In the beginning, his only goal was to kill Judge Turpin. A street barber, Adolfo Pirelli recognizes Sweeney as being Benjamin Barker when Sweeney challenges him to a shaving contest. Pirelli later comes to Sweeney's barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's pie shop and threatens to reveal who Sweeney Todd really is, so Todd kills him. It is at this moment when Todd's goal changes from killing only Judge Turpin into killing all the powerful people in London. When Mrs. Lovett discovers that Sweeney killed Pirelli she gives him the idea that they could use him as meat in Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.
In the song "A Little Priest" Todd and Lovett sing about all the people they could use in their meat pies, such as a priest or a royal marine. These people are all of high social and political power in London, so by eating them it will truly be, as the song says, "those up above serving those down below." They also say that they would not want the poet in one of their pies. This is because the poet has no power in London. This relates to the social and economic status of England at the time. Rural areas were being "devoured" by the large, expanding cities. People living in these rural areas were plucked out of their countryside homes and planted into the city. In this sense, it was "man devouring man." There was no more care for the individual. The focus was now put on the urbanization and expansion of cities and those who were not able to keep up were chewed up and spit up. There is also the sense of "you are what you eat" because Sweeney Todd becomes just like one of the people he has killed because he is murdered in the same way by his own razor. This film includes both literal cannibalism, by using the victims of Sweeney Todd in Mrs. Lovett's meat pies, and metaphorical cannibalism, by the powerful people and the urbanization in London devouring the rural areas and the people with in them.
Linsey Shubert
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you began with Sweeney Todd as Benjamin Barker and talked about his switch into the murder that he becomes. I had not really thought about Pirelli's murder as the moment when Sweeney changes but that is the moment when everything goes down hill. I also really liked that you included an explanation of the song "A Little Priest" because this is very important in the movie to show the idea of cannibalism as not just literally "man eating man" but also a metaphorical "man eating man" in the sense of the London socio-political world. Furthermore, your explanation of the urbanization of London was very helpful. My favorite part is when you say that Sweeney himself becomes just like his victims because he is killed in the same way as his victims. Very nice job!
I really liked how you talked about when and why Sweeney Todd (or Ben Barker) changed his ultimate motive when Pirelli challenged and then try to blackmail Sweeney Todd. Like you said, he came back to finally get his revenge on Judge Turpin but in my opinion he is trying to kill all of the corrupt people first and foremost but other people get caught in the crossfire (or barber's chair) because like Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett say in the song they sing, everybody is the same and has the same right to death as anyone else. ~~ Kyler Lake
ReplyDelete