Line #42 Theatre/Carmen


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/q4m8432m_1399856239.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: The titular FemmeFatale prepares to give her flower to Don José.]]
3
4	->''♫ L'amour est un oiseau rebelle\
5	Que nul ne peut apprivoiser,\
6	Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle,\
7	S'il lui convient de refuser. ♫'' [[labelnote:Translation]]\
8	''♫ Love is a rebellious bird\
9	That none can tame,\
10	And it is utterly in vain to call it,\
11	If it suits it to refuse. ♫''[[/labelnote]]
12	-->-- ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ_HHRJf0xg "Habanera"]]''
13
14	''Carmen'' is Georges Bizet's classic opera in four acts set to a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. First performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875, it shocked and scandalized audiences, and the character of Carmen outraged many critics for being an "amoral seductress" and not a "woman of virtue". It was a huge failure upon release, and it wasn't revived until 1883, when it quickly became popular in France and abroad.
15
16	The opera tells the tragic tale of a Spanish corporal, Don José, who abandons the army, his fiancée, and his morals when he falls for Carmen: a mysterious, seductive, and independent Romani woman.
17
18	[[VindicatedByHistory Modern reception has been much kinder to the opera]], with much praise for Bizet's brilliance in melody, harmony, atmosphere, and orchestration. The score was amended significantly after Bizet's death, with a different composer replacing the original spoken dialogue with sung recitatives (both versions are still performed). Since then, it's become a staple in the worldwide operatic repertoire and has seen numerous recordings and productions.
19
20	Film adaptations are many, and date back to 1909. Some of the more famous include Creator/OttoPreminger's ''Film/CarmenJones'' (an all-black cast [[UsefulNotes/TheFifties in the 1950s]] [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina North Carolina]]), and 1983 Spanish film ''Film/{{Carmen}}'' (a dance troupe puts on an adaptation of ''Carmen'' while the characters also live out the story in real life, including the DownerEnding).
21	----
22	!!Tropes featured in ''Carmen'' include:
23	* AceOfSpades: The titular character draws spades during a fortune-telling game which she believes foretells her death. Sure enough, her former lover Don Jose kills her in a jealous rage.
24	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the Chiarot production, Carmen [[spoiler:is depicted as a victim of domestic abuse who kills Don Jose in self-defense]].
25	* AdaptationalVillainy: In Cristiano Chiarot's controversial production, Don José is depicted as a [[TheBully bully]] in the first place, rather than a NiceGuy cum CrazyJealousGuy, and is given a BaldOfEvil.
26	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: ZigZagged; Carmen gets bored with the increasingly supplicating, [[CrazyJealousGuy but increasingly violent]], Don José and takes up with the flashy, but [[NiceGuy incredibly nice]], Escamillo instead.
27	* BeastlyBloodsports: A toreador named Escamillo is one of the main characters and the climax of the story takes place outside an arena while a bullfight is in progress.
28	* BettyAndVeronica:
29	** Micaela and Carmen for Don José
30	** A subverted male version in Don José and Escamillo for Carmen. Escamillo ''seems'' like the Veronica, due to his dangerous and exciting profession, but he's really a laid-back and rather nice guy (as shown in his often-cut duet with Don José), and it turns out Don José is the truly violent one.
31	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The cards say that Carmen and Jose will die, so she feels that she can do nothing to prevent it.
32	* BlowingSmokeRings: The girls from the cigarette factory sing about how they like to watch the soldiers do this.
33	* BootstrappedTheme: The snippet of the "Toreador" song is currently used as the AT&T commercial jingle. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61LjTwME7w Skip to the last 3 seconds of the commercial.]]
34	** Many people [[OhCrap now]] [[HellIsThatNoise recognize]] [[YouAreAlreadyDead it]] as [[https://youtu.be/GZOOx40rE3k?si=lMPp_vYIRV9Sye7t Freddy's jingle]] in ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys''.
35	* CanonForeigner: Micaela does not exist in Mérimée's novel.
36	* {{Catfight}}: The reason Carmen gets arrested in the first place is that she got into a catfight with another girl in the factory and cut her with a knife. How much of it the audience gets to see depends on the production.
37	* CouldHaveBeenMessy: When Don José fires a warning shot at Escamillo, the latter looks at the sudden hole in his hat and muses, "Quelques lignes plus bas et tout était fini."[[note]]A little bit lower and that would have been the end.[[/note]]
38	* CrazyJealousGuy: Even though he shows some early signs in the second act when Zuniga tries to have his way with Carmen, it’s in the third act that Don José shows that his obsession with Carmen has turned him into one of these, perhaps because he’s given up every principle he has and she’s all that he has now.
