Posted: 4/8/15 at 3:18pm
I must confess total bewilderment at how anyone could find Chevalier's "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" to be "creepy" in any way.
I think it's a little creepy out of context.
What if an older gay man sang a parallel song about little boys? Wouldn't that seem a bit creepy? I dare say that it would, even to many gay men (it surely would to me). It's no less creepy as actually written.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 3:36pm
It's not creepy in any context, if (as I noted) one is actually listening to the lyrics.
Thank heaven for little girls
For little girls get bigger every day
Thank heaven for little girls
They grow up in the most delightful way
Those little eyes so helpless and appealing
One day will flash and send you crashing through the ceiling
Thank heaven for little girls
Thank heaven for them all,
No matter where no matter who
Without them, what would little boys do?
You see? The entire point is that girls are great because they become women. That's the whole thought. There's nothing there about wanting to have an affair with a child. Nothing remotely pederastic there (except to people who want it to be there).
The song is a simple summation of the show's basic story - Gaston sees Gigi as a child, then realizes that she's become a woman and that he's in love with her.
Updated On: 4/8/15 at 03:36 PM
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:00pm
Well, I've listened to the lyrics a few times in my life, and read them in your post, and I'd still give it a 2 on a creepy scale from one to ten. :) I agree with your identification of the point of the song, but that's exactly what I find creepy about it: to think of little girls and conclude that they're great because they'll be hot someday.
It's no problem, of course, if you don't find it creepy at all, but I'm totally bewildered that you'd be totally bewildered that anyone could disagree. :)
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:02pm
I know the lyrics and I still think the song is creepy, since it is effectively saying, "When I look at little girls, all I think about is how in a few years I can seduce them."
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:08pm
AND LET'S NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE EFFECT THE 1994 GERARD DEPARDIEU COMEDY "MY FATHER THE HERO" HAS HAD ON THE POPULAR CONSCIOUSNESS, PLEASE
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:11pm
I suppose someone who thinks that the song is about sex instead of love would find it creepy. But it seems clear (to me) that the song, as written and in context, is about love/romance, not copulation.
There are plenty of other perfectly fine songs that are inherently about copulation: I don't think we need to torture every love song into a missionary or doggie position...
Updated On: 4/8/15 at 04:11 PM
Posted: 4/8/15 at 5:13pm
Well, I didn't actually invoke sex. However, I don't think it's unreasonable to suppose that those eyes that "flash and send you crashing through the ceiling" connote sexual attraction, at least for Honoré.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 5:56pm
The original intent of the song was clearly not sexual. It mirrored the storyline, which centers around the fact that Gigi, previously seen as a nonsexual playmate, suddenly blossoms and sends Gaston "crashing through the ceiling".
In 1958, pedophilia (like homosexuality or Presidential affairs) was not discussed or even acknowledged, so it was possible to have 70-year-old Maurice Chevalier sing the song. In 2015, we're far too aware of child sexual abuse to allow the same thing, so I understand the need to change the singer of the song.
The other changes, though, were unnecessary and damaging.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 6:02pm
The original intent of the song was clearly not sexual. It mirrored the storyline, which centers around the fact that Gigi, previously seen as a nonsexual playmate, suddenly blossoms and sends Gaston "crashing through the ceiling"
At the risk of being nit-picky, I think there's something vaguely contradictory about what you're saying here. If Gigi was previously seen as a nonsexual playmate, doesn't this imply that there's at least some sexual element to how Gaston sees her now? It's love, yes, and romance, but it's not platonic love, after all. :)
Posted: 4/8/15 at 8:19pm
You're nit-picking and missing the of my post and the story.
To explain it again: Gigi begins as a girl, whom Gaston does not see in any sexual way and who he treats only as a fun-loving kid. The dialogue makes this clear many times.
Over the course of the play, she matures into a young woman, whom Gaston falls in love with and is now is sexually attracted to.
Anyone who watches the title song and doesn't get that is not listening.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 9:06pm
I do get that. But that fits into why I can see that "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" might be perceived as slightly creepy. Honoré (in previous versions of the work where he sings the song) is making a particular point about little girls: that they'll be hot someday. Yes, that's what happened with Gigi in Gaston's eyes, but that developed naturally; it's a slightly different matter for Honoré to ruminate about it in song.
I mean, if I told you I sometimes thought about little boys and rejoiced that they'd be attractive guys someday, wouldn't that seem a bit off? I don't see how what Honoré expresses in the song is materially different from that.
Anyhow, obviously I've said the same thing a few times, and apparently there are plenty of folks who agree with both sides of the argument. I'm happy to let others have the last word on this.
