"Ring of Keys" Question

[Cocomoco99]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:05am

I'm sure this is a really stupid question, but I just saw the Fun Home performance at the Tony Awards and I was blown away. I haven't seen the show...can anyone explain the significance/what the words "ring of keys" is referring to? I understand that the song is about the young version of the main character beginning to discover her sexuality. But I still don't understand the title. Thanks :)

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:12am

The delivery woman is holding a ring of keys.

[juice23]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:13am

She's referring to the giant ring of keys that the "old school butch" female delivery driver had when she walked into the luncheonette where she was eating with her father.

It was the first time Alison had seen a lesbian, and she realizes they are the same but doesn't know why yet. 

[followspot]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:22am

It's the 1970s, and she has just seen her first "butch" female  — "men's" haircut, clothes, boots, ring of keys on her belt (a lesbian hallmark at the time, although the child isn't yet old enough to understand that) — and it's a moment of sudden and vivid identification for her.  (She's already had the impulse to cut her hair and dress less like a "girl," which her father won't allow her to do.) In her young eyes, the ring of keys especially (which she has probably only known women to keep in a purse) seems a magical statement of strength and confidence.

(FUN HOME itself is about the unlocking of secrets and identities, so you can go there too metaphorically.  Quite the brilliant song.)

 

Updated On: 6/11/15 at 09:22 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:24am

A more interesting question is what possessed the TV director to cut away from that little girl in the middle of that song -- TV Stupidity at its most blatant.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:47am

^That choice made me incredibly upset.

I remember hearing Lisa Kron say that she wanted to write it so that it sounded like a child.  She points out things that a child would notice like her "lace-up boots" and her "ring of keys." 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:49am

I don't see how that is an extraordinary comment...a child DOES sing it, of course it should sound like a child.

 

 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:53am

She meant in the way that she speaks.  She didn't want to write mature-sounding lyrics and try to convince the audience that it's something a little girl would say.  A young girl would probably remember something like a ring of keys while an adult might not.

I'm not talking about the actual vocals, but rather the writing.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:56am

She said she didn't want to say "steel toed boots" or any of the things that are played out butch descriptions that might lead the audience to laugh at the butch woman.  She wanted to use language a little girl might use to describe something she's seeing for the first time when she has never heard the stereotype phrases.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:57am

"She meant in the way that she speaks.  She didn't want to write mature-sounding lyrics and try to convince the audience that it's something a little girl would say.  A young girl would probably remember something like a ring of keys while an adult might not.
I'm not talking about the actual vocals, but rather the writing."

 

 

I know, my comment still stands.   ANY writer should make dialogue coming out of a child's mouth sound like a child might actually utter it..   

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:00am

^alright.

Why is your comment relevant to this thread.  The OP asked the relevance of the keys.  I didn't say that Kron did anything revolutionary about writing it like a child.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:44am

I think dramamama is trying to explain to you that the way Kron wrote it should be the way you write anything; the character determines and influences the language (and vocabulary) being used. If the girl is young and underexposed, she'll presumably describe something in that way. As in, it shouldn't be the exception -- like you're suggesting -- but the norm of musical theatre writing. Dramama is correct. There's nothing extraordinary about writing language that is unique to the girl's age or circumstances. That's how a song, and a character, should always be written. 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:59am

I know, my comment still stands.   ANY writer should make dialogue coming out of a child's mouth sound like a child might actually utter it..   "

 Yes, you are right,  but what they should do is often different from what they do do. There are a lot of writers who have difficulty writing appropriate dialogue for kids. Almost any child character on TV illustrates this pretty well. I think it's great that the writers actually took the time to look at things from a child's perspective. It doesn't happen as often as it should. 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:00pm

But doing something that is what is expected and is the "norm" should not also be considered special or extraordinary. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:16pm

"Yes, you are right, but what they should do is often different from what they do do."

Like in the trite lyrics of that Should Have Been You number.  Imagine what a talented lyricist could come up with.  

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:17pm

I don't disagree, Namo. That musical number was horrendous. 

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:18pm

 

".can anyone explain the significance/what the words "ring of keys" is referring to?"

To elaborate on what followspot said, lesbians back in the day wore rings of keys on their belts as a kind of signifier of their sexuality.

"She meant in the way that she speaks. She didn't want to write mature-sounding lyrics and try to convince the audience that it's something a little girl would say. A young girl would probably remember something like a ring of keys while an adult might not."

I'd say she failed in that effort. What child would sing "your swagger, and your bearing, and the just-right clothes you're wearing"?

Great line, just not one I'd expect a child to speak.

 

 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:21pm

As the songwriters said in their video about the composing of the songs, right off the bat the show establishes itself as taking place in the home of a family that uses unusual language ("damask" being the first clue), which invites the audience to listen.  The important thing for Kron was not to use pre-ordained phrases often used to mock butch lesbians.  I think a precocious young girl in a house full of book readers would find those words to describe the delivery woman.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:00pm

"The important thing for Kron was not to use pre-ordained phrases often used to mock butch lesbians."

Other than crew cuts and wearing flannel, I can't think of anything more stereotypical of a butch lesbian of that time than wearing a ring of keys on her belt. It's almost tantamount to the handkerchief code that gay men used to use.

"I think a precocious young girl in a house full of book readers would find those words to describe the delivery woman."

I won't argue that point, but if the idea was to have her sound like a child, they used very mature words and concepts - therefore making her sound like a child did not work for me. I love the song and Sydney's rendition, but either she's a child or an exceptionally precocious (mature) child - you can't really have it both ways.

I happen to think both the character and the actress are precocious.I look forward to seeing more from her.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:15pm

It's the perfect lyrical image for this song.  For many in the audience, the ring of keys is emblematically part of a certain look, a cultural identifier of a certain kind of lesbian. 
At the same time it's also simply a ring of keys.
For Little Alison, a way to start to unlock the mystery of her sexuality.

[edmundog2]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:16pm

"I think the dialogue in this show was very well written."

"Dialogue is supposed to be well written, that's nothing special."


"The direction of that show was great!"

"Shows are supposed to have good direction, what's the big deal?"

 

"The costumes in that play were very accurate to the time period."

"I don't see what's so special about that, they SHOULD be accurate."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:17pm

The lyrics are brilliant.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:35pm

I love the word 'luncheonette'

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:46pm

Edmund made me laugh although I recognize there's nothing special about jokes making people laugh since jokes are supposed to make people laugh. 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:51pm

I think contrasting Young Allison's more precocious vocabulary with a childish lack of vocabulary is brilliant, honestly. She's been raised by a man who values aesthetic flourish, in literature and appearance. But she faces something that not only is less refined, but something that she simply lacks words to fully describe, so she has to rely on a simple, straightforward description (lace up boots, just-right clothes, a ring of keys).