It was an interesting weekend for my family. On Saturday, we went to see The Nutcracker
performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
On Sunday, my son and I went to the Walker Stalker Con at the
Meadowlands in New Jersey.
As most of you know, The Nutcracker is about a young girl’s
dream/nightmare in which she shrinks down a la Alice In Wonderland. In her dream, her new toy, a nutcracker
dressed like a soldier, battles a bunch of rats including a larger “Rat King”
who (at least in this production) wore a cape comprised of the heads of other
rats. If not for the Tchaikovsky and the
lovely dancing, some of these images could be very disturbing. Even the uncle, who I guess is supposed to be
watching over the little girl, can be seen as very strict and
intimidating. And at the end when the
girl is back in her bed, the uncle’s face appears at the window above her bed,
watching over her. Both my son and I
walked away commenting on how that felt a little creepy too.
At Walker Stalker Con, a convention for fans of The Walking
Dead and other zombie movies/shows, there was pure fandom on display. Most of the Walking Dead cast, both past and
present, were on hand to sign autographs and take pictures. People waited patiently on lines, snapped
photos and encouraged their kids to go up and get their photo taken with The
Governor (for those not familiar with the show, he was a really bad
character). But at the convention, he
could have been Santa Claus. People were
thrilled and smiled ear to ear as they saw their favorite characters in front
of them. On screen enemies met on panels
and by stopping by each other’s autograph booths, greeting each other with big
hugs and smiles. A guy and his son (8-10
years old) giddily showed me and my son a photo they took of themselves with
Chandler Riggs, who play Carl on WD, just before heading into a shooting rang
where they could fire a hundred rounds of bee-bees into targets featuring the
images of zombies from the show.
Both were interesting, fun experiences for sure. I enjoyed both for different reasons, but
found it ironic that I found some of the images from The Nutcracker to be
creepier than the experience at Walker Stalker Con.
Okay, third try....It's not surprising that you found some aspects of Nutcracker more disturbing than not. The original fairy tale is pretty dark. As well, in many productions, they incorporate unresolved sexual tension between Uncle Drosselmeier and Clara/Marie. (Of course, in those productions, they usually cast an older teen or adult in the niece's role.)
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