Disney's Greatest (Villain) Song

I feel like I should say, "Romani" is pronounced Ro-maw-nee, not romany. Just letting you know :3

If you ask me, Bruno not being a villain actually makes "We Don't Talk About Bruno" MORE of a villain song, not less of one. Because it's the family trying to justify why they disowned and ostracized a family member who they found inconvenient. So it's not BRUNO'S villain song, it's the FAMILY'S villain song.

"Hellfire isn't about Frollo's power, it's about his weakness." So glad I clicked on this video.

Somehow Disney went from this to "I let you live here for free and don't even charge you rent"

As a Catholic, Hellfire really understands the Catholic view on sin and mercy.

a fun point: Frollo's room does not need a fireplace that big Allow me to explain - A room of that size, made of stone, can be insulated in various ways - the most common method, used liberally throughout castles and large dwellings, was to cover everything in rugs and tapestries. Aside from looking pretty, the point of these was to form a buffer between the cold surface of stone and the air around it, drastically reducing the rate of heat loss, and making for some much more comfortable walking besides. Frollo has chosen to keep the room almost totally bare, with just the fireplace at the far end, and a MASSIVE OPEN BALCONY DOOR. That door is enough to give any builder a heart attack, but more on that in a moment. In order to heat a room of that size, consistently, for long enough to maintain a livable temperature whenever such a thing is required, Frollo would be burning his way through up to a METRIC TON of dried oak, per WEEK. His piety and humility is artifice - the money required to keep up the sham is probably enough to feed half of Paris, and yet he uses it all on looking poorer than the nobles of the country who at least have a touch more sense. His balcony door exacerbates the problem. The middle ages, at the time HOND is set, had yet to invent the double-glazed window, which means that any tiny gaps in the Lead sealing of those huge windows would let in wind. Any gap between the windows themselves? wind. Any porous materials, surfaces, connections, holes in the glass, chips in the wood, etc? wind. This makes keeping a consistent heat even more unbearably difficult, as it's being sapped away at record pace. A fuel consumption of 1000kg wood p/wk is CHILD'S PLAY when we're factoring in the multitude ways that heat can escape that bloody hall. A conservative estimate would place Frollo's yearly consumption at around 50 whole trees per annum. My brother in Christ that's enough to build half a village, and then some.

That quote of Frollo being terrifying because he is real has never rung truer to me. I think every woman who has seen this movie can relate to the genuine fear and disgust I felt towards Frollo the second he started lusting over her. And, considering this film is made mostly by men in the 90s, it is surprising that they made a near perfect portrayal of a predator. It explains his thought-process to justify it, we have a look into his mind and literally see his massive cognitive dissonance, but the film doesn't excuse him. In fact, it mercilessly punishes him for his terrible actions. It feels good to have a reminder that art isn't just entertainment. When done well enough, it can go this deep into someone's mind and soul.

the single most disturbing thing about Frollo is how EVERYTHING he does is justified in his own eyes. He, by his admission, can do no wrong, no matter how depraved or violent his actions are

Hellfire is hands down the BEST villain song. It’s dark, it points out the issues of the church back then and current, and it truly encapsulates the story Victor Hugo had written from the original story. The only other villain song I love this much is In the Dark of the Night from Anastasia, another movie that does not get the attention it deserves.

I'm genuinely surprised they didn't include "be prepared" on that list. Hell, even something like "Mother Knows Best" would probably fit better on there than some.

Frollo full on attempts to SA Esmerelda in the stage version of this show. It makes Hellfire far scarier. Since it's a very hard song to pull off with the same intensity on stage. And - spoiler alert - when she is dead and Frollo says to Quasimodo ( who has finally seen the light about his horrible master and is done with his s***) "you don't want to do this" ... you quail in horror AND cheer when the statues of saints move in and hiss "Yes you do!" Before Quasimodo full on murks him by THROWING him to his death.

“He throws it back on the virgin mary during his prayer” is CRAZY phrasing when you remember what throwing it back means in modern day

Another cool thing, the Latin "my fault, my fault, my most grevious fault" is actually from the