Blog 11 (Free Write)

"A Little Priest"
The Motion Picture
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This clip takes place shortly after Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) murder’s Pirelli in crime of passion. Pirelli was trying to blackmail Todd. Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) and Todd are trying to figure out what to do with the body. Lovett comes up with the idea to turn the body into meat pie. The following song is them justifying the act of turning a man into a meat pie.

According to them men take advantage of each other all the time, though they refer to it as man devouring man, so why shouldn’t they literally devour man. Lovett rationalizes that it will save on grave space and do relatives some favors. Todd then goes on to say that “the history of the world, my love … Is those below serving those up above! How gratifying for once to know…” To finish this thought they both reply “that those above will serve those down below!” I can see what they mean about the history of the world. There is lots of evidence throughout history of men taking advantage of each other but I wouldn’t say that that justifies cannibalism. When you watch the movie they don’t seem to have any issue with turning other people into food, but if you listen to the lyrics at parts they seem to be rationalizing their acts. Lovett even mentions the job security in selling human meat pies because everyone shaves.

The other part of the song is them discussing the different types of flavors. They presume that the person’s career and life style give the meat different flavors. For example the priest should be clean because they don’t commit sins of the flesh, and Royal Marine tastes of where ever the marine has been. There are plenty of witty comments about common assumptions with careers, like politicians can be greasy and you can tell a piccolo player from a fiddle player, because the piccolo player is piping hot.

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