sunday school musical: i watched sunday school musical

Sunday School Musical: dvd release starring some very talented teens

i have one thing to say about the experience of watching this: its musical aesthetic was SO MUCH BETTER than that of camp rock.

now there are several directions that a person can take that comment. first one that springs to mind: "she watched sunday school musical." we did rent it to make fun, to some extent, and i'll acknowledge that. it's not nice to make fun, and i'd never disrespect someone else's beliefs, but i would disrespect their moviemaking, and i kind of did by renting this movie in a spirit of "holy WHAT THE FRAK?"

2: "she watched camp rock." well, in my defense, councillor, it was there. like you never watched...something with a jonas brother in it...on purpose. plus demi lovato was quite adorable. and some of her friends were quite...um, never mind. some of her friends were quite dressed like jem. that's safe.

3. "she seems to be claiming that camp rock has a musical aesthetic."

yeah. that one i can't really argue.

4. "she is contrasting the proposed aesthetic of camp rock with that of sunday school musical." okay, but the sunday school musical music was good. or at least it wasn't terrifying. it wasn't wildly overproduced (though it wasn't, you know, underproduced), and if the aesthetic to the music was a little, like, basic for me*, i did think it was solid--good--genuine. there was something to it. which is really an excellent lesson, because it shows me another facet of the fact that a genuine aesthetic can override the sum of its parts--that is, it can overwhelm itself. i wasn't expecting to really approve of anything about sunday school musical, which is why i begged to rent it (again, i admit to being a jerk--not about christianity, but about the teen movies that it may perpetuate). but the performances and the songs were really good. i don't know.

5. "better? seriously? you're choosing?"

HECKETY HECK HECK YES, COUNCILLOR!


*you have to realize that this critique of the musical aesthetic is being written by someone who's been listening to nothing but ann peebles' album i can't stand the rain and the brahms piano quintet for the last two weeks or so. i like my musical aesthetic extremely complex--though maybe complex isn't the word, in regard to the brahms. multifaceted. overwhelming. breathless. inconclusive in meaning, though extremely conclusive in effect. you know? the sunday school musical music's aesthetic wasn't that. but it held together. which is just...cool. i mean, the gospel that i like to listen to (not that i know anything about gospel) is stuff like that mighty clouds of joy song "pray for me," in comparison to which the sunday school musical music is pretty unison, simply rhythmic, unilateral. but still good. yeah. notice i'm being cautious, but not apologizing.