing for Tulsa World, felt that the darkness of the song "reminded [s] of the nefarious bits of the original fairy tales of Grimm and gave [s] Tangled a bitter balance to moments of sugar and spices. "Vincent of The Virginian-Pilot mall describes the song as" a good criminal entry. " Critics constantly call "Mother Knows Best" as the movie's best song. The Scotsman call it Tangled ' s "the best song." Similarly, Nigel Andrews from the Financial Times admitted "Mother Knows Best" as one of the best "Tangled ' s" songs, "while Georgie Hobbs of Little White Lies identifies it as a "standout" film, deeming it "worthy of the best of [Stephen] Sondheim's crazy hero." Likewise, Ken Hanke from Mountain Xpress highlights "Mother Knows Best" as a "standout" song surrounded by "passable people." Calling the song as one of the film's "Broadway Potential" broke-ups, Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times described "Mother Knows Best" as "KO." Also outperformed the song as the "best number" of the film, Dan Kois from The Village Voice called it "a song worthy of Mama Rose." Similarly, Andrea Gronvall of the Chicago Tribune feels that "Mother Knows Best" is one of the most memorable songs of the film, calls it "show-stopping", and feels that "Murphy channel [ed] all the horrible power of Mama Rose in Gypsy . "

Murphy's "scene-stealing" vocal performance has been filled with enthusiastic reviews, perceived by Filmtracks.com as "more perfect" than Mandy Moore. Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers praised it as "comic happiness with a sting on its tail." 7x7 ' s Rossiter Drake is called the actress' "vocal skills... welcome revelation," while Hannah Goodwin of the Christian Broadcasting Network described it as "amazing." The Austin Chronicle ' s Marjorie Baumgarten praised Murphy for "bringing the stage show to his musical interludes as Mother Gothel." Tom Charity of CNN praised the actress for "seiz [ing] Menken, theater number 'Mother Knows Best' for a showstopper who deserved it." Writing for iReport CNN, Julie Ellerton simply describes her performance as "amazing." Jonathan Crocker of GamesRadar wrote, "Donna Murphy's vocal performance as a cruel and dazzling evil mastermaster is amazing," he continued, "the lowly song of 'Mother Knows Best' is easily the best music movie number." Knowing that "Mother Knows the Best" is "belted out wonderfully by Murphy", Linda Cook from Quad-City Times concludes that the actress "makes purchasing a valuable soundtrack by itself." Christian Blauvelt of Slant Magazine wrote, "If some Menken songs seem to be soaring, it's only because Mandy Moore's limited pop star vocals as Rapunzel", concludes, "when Broadway vet Murphy is needed to measure the octave raising melodies of Menken like a vocal escalator, that's a different story. "Sandie Angulo Chen from Common Sense Media wrote that Murphy's vocals are" on the look of incredible Mother Knows Best 'outstanding figures. " William Goss of Moviefone says, "Mother Knows Best" is "belted out perfectly" by Murphy. In a movie soundtrack review, AllMusic critic James Christopher Monger observes that both Murphy and Moore "take the lion's share of the work, and... deliver the goods."

In one of the rare song reviews, Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe enjoys the song itself but feels that it is unnecessary and melodramatic, writes, "The movie does not require [the song], for one For the other , their archeness (Gothel singing with arms to his forehead) shows that the filmmakers want to have both - to be sincere and grinning. "James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the song a negative review, feeling that the song was equally unimpressive with other songs and writing, "It's hard to imagine someone humming... 'Mother Knows Best' when leaving the theater."

Io9 ranks 11 songs on the website list of "The Greatest Supervillain Musical Numbers of All Time." BuzzFeed rated the 12th "Mother Knows Best" in the "The 12 Greatest Disney Villain Songs" list. Disney.com awarded this song with a score of six out of 10, praising "the singing voice and incredible Murphy singing prowess." The lyrics "mother knows best" are recognized and quoted in The Quotable Mom: Appreciation of the Greatest Mind in History by the Familius.

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia