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Something that's really funny about Little Shop 1986 is the juxtaposition between the narrative often not taking anything seriously/making fun of itself and the characters and plot to the point that it's meanspirited at times (like Seymour describing the lifelong abuse and neglect he's gone through being framed in a very comedic and flippant way that's clearly making fun of him to the point that there might as well have been a laugh track playing, this happens with Audrey's introduction as well) but at the same time the performances (especially those of Ellen Greene and Rick Moranis) are so sincere.

This is most prominent in the theatrical cut ending where some of the dialogue feels like it was written in that Spongebob sarcasm font ("ThIs Is BeTwEeN mE aNd ThE vEgEtAbLE") (the very mocking tone at parts probably comes from them being pissed off that they had to redo the ending and seeing this new happy ending as stupid and fake and vapid which is fair) but it still feels like the actors are taking it fully seriously. If they were pissed at the audience like the writers clearly were I certainly can't tell. I refuse to look up interview quotes for any of this because most times I've looked at an interview quote for this movie it's been completely antithetical to every single thought I've ever had about it and made me wonder if I've watched the movie that it's talking about but yeah. Also probably no one involved would admit it if they were pissed at the audience but like... the writers probably were based on some of that dialogue/framing. No I don't know who 'the writers' were despite having written the equivalent of two doctoral theses on this movie. Because researching the authorial intent is painful for the reasons I've described.

How did this post get derailed this hard

Anyway tl;dr the juxtaposition between the narrative not taking anything seriously/being very mocking and the performances being very sincere is fun, it really adds to the feeling of Seymour and Audrey trying to survive in a world/society that hates them when the narrative itself is taking the piss out of them half the time.

The dynamic between Seymour and Audrey II

Since I’m ALWAYS thinking about musicals, especially horror-comedy ones, I was thinking about how Seymour interacts with Twoey and came up with something interesting I wanted to share!

So, the plot hinges on Seymour being bullied/persuaded by Audrey II to do its bidding. This got me thinking about how something as simple as who voices the plant could affect the relationship between the two.

The role is, of course, traditionally male. Seeing as the only vaguely parental figure Seymour ever had was Mushnik, who constantly berated and verbally abused him, it makes sense that Seymour would feel inclined to obey the giant baritone monster plant barking orders at him. 

With Twoey having a male voice, Seymour likely operates in a place of fear and submission, feeling like he has to obey because that’s what he’s always done with the authority in his life. He convinces himself he deserves Mushnik’s abuse, and carries that attitude on to Twoey. 

But masculine-sounding Audrey II is not what I wanted to focus on today.

I don’t know if you guys have seen any bootlegs of productions where Twoey was voiced by a woman, but hot damn are those ladies amazing. I brought this up to my drama teacher recently and she questioned how the would affect the dynamic between Twoey and Seymour.

So here’s what I think:

I believe it would be easier for it to manipulate Seymour if it had a more feminine voice. As I mentioned before, Seymour had no parents, and his only caretaker was Mushnik (a man) who contributed a great deal to Seymour’s inferiority complex and fearful nature.

So imagine, if you will, Seymour taking care of this plant, nurturing it in a way he never was. When it speaks to him for the first time, with the voice of an adult, human woman, imagine how this boy would react? This boy who grew up with no parents, riddled with fear and guilt towards the only guardian he has, suddenly having some sort of female authority in his life, promising him everything he wants? Of course he’s going to listen!

With a masculine voice, Twoey taps into Seymour’s fear of letting people down. I think a feminine voice would prey on his eagerness to please. They stem from the same place, of course, but the subtle differences are what I feel define the possible dynamics between Seymour and Audrey II.

Neither is better or worse, they’re just different. They’re differences the audience would pick up on, even subconsciously, and I think it’s a fun dynamic to analyze. 

TLDR; Masculine Twoey manipulates Seymour’s daddy issues, Feminine Twoey manipulates his mommy issues.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

happy letpapyrussayfuck day. he did arson

I was trying to draw an oc but it turn into a Chara. Aren't they a cutie though?

engie teaches pyro a thang or two about cars

(original audio from a tiktok by taylormx5)

i needed to draw SOMETHING for this national holiday

they’re so friend shaped what 😭

Can I interest you in...

a teen Frisk design?

okay i was just about to get in the shower when i was thinking about how exactly twoey’s physiology would work. so i started thinking “well, it’s gotta have some sort of tougher outer layer of ‘skin’ almost like an exoskeleton…but it also has teeth too??” and then i was stumped. like yeah, it’s an alien…but then it struck me:

what if twoey wasn’t a plant at all? like whole ass flesh and bone plant-looking monster? that to me sounds like a very terrifying concept! but all of that aside, i do still want to collaborate on twoey’s anatomy as an actual chlorophyll-haver.

i’m genuinely curious: how do you think twoey anatomically works? i get that her design kinda doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it, but damnit! i still wanna try!

so yknow, if the botanists of tumblr wanna collab with the lsoh fandom then…by all means…

🎶📻🌹🎶

My urge to do this was too strong- (""clean"" version + ref used under the cut)