Why You Should Always Impress the Librarian

Picture this: you walk into a room, about to be interviewed for your dream job. That morning, you spent hours making sure your outfit was exactly right, your baby hairs were tucked away, and your breath smelled minty clean. As you drove to the interview, you planned out exactly what you will say in response to various possible questions. And you are so scared of something going wrong that despite your extensive use of deodorant, you are sweating profusely. Why do you care so much about the success of this dream job interview? Because first impressions mean everything in today's society.

Every precaution you took to ensure the interview goes well demonstrates how vital it is for people to make a good first impression on those who will have an impact on their life. If you didn't impress the interviewers, you would't get your dream job. If you don't impress the girl, you won't get a second date. First impressions are an innate human concern. People naturally judge others based on the first glimpse they get of them. 

In Meredith Willson's, The Music Man, Professor Harold Hill seems to make an excellent first impression on every citizen in River City, Iowa except the one person he needs on his side: the librarian, Marian Paroo. Promising to create and conduct a boys' band, Hill cons the incognizant parents in the town into giving him money for band equipment, though the "professor" knows nothing about music. As Hill continues to scam the town and rob them of their money, Marian is one of the only people to see his deception. She has the resources and intelligence to expose Hill, so the professor must try to win her over. This proves to be no easy task.

Marian is reluctant to believe anything Hill says and refuses to go out with him, though his persistence is unforgiving. Because Harold Hill did not make a good first impression with Marian, her permanent image of him is a lousy one. Throughout the whole first act, nothing Hill does impresses Marian; she actually begins to despise him more. However, just as Marian is about to confront the mayor about Hill's real intentions with River City, the professor is able to change his image in Marian's mind.

When Hill gives Marian's younger brother, Winthrop, a new cornet, Winthrop's excitement is so boundless that he becomes happy for the first time since his father died. Marian sees how Hill has positively impacted her brother's life, and she completely changes her stance on the man. Now, Marian is able to forget the harm he is doing to River City and focus only on Hill's admirable qualities. This illustrates that while first impressions are crucial, people can change their opinions over time if they realize their first image was not representative of the new person. Impressions can be wrong.

By the end of act two, Marian and Harold fall in love (what else do you expect, its a musical). Despite the horrible first impression he made on Marian, Hill is able to persuade the librarian over time that he actually is a nice guy. So, while you probably should be worried about the success of your next interview, bad first impressions aren't always the end of the world.

Beauty Without a Beast

When I was younger, I spent the whole month of October trying to decide which Disney princess I should be for Halloween. Maybe I was just super indecisive, but I could never narrow my options down to just one costume. One year, thankfully, my mother- fed up with my inability to choose- decided for me. (I was not too happy at the time, but have since almost gotten over it.) She came home with a Belle costume and told me it was perfect because apparently "I looked like her." Turns out it was really fun being Belle for a night; she's a pretty hype princess, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies.

Recently, a musical was made out of this already popular movie. Obviously one of the main themes of the Beauty and the Beast musical is that true love is felt within, not based on outside characteristics. But I think we can dig a little deeper and analyze this idea further. Not only does love mean more than physical attraction, but the concept of love has no boundaries. Neither race, nor gender, nor mental capacity, nor religious affiliation has the power to stop the feeling of true love. Cliché, I know, but its true, and this idea has been shown in modern society. 

On Facebook last week, I saw a video that supports this concept of true love. In the video, different couples stand behind a huge X-ray machine, so the audience can only see their bones. When the two people step out from the X-ray, the audience realizes that they are not typically-accepted couples. There is a lesbian couple and an interracial couple. A best friendship between a little girl with Down Syndrome and another young girl is also shown. The video is very powerful, as it shows two things: love can happen between any two people and can be as simple as a friendship.

Here is a short version of the video:

Beauty and the Beast portrays the same idea as this video, just in a weird, Disney-esque way. Obviously no real-life human has ever fallen in love with a monster or beast, but when gay marriage first was legalized, many opposers viewed those relationships as something scary and monstrous. Whenever something strays beyond the norm, somebody is obliged to protest it.

Even before gay marriage was such a huge controversy, people viewed other things as freakish. Mentally disabled and mentally insane people were once viewed as bizarre and deranged, with no distinctions between different medical conditions. Psych wards in the 1940's performed lobotomies and treated their patients horribly; each patient was viewed as monstrous and inhumane, much like the beast in Beauty and the Beast. No one originally respected the psych ward patients, but now we have working treatments and sterile, caring hospitals. The friendship between the little girls in this video proves that now, any two people can be normal friends, much like Belle was willing to be friends with the beast.

Underneath its magical and romantic plot, Beauty and the Beast reveals a theme ahead of its time: love has no labels.