Bizets Carmen vs. MTVs Hip Hopera essays

Bizet's Carmen vs. MTV's Hip Hopera essays Bizets Carmen vs. MTVs Hip Hopera Georges Bizets Carmen is looked upon to be one of the most impressive operas in history. It is a story of a young gypsy girl that all the men are infatuated with. She seduces a man to fall in love with her and in the end breaks his heart. In 2001 MTV made an attempt to reinvent Bizets Carmen. But they put a twist on the opera, they made it a hip hopera. All of the songs were rapped instead of being sung in a operatic fashion. I will tell a bit about Bizets Carmen and MTVs version, and also examine how they are alike and more importantly how they differ. Georges Bizets Carmen premiered in France on March 3, 1875. The opera was deemed a failure. The public saw it as sexually obscene. The opera was based on a Rome gypsy girl named Carmen. At that time the Roma were among Europes most despised minorities. The opera is a passionate tragedy, at that time the people demanded comedies. It was considered an artistic heresy. But upon Bizets death, exactly three months after Carmen premiered, the same press that had trashed his opera earlier witnessed it again and loved it. In less that a year it went to being considered an obscenity to a towering masterpiece. Bizets Carmen is set in Spain. Carmen is a sexy gypsy that the men cant resist, but she has her sights set on Don Jose. But as soon as he falls for her she loses interest. And in the end he kills her because he cannot have her. The music in the opera version greatly helped enhance the storytelling for me. The music closely mirrored the action in the opera. It helped establish what type of character the actor was. Carmen had sexy and a bit dangerous music, which mirrored exactly her character. There was very little dialogue, but when there was it moved very smoothly from it to the music. The music helped for me personally to understand the story. So ...