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How have I lived for 60 years and have never been to a tree lighting ceremony? What am I even doing?

This is some of the best writing advice ive got. And I've watched hundreds of videos. So practical and digestible. Subscribed!

The difference between your examples and Scream is they subverted the main girl trope expectation and did a bait and switch with Sidney.

MAC > ET

The 'Little Hook' and the Big Hook...THANKS! That was very helpful. And your explanation of the Obligatory Moment!

Paul’s discomfort during the song is definitely what seals the deal in my opinion. It adds a lot of comedy yes, but it also makes people sympathize with the very real experience of not knowing what you want in life. Ironic considering how Mr. Davidson implies that this lack of direction makes him unsympathetic.

This is such a brilliant insight. Thank you!

but also, the song were the citisens sing fuck you is also an i want song! and a more earlier one, no

i am amazed by how good this editing is. I love how the shapes in the background react to the music.

It’s not really a “musical” in the traditional sense. It’s more like a hybrid between play and musical because normal people don’t burst into song in real life. But the aliens (who are actually Pokotho, the Singular Voice - long story) makes them into one Hivemind that can make them do perfectly choreographed song & dance numbers with ease. Hence why “La Dee Da Day” is a perfect opening number for what is to occur, it juxtaposes to the first scene the other day where everything was normal, and after the meteor where people are now getting infected. It’s similar to setting up the mood to a zombie apocalypse where you can see something is wrong but shit hasn’t hit the fan yet.

Saying that Paul "refuses to sing" doesn't feel right to me. The singing in TGWDLM is diegetic, unlike in most other musicals where it's not really part of the story. Paul doesn't sing until the end because he's a normal person and not infected or a theater kid (and even at the end it's not clear what happened and the actor himself said that he played it both ways in different performances) That difference is the reason Paul can't have an "I want" song, so if anything, the anti-I want song he gets sung at him is a way to not break that rule

'The guy who didn't like musicals' video is literally under this video-

I’ve forgotten the meaning of the word want now lol

here is another layer to it, by the nature of "what do you want paul?" the highlight how highly unnatural and often even slightly inapropriet and unwanted an I want songs can be if not well implemented . . . Like who would just sing and share aloud what they want and sometimes it even is for the best if it where left unshared

Dude your production is amazing! How do you not have more subs?

Pokotho: 🎵What do you want Paul?🎵 Paul: AHHHHHHH

The Aliens are the protagonists and the first song is their 'I want' song.

Love to see some appreciation for Starkid's subversive genius laid out so nicely, and all the analysis in the comments!

Well they aren't actually Aliens they're a hive mind caused by an Eldritch God called Pokotho that wants to hear only his voice on Earth which motivates his reasons for taking control of the town of Hatchetfield

My favorite part of this musical is how Paul isn’t doomed until he admits what he wants (in the scene with general macnemara). I don’t really know how to put it into words, but that’s when his fate is sealed, I think.

I dont care I like mac and me better then ugly ET

I love that Starkid’s best singer is the guy who plays Paul.

I think that Happy Ending is the I want song, it takes the three main characters and they all say what they want. Jafar wants his wife back, the princess wants true love, and Aladdin wants riches and power

I think it's also no coincidence that Paul's boss is the one who says he wants him to want to want. On one level, it's the alien hivemind trying to find an anchor point so it can body-snatch Paul, but on another level it's an employer trying to get his employee to engage emotionally with his work. Without the song, the interaction Paul has with his boss is something that happens often in real life; A manager, trying to "motivate" their employee (i.e. make them more productive,) awkwardly asks them about their ambitions. The goal is not to actually help the employee to achieve those ambitions, but to find a way to link them with their job, thus making them more "motivated." Paul's refusal to entertain this charade is mirrored with Paul's love interest, Emma, who is also dealing with a workplace that wants her to sing (even before they're taken over by alien goo.) She, like Paul, sees her work as just a paycheck, while her employer is trying to get her to increase her personal commitment to the job for no additional pay. As she puts it "it's like having another shitty job on top of my already shitty job." I would also point out that the parasite doesn't seem to be changing the town all that much. Yes, it makes people sing and dance, but it doesn't change their situation. The local homeless man is still homeless, he's just singing and dancing about it. What is actually spreading through the town is contentment by way of narrativization; a way of seeing the world as a story and keeping a positive attitude, despite nothing ever actually changing or getting better.

"what do you want, paul?~" 🎶🎵🎶

There was no link down below

I'm not sure about Paul. A man that's so vague just... Can't be trusted.

For a minute I thought the 2nd I want song was gonna be take off your clothes

I love this analysis. Another thing I want to add: I think a big reason he doesn’t have an I want song is because this is one of the rare musicals where all the songs are diegetic. No one sings until they are taken over by the alien. So it would lessen the impact of ‘let it out’ where Paul is physically fighting the urge to sing if he’s already done so earlier in the musical. That’s probably my favorite thing about this musical. Because of the context, all the musical numbers have an unsettling/creepy edge to them (I personally find the idea of being possessed/taken over to be horrifying)

Immediately subscribed. I adore Starkid & they build so much more into their works than we realize. Kudos!

I had no idea that was an actual rule for musicals! I just thought about it on a more basic storytelling level, which also works. But as has been probably pointed out below, that choice is also strongly motivated by the plot. Both Paul and Emma are basically directionless and desire-less. For different reasons, they want nothing from life and that's why the aliens can't make them obey them. All the characters display strong wants, dreams and fears - only Paul and Emma are exempt. But by the end, Paul falls hard for Emma and starts to want her... And that's when he succumbs to the aliens as well. All of this is just brilliant. I do not understand how Starkids have still not been offered some kind of a deal with a regular theater.

"A Thousand and One Nights" *isnt* the I want song. "If I Believed" is. But your thesis still stands

Wow, I really needed this class. The other structures I do know can be often lobsided and moment based (or haphazardly mixing the two). Or when I try to analyze a show, the parts often need to be abstracted and don't fit very well. But separating moments from phases makes it so much cleaner and easier to visualize. Plus the triad symmetry between the gates was tickling the back of my head the entire time, but you hit it on the dome! I wish this system was a book, but that's just me.

What he wants is only shown in the song 'Let It Out'. Right before he's taken by the Hive Mind he finally has a moment of singing about his wishes. It's not so clear, but in the line "I've never been happy" he makes it a bit obvious what he WANTS to be happy. This is furthered in the line "What will I let in if I let it out?" where what you said about the divide between him and the aliens by him not singing his wants ("let it out") is made clear, and that Paul is aware of how following a musical structure of expressing his wants is likely to push him closer to his 'Apotheosis'.

I hope you get more views :)

I happened to click this video on its two year anniversary, damn

Loved this!!!

Amazing content bro! I'm surprised by the low engagement. Keep putting out these bangers and you'll be big in no time!

Paul does have a want in the musical: "Now you know what it is to want" *"I wanna go home!"*

But also, the lack of him singing an “I want” song, and stubbornly refusing “what do you want, Paul?” Is essentially showing what he wants anyway. He wants to not be in a musical, which is the central plot, that’s why he’s our hero, he wants to stop it all.

*promo sm* 🤣

Very underrated channel, I subbed

This video is very well done and fascinating and I love reading the comments and furthering the theory. However, I think there actually IS an I want song, but its a very twisted [pun not intended] one. Towards the end when Paul is being faced with the meteor and his proximity to it causes him to begin singing. He is fighting it. I’ve never been happy Wouldn’t that be nice? Is this the secret? Singing and dancing through life? Is my integrity worth anything at all? But happiness can’t come before its fall His integrity and pride is keeping him from wanting happiness maybe? Or perhaps he is too prideful to dig deeper and realize that his life is boring? A complete opposite look at this is to say that Paul has always been content, as when he is talking to Emma about how crappy the town is, he claims he likes Hatchetfield and never wanted to live anywhere else. Perhaps why he is fighting so hard against the aliens to keep it normal. Just some random food for thought of course. None of this is confirmed by Nick or Jeff.

I would argue that Dream a Little Harder is an I want song for Jarfar. I don't think he says the words I want but it still establishes his desire to be liked by the public

I would argue that I steal everything is an I. Want song