For a while I’ve been a پرستار of Little دکان of Horrors, specifically the film version made in 1986. I recently bought the soundtrack for the Broadway play it was based on, and have had a good time listening to all the songs. In doing so, I’ve noticed that the دکھائیں has an interesting element of the plant not only being presented as having a gender, but with the plant being gendered as female سے طرف کی the characters before it later asserts a masculine identity.
Seymour Krelborn acquires a mysterious plant that he can’t identify in his botany books. Deciding it to be a new species, he names it after the girl he has a crush on and calls it Audrey II. Having been دیا a feminine name, the plant is subsequently referred to as though it were female. “The Audrey II is not a healthy girl,” Seymour laments before he figures out what the plant eats. Likewise in a Broadway song Seymour calls Audrey II “Sweet Petunia”, a pet name usually reserved for female entities.
The plant’s supposed femininity ends when it starts speaking, a role played سے طرف کی a man in all three versions (1960 movie, Broadway play, and 1986 movie). Technically speaking, the plant could be played سے طرف کی a woman. Generally plants are hermaphroditic, so if we’re going سے طرف کی plant sexes a person male یا female could voice the character. Audrey II is an anthropomorphized plant with the ability to speak, so it’s not so unreasonable that it be دیا a specific gender, but it is unusual that its real gender be one opposite what it was referred to as earlier in the story.
Now, there’s this song called “Bad” in which Audrey II sings about how he’s the worst monster around. I’m not really sure where it comes from. I downloaded it with the Broadway soundtrack as a bonus track entitled “Bad (Film Version)”, but the film has the song “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” at the same point in the story where “Bad” is supposed to be sung, and the original 1960 movie wasn’t a musical. They involve the same general concepts of Audrey II comparing himself to various movie monsters and mocking Seymour’s attempts to kill him, but are definitely different songs. The soundtrack also has the track “Bigger Than Hula-Hoops”, not really a song but instead audio of the scene in which either “Bad” یا “Mean Green Mother” would have taken place, but neither are included for some reason, probably pacing. So, where “Bad” came from I have no idea, but it’s part of the Little دکان of Horrors soundtrack.
Anyway, both “Bad” and “Mean Green Mother” contain lyrics in which Audrey II refers to himself as male. “Bad” has Audrey II claiming that the Bride of Frankenstein calls him “Mr. Audrey, sir,” while “Mean Green Mother” has him saying “The lion don’t sleep tonight / And if آپ pull his tail he roars”. So, yes, Audrey II is male. What is interesting is that he accepts the name Audrey II as his name, even though Audrey is traditionally a feminine name, and he finds it natural to be referred to simply as “Audrey” on occasion. Another lyric from “Bad” has him claiming that Godzilla کہا to him, “Hey, Audrey, آپ ain’t all that tough”, in which the traditionally feminine name is not perceived as part of the insult. It gets to the point where the name Audrey has been masculinized through its association with a masculine character.
The character of the tough guy with the feminine name reminds me of Jayne, the male mercenary of cult science-fiction ویژن ٹیلی دکھائیں Firefly. In Firefly, however, the fact that his name is traditionally feminine is explicitly brought up in the show. Jayne makes some sexist comment, and River reminds him that “Jayne is a girl’s name”, causing him to flip out. From the context we can imagine he’s been taunted about that many times before, and that it perhaps plays a part in why he’s built up such a brutish and traditionally masculine demeanor. Because Firefly is a Joss Whedon show, it’s reasonable to assume that the character’s traits are there in some attempt to promote gender equality.
In Little دکان of Horrors the reason for Audrey II’s gender issues is unclear. The original 1960 movie’s plant (there called Audrey Junior) may not have been supposed to have a specific gender as the character is much مزید simplistic. Had the filmmakers a larger budget, they might not have دیا the plant a masculine voice (the plant was voiced سے طرف کی the film's writer, who played two other roles). But while the original Audrey Junior voice was high-pitched, the Broadway play’s Audrey II was دیا a very deep voice, a characteristic that continued to the 1986 movie. This may have to do with the fact that a deep-voiced masculine character is generally seen as stronger, males as مزید capable of doing harm due to such strength (and culture, but never mind that now), and thus مزید befitting a monstrous antagonist.
The Broadway دکھائیں embraced Audrey II’s masculinity, and wrote his songs in a very traditionally masculine style. His dialog is very much that of a vulgar male and he makes a few sexual references despite the fact that as a plant he would have no interest in female humans – other than as a snack, that is. The Devil’s pact aspect of the plot, absent in the original movie, also makes Audrey II’s male gender fall in line with the traditional rendering of the Devil as a masculine figure. Not that there aren’t feminine entities that may play the part of the Devil in various stories, such as the 2000 Bedazzled remake, though.
So, in conclusion, the rendering of Audrey II’s gender is unusual. Other genderless entities دیا gender such as WALL-E and other robots all essentially stay within the gender دیا to it, whether یا not they explicitly have genders. Audrey II, however, is almost a transgender plant; though, I wouldn’t say that’s the best تفصیل because he is a plant. It’s even مزید unusual in that the gender issues are never explicitly referenced in the show.
P.S. Seriously, though, what is up with that “Bad” song?
Seymour Krelborn acquires a mysterious plant that he can’t identify in his botany books. Deciding it to be a new species, he names it after the girl he has a crush on and calls it Audrey II. Having been دیا a feminine name, the plant is subsequently referred to as though it were female. “The Audrey II is not a healthy girl,” Seymour laments before he figures out what the plant eats. Likewise in a Broadway song Seymour calls Audrey II “Sweet Petunia”, a pet name usually reserved for female entities.
The plant’s supposed femininity ends when it starts speaking, a role played سے طرف کی a man in all three versions (1960 movie, Broadway play, and 1986 movie). Technically speaking, the plant could be played سے طرف کی a woman. Generally plants are hermaphroditic, so if we’re going سے طرف کی plant sexes a person male یا female could voice the character. Audrey II is an anthropomorphized plant with the ability to speak, so it’s not so unreasonable that it be دیا a specific gender, but it is unusual that its real gender be one opposite what it was referred to as earlier in the story.
Now, there’s this song called “Bad” in which Audrey II sings about how he’s the worst monster around. I’m not really sure where it comes from. I downloaded it with the Broadway soundtrack as a bonus track entitled “Bad (Film Version)”, but the film has the song “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” at the same point in the story where “Bad” is supposed to be sung, and the original 1960 movie wasn’t a musical. They involve the same general concepts of Audrey II comparing himself to various movie monsters and mocking Seymour’s attempts to kill him, but are definitely different songs. The soundtrack also has the track “Bigger Than Hula-Hoops”, not really a song but instead audio of the scene in which either “Bad” یا “Mean Green Mother” would have taken place, but neither are included for some reason, probably pacing. So, where “Bad” came from I have no idea, but it’s part of the Little دکان of Horrors soundtrack.
Anyway, both “Bad” and “Mean Green Mother” contain lyrics in which Audrey II refers to himself as male. “Bad” has Audrey II claiming that the Bride of Frankenstein calls him “Mr. Audrey, sir,” while “Mean Green Mother” has him saying “The lion don’t sleep tonight / And if آپ pull his tail he roars”. So, yes, Audrey II is male. What is interesting is that he accepts the name Audrey II as his name, even though Audrey is traditionally a feminine name, and he finds it natural to be referred to simply as “Audrey” on occasion. Another lyric from “Bad” has him claiming that Godzilla کہا to him, “Hey, Audrey, آپ ain’t all that tough”, in which the traditionally feminine name is not perceived as part of the insult. It gets to the point where the name Audrey has been masculinized through its association with a masculine character.
The character of the tough guy with the feminine name reminds me of Jayne, the male mercenary of cult science-fiction ویژن ٹیلی دکھائیں Firefly. In Firefly, however, the fact that his name is traditionally feminine is explicitly brought up in the show. Jayne makes some sexist comment, and River reminds him that “Jayne is a girl’s name”, causing him to flip out. From the context we can imagine he’s been taunted about that many times before, and that it perhaps plays a part in why he’s built up such a brutish and traditionally masculine demeanor. Because Firefly is a Joss Whedon show, it’s reasonable to assume that the character’s traits are there in some attempt to promote gender equality.
In Little دکان of Horrors the reason for Audrey II’s gender issues is unclear. The original 1960 movie’s plant (there called Audrey Junior) may not have been supposed to have a specific gender as the character is much مزید simplistic. Had the filmmakers a larger budget, they might not have دیا the plant a masculine voice (the plant was voiced سے طرف کی the film's writer, who played two other roles). But while the original Audrey Junior voice was high-pitched, the Broadway play’s Audrey II was دیا a very deep voice, a characteristic that continued to the 1986 movie. This may have to do with the fact that a deep-voiced masculine character is generally seen as stronger, males as مزید capable of doing harm due to such strength (and culture, but never mind that now), and thus مزید befitting a monstrous antagonist.
The Broadway دکھائیں embraced Audrey II’s masculinity, and wrote his songs in a very traditionally masculine style. His dialog is very much that of a vulgar male and he makes a few sexual references despite the fact that as a plant he would have no interest in female humans – other than as a snack, that is. The Devil’s pact aspect of the plot, absent in the original movie, also makes Audrey II’s male gender fall in line with the traditional rendering of the Devil as a masculine figure. Not that there aren’t feminine entities that may play the part of the Devil in various stories, such as the 2000 Bedazzled remake, though.
So, in conclusion, the rendering of Audrey II’s gender is unusual. Other genderless entities دیا gender such as WALL-E and other robots all essentially stay within the gender دیا to it, whether یا not they explicitly have genders. Audrey II, however, is almost a transgender plant; though, I wouldn’t say that’s the best تفصیل because he is a plant. It’s even مزید unusual in that the gender issues are never explicitly referenced in the show.
P.S. Seriously, though, what is up with that “Bad” song?