39	* DanceOfRomance: Carmen dances for Don José when they are reunited in act II. She also dances a Seguidilla for him while trying to convince him to release her from custody, in act I.
40	* DarkReprise: Echoes of "The Toreador" are played in a darker tone while [[spoiler:Don José kills Carmen.]]
41	* DestructiveRomance: The central pairing of Carmen and Don Jose.
42	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:At the end of the story Don Jose murders Carmen rather than see her with another man.]]
43	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Don José abandons every principle he has to be with Carmen, and then turns into a murderous CrazyJealousGuy when she leaves him. But he still finds time to visit his dying mother one last time.
44	* FemmeFatale: Carmen
45	%%* {{Foreshadowing}}
46	** In Carmen's introduction in Habanera, she outright states that anyone she loves should beware. Any man she professes to love ends up having a rough time of it.
47	** At the beginning of Act III, Don José laments about his mother. Carmen tells him he should leave and go be with her if that's all he can think of. When he lambasts her for suggesting they part, demanding she never says it again, her retort is biting, or what? Perhaps you'll kill me?
48	** Musically, the part at the end of the overture gives a strong sense that it won't end well while you're in for a good time. Whenever that motif pops up again in the score, you know there's unpleasantness ahead (e.g. when Carmen gives Jose the flower; when he comes back and sings to her about how he kept it the whole time he was in prison).
49	* TheGentlemanOrTheScoundrel: A rare, but actually welcome subversion. Don José seems like a gentleman (a sweet if dull young man) but turns out to be a possessively jealous scoundrel, whereas Escamillo seems like a scoundrel (a flashy and daring bullfighter) but turns out to be a true gentleman who cares about Carmen's autonomy. Needless to say, Carmen chooses Escamillo, but Don José [[IfICantHaveYou kills her for it]].
50	* GoldDigger: Mercédès, during the fortune-telling number, sees herself becoming the wife of a wealthy but senile man--and then, as his widow, inheriting magnificently.
51	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Part of what made ''Carmen'' so controversial in its first run were the morally questionable actions of Carmen and Don José. On the one hand, Carmen starts out as an [[ManipulativeBitch emotionally manipulative]] FemmeFatale, whereas Don José starts out as a NiceGuy who just can’t resist her. On the other hand, by the opera's end, Don José has become a CrazyJealousGuy, whereas Carmen dies [[DefiantToTheEnd defending her freedom from him]].
52	%%* GreenEyedMonster
53	* HatDamage: Don José, guarding the gypsy camp, aims his rifle at the approaching Escamillo and fires. The shot apparently passes through Escamillo's hat, which he carries as he enters.
54	* HotGypsyWoman: Carmen
55	* IAmSong: ''Votre toast'' (Toreador's Song); possibly ''L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'' (Habanera).
56	* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: The Seguidilla. After being arrested, Carmen convinces José to let her go by singing a song that can be summed up as "I'm available, let's meet at an inn later tonight."
57	* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler:Don José would rather see Carmen dead than with another man.]]
58	* IncomingHam: Hoo boy. Escamillo's arrival in Act II starts with a chorus singing his praises off-stage, then he comes in to a chorus singing his praise onstage, and then HE starts singing about how awesome he is.
59	* InnocentSoprano: The sweet and pure Micaela is a soprano. Notably, she's ''not'' the heroine; the independent and volatile protagonist Carmen, who contrasts her, is a mezzo.
60	* LargeHam: Par of the course for any opera, but even by those standards Escamillo stands out.
61	* LovedINotHonorMore: Don José tries to do this in Act II, resolving to leave the titular gypsy rather than desert the army as she demands. Unfortunately, just as he's about to walk out, his commander Lt. Zuniga walks in to have his own way with Carmen--[[CrazyJealousGuy José attacks him]], leaving himself with no choice but to run away with Carmen after all.
62	* LoveMakesYouEvil: Don José starts out committed to his duty, thinking of his mother and professing that he will marry the sweet, dutiful Micaela. Once he falls for Carmen, he starts running off the rails pretty quickly.
63	* LoveTriangle: Micaela/José/Carmen and José/Carmen/Escamillo
64	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Carmen is a deconstruction: she's a gypsy woman who seduces and enchants Don José with her free-spirited nature, but quickly tires of him as he becomes a CrazyJealousGuy. Turns out she's not so much into clingy men, and she leaves him for someone much more exciting. [[spoiler: As a result, he kills her out of jealousy at the end of the opera.]]
65	* MsFanservice: Carmen in pretty much every production. Just look at [[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/08/08/arts/08artsbeat-elina/08artsbeat-elina-superJumbo.jpg Elina Garanca]], [[https://bachtrack.com/files/64881-carmen-gaelle-arquez-scott-hendricks-c-bregenzer-festspiele-karl-forster-resized.jpg Gaelle Arquez]], [[http://elenamaximova.com/wp-content/gallery/carmen/carmen_elena-maximova_london_01.jpg Elena Maximova]], [[https://operawire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Carmen0506.01.jpg Denyce Graves]], [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ff/ba/4a/ffba4a08c8652e06d7156076884eefab.jpg Grace Bumbry]], and [[http://www.gingercostajackson.com/assets/images/ginger-costa-jackson-carmenred-k89a4570-fnl-1-2000x3000.jpg Ginger Costa-Jackson]]'s versions.
66	* MoodDissonance: The final scene has Don José [[IfICantHaveYou threatening to kill Carmen unless she leaves her lover for him]] while the outcome of the bullfight is greeted with fanfares and cheers.
67	* MurderTheHypotenuse: {{Subverted\|Trope}}. Don José tries to kill Escamillo but doesn't succeed.
68	* NotHisSled: In the 2018 Cristiano Chiarot production, [[spoiler:Carmen kills Don Jose instead of being killed by him. In this version, he's an [[AdaptationalVillainy out-and-out abusive bully]] who [[AssholeVictim has it coming.]]]]
69	* OutlawCouple: Carmen and Don José eventually became this, but it doesn't last.
70	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: ''Carmen'' is one of the most popular and well-known operas.
71	* RevisedEnding: A very controversial example of this was staged in 2018 in Florence: Christiano Chiarot, believing that the audience was cheering for the murder of Carmen instead of simply applauding the artists, had Carmen shoot Don José in self-defense instead of being [[IfICantHaveYou stabbed in the back]].
72	* SceneryPorn: Lots of traditional productions will [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/bb/6a/97bb6a58157f9598f2e4296e8612b197.png recreate]] [[https://o9vac9tuqsavqige-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Carmen-Rental04.-Image-01.png Seville]] [[https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/fileadmin/_processed_/4/2/csm_Carmen_51477_accbe70744.jpg quite]] [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5c/1b/1a5c1b8f31322ca12b4c29b53c0ff91c.jpg beautifully]], regardless of the century the production takes place in.
73	* SettingIntroductionSong: In Act I, "Sur la place" is the soldiers singing about watching the people of Seville; and in Act III, "Écoute, Écoute, compagnons" is the smugglers singing about the mountains.
74	* SmokingIsGlamorous: The song La cloche a sonné. The men and soldiers wait outside the cigarette factory, waiting for the girls to go on break. Subverted in that the sweet words of lovers are compared to the smoke in the air - they don't last.
75	* StalkerWithACrush: Don José, by the end.
76	* ShoutOut: Escamillo might have been named after a famous ''female'' torero Nicolasa Escamilla, nicknamed La Pajuelera (Creator/FranciscoDeGoya has made a [[https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/valor-varonil-de-la-celebre-pajuelera-en-la-de/10913af9-2b13-4f5a-a5d7-d4b3ac899b8b famous picture]] of her).
77	* TallDarkAndHandsome: Escamillo.
78	* TarotTroubles: Carmen, Frasquita and Mercedes read cards in Act III. Frasquita and Mercedes, being secondary characters, get romance and wealth, Carmen gets death.
79	* ThoseTwoGirls: Frasquita and Mercedes never appear without each other at any point in the opera.
80	* TenorBoy Though Jose is more for a loud, 'heavy' tenor voice and thus not really boyish.
81	* TorosYFlamenco: Complete with a bullfighter.
82	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The original novel by Prosper Mérimée, anyway. The original Carmen may have been a Roma and worked for a while in a cigarella... but she was also an influential campaigner for the rights of working women, and ''not'' a known criminal (it was actually her soldier-boyfriend--who may or may not have met her when his detachment were making an attack on a Romany camp--who went to prison, after killing a man in a fight over Carmen). Unfortunately the story of her death (well, her new man was a picador, not a toreador, but apart from that...) was true, and Merimee {{Flanderiz\|ation}}ed the rest of the couple's life from that.
83	* WithCatlikeTread: "Écoute, écoute, compagnon" is a very loud song about how sneaky you have to be to smuggle cigarettes.
84	* {{Yandere}}: Don José
85	* YouCantFightFate: Carmen's reaction to the cards.

Context Theatre / Carmen