Portraying terrible themes, but with music and dancing to make it all light-hearted. Many musicals back in the day (and a couple of modern ones) seem to have rather dark and twisted themes as the basis of the tale. But because there are bright clothes, music and dancing, everyone seems ok with it. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like musicals much as a child (apart from Grease), although my favourite when I did take to them, was The Nightmare Before Christmas, with a very strange and dark theme to it.

But after watching a few funny vids about them by a YouTuber called Rob Anderson, it started to seem relevant to something very recent, but I will get that, here are a few that stood out of the old ones –

Oliver Twist – mistreated orphans and lots of sinister happenings.

Annie – mistreated orphan, who is then kidnapped along the way.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – The war and Nazis, and witchcraft.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (nicknamed ‘A wholesome human trafficking musical’ by Mr Anderson) – about kidnap and what seems like Stockholm syndrome essentially.

The Sound of Music – more Nazis.

Wizard of Oz – Witches, flying Monkeys and oddities throughout.

Gigi – the main character has to train in the family tradition of being a high-end prostitute.

Rocky Horror Picture Show – vampires, sexuality and very odd characters.

Even the animated ones aren’t actually cheery themes either.

Snow White – abandoned and meant to be killed.

Pinocchio – kidnapped, trafficked, and drugged.

Cinderella – treated like a slave and abused by her family.

Presented as suitable stories for children, for them to think perhaps that it is all quite a lively activity taking place, as long as there are colours, music and dancing, then it must be safe and happy with a good ending? That’s The Ticket looking at other films and themes where enticement through entertainment is a big lure.

So, to the point and what made me think of these films and their themes, of coordinated dancing and twirling, making light of something rather dark and sinister. Yes, the dancing nurse’s videos that appeared on the internet after lockdown. Where hospitals were apparently overrun and at breaking point (but were actually empty when filmed by real people), or barricaded to stop people being able to use them freely as they once did. Of course, the first thing you should do in a health emergency is restrict access to hospitals and get a bunch of nurses to choreograph a routine and make use of hospitals that way. And since then, a few people have mentioned it again, how weird it was, how no-one ever admitted to being one of those dancing nurses, how we had no idea what it was all about and why something in such bad taste was made to be so jovial. But now I think of it again, in relation to the above themes, it does make sense. That it was odd display of frivolity to conceal the real underlying message, that you are watching a ‘musical’ where a dark undertone is there, in the hospital, using the equipment as props for their routine, and making you think perhaps that just like in the movies, it was going to have a happy ending…

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The next fear play has moved into place. Panic buying for an emergency being put forward by multiple international governments, as well as our own. People are starting to talk.

And it could well be they have another dramatic event ready to unfold, and we will all be smited while they run away safe to their hidey holes to wait it out, or escape. Many theories are swirling around at the moment.

But I wondered about that, and have previously, about if you knew a disaster was coming, and you just wanted to milk everything you can beforehand, and ‘set yourself up’ for the fall out after. While the average person gets left ‘in the shit’ as it were.

Today, I had another thought towards it. That perhaps the reason to hide isn’t that a ‘natural’ disaster is coming, but the one they instigated. And if we think along the lines of At The Flick of a Switch, then potentially they have the ability to take an awful lot of people out of the equation. But a couple of other thoughts were, what if it comes out for real, what they tried to do. Through either flicking that switch or something else triggers it, and they need to hide because they failed. It’s their backup plan. Like someone who trashes everything because they don’t get their own way. And all the weird surveillance moves are so they can watch the fallout from afar. Big brother style, literally.

Or the other, quite far-fetched idea I had, that something is going to happen that they won’t actually be able to control and is for the benefit of mankind. Where they will no longer have dominon over peoples lives. And they will need somewhere to go, almost off the map, where people can not easily get to them. Islands, castles, bunkers, etc. And if that were the case, it would make sense why they would want to ruin and destroy certain countries, livelihoods, and the mentality of people over a long period of time. Putting you on the edge so you, instead of looking forward to better, you are just holding on for a little bit of normal. Taking away the hope of and for humanity, just when we need it the most…

(c) MKW Publishing

A compilation –

Perceptions of Self

Perceptions of What We Think We See

Perceptions of Perfection

Picture It

Seeing Yourself

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Each one with their own personality, views, ideals, wants, and a particular way of presenting themselves, creating their own ‘Branding‘ as it were. Family structure, branding, a bigger set of people to manage, each person being audience and participant during their life. And that structure can be said of both an individual person and of corporations. A carefully managed image, and in some cases, facade, to appear to be a certain way to elicit a response, reaction and following from a desired group.

And as the years have gone on, people have been pivotal in the influencing of society and ideals, starting with Early News, where the town crier would walk around shouting the news. To the crazy set up we have these days where it’s become that The News Is The News, with famous faces and names to keep you hooked and interested. Listening to the next thing they want to hear, want you to be aware of, want you to be thinking about. And until recently, these seemed like mostly like suggestions to tempt you into their world and mindset. Not anymore. If you don’t agree or think how they would like, you are accused of being disrespectful, violent or that you are attacking them. A difference of opinion is now viewed as a horrific afront on their very soul.

But today, more than ever, it seems certain people want you to be their audience. Some crave it, covet it, or yearn for it, seemingly in need of that attention to be able to function, perhaps feeling as though they ‘don’t exist’ unless someone is watching them. And that’s what we might call ‘ordinary’ people, and given how that now appears, it also gives a bit more insight into how ‘celebrities’ or people well to the public possibly function. When the ego is massive, yet incredibly fragile and prone to a lack of perspective. It seems to be able to happen across the board, in institutions as well entertainment and the general population.

People are now props too, and have been for some time. As you would expect in a set design, or background items needed for effect. But instead of a object for marketing or a set, or a scene being used, it is people. Crisis actors, presenters, influencers and many others across the whole ‘Entertainment’ industry as mentioned in Are You Not Entertained?. Where they become useful as a tool for purpose, but because they get to ‘live the dream’, they seem quite happy to be there shaking their money maker with tassels and sequins. Props for propaganda.

They say when it comes to our own lives, we have four important roles to ‘play’. Each of us is the main actor, the director and the writer of our own story, often then playing a supporting role as well as an extra to other people’s, just as they are to ours. Interwoven into each other’s existence and experience, making it up as we go along as there is no script to follow, or time to do any reshoots. It happens as it happens. But if you take one or more of those roles out of play, either by choice or by circumstance, it changes it. Someone else wants to be the director now, and if you have ever had an overcontrolling person in your life, then you know how that feels. And someone else now wants to be the writer, telling you how you should act and think, no longer allowing for any natural thought or flair. And in fact, they have decided you are even good enough to be the starring role in your own life, and have minimised your part to be only that of an extra. In the background until needed, when the others that now decide your role, move you up front for purpose and micromanaging you the entire time. A rather intimate overreach into everything you do, or at least that’s what they would like.

But the people who appear to be wanting that, seem to be props as well. A mouthpiece for an ideal, no individualism, no creativity and no inspiration. Just a large media machine in overdrive, trying to grab your attention, for something, for anything. War, plague, food shortages, cyber-attacks, weather, violence and anything else they can think of to capture your thoughts. It’s become extremely tiresome for many, and others are perhaps so caught up in it, they don’t take a moment to step back and really look at the bigger picture. Of how they fit into it, how many people are part of that media machine, feeding the fears and helping to whip people into a frenzy. Any frenzy will do it seems, as long as it stresses people out, emotionally drains them and keeps them waiting for the next storyline, so they can go round in circles of doom. As discussed in Ready for Doom and Prepped For Disaster, Or Clever Programming?. Now though, many have doom fatigue as it’s been relentless if you watch the news or pay attention to what apparently is going by way of their headlines and what gets trotted out via social media. Now with AI generated clips to muddy the waters of what is real and what isn’t, showing we have been vulnerable to having our senses exploited for quite some time. We are no longer in a time where Seeing is Believing when it comes viewing things on a screen, what is fact and what is fiction is not such an easy task to discern anymore, if it ever was. These are indeed some strange times and we do well to remember, all is not as it seems…

(c) MKW Publishing