DVDizzy Forum

I agree that in some ways "A Guy Like You" seems out of place with all the anachronisms etc. and that it might be too kiddy for the otherwise darker film and that maybe a more appropriate song could've been composed. However, when one looks closely into the narrative itself, the song does serve an important function within the story.

The gargoyles get Quasimodo's hopes up on the idea that maybe, just maybe, Esmeralda might love him (thanks to a certain scene between the two earlier in the film which in turn triggers this whole scene as the story progresses). The cheerful tune and gags really lift up the mood from all the gloomy darkness that has taken place. And just as Quasimodo feels happier than in a long while, guess what happens? That's right, Esmeralda brings in Phoebus, and Quasimodo later on witnesses the passionate kiss between the two. This of course shatters all his hopes, which is further emphasized by the visual cue when he tears the card with the heart apart (note that the cards played a role earlier in "A Guy Like You", which further illustrates the connection between the musical number and this heartbreaking scene), thus showing us a literally "broken heart".

If "A Guy Like You" wasn't in the place it is, the whole heartbreaking revelation of Quasimodo's shattered dreams wouldn't be nearly as dramatic and effective as it is in the finished film where the contrast between the two scenes is immediately visible. "A Guy Like You" thus serves many functions in the narrative: to lift up the mood after all the dark and scary things that have happened and also to further the story by bringing in some character development as the triangle drama between the protagonists is intensified in a truly heartbreaking way.

2099net wrote:However, I do not agree that in the film the Gargoyles are presented as a figment of Quasi's imagination. The final battle clearly shows the Gargoyles defending the Cathedral, while the story also hints that other carvings on the building are alive (from the eyes of the saint opening just before Frollo hands over baby Quazi to the gargoyle snarling before breaking off and letting Frollo fall to his doom).

I know Wikipedia isn't reliable, but it said, "In the DVD audio commentary, the filmmakers note that the gargoyles might exist only in Quasimodo's imagination and thus may well be split-off pieces of his own identity."

I don't have the movie in any form, so I can't verify those comments, nor can I verify if people other than Quasimodo actually see the gargoyles when they defend the castle. You see, it might be possible for the gargoyles to still be imagined as long as Quasi's around. For instance, in a scene where a gargoyle throws pigeons off, that's interacting with the pigeons, a stone gargoyle can't throw them off. But if Quasi's around, it could be what Quasi is seeing. Perhaps that could even be applied to a gargoyle dumping molten lead on soldiers. Perhaps Quasi did it in real life, but to him the gargoyles did it, and so we see it as he sees it.

For the darker, closer the novel German musical rumoured to come to Broadway, I read the intent was to make the gargoyles different aspects of Quasimodo's personality. I don't know if that's so and I don't know if anyone beside's Quasi sees them or not, I never saw the show...and Disney may change it when it gets to America anyway...better not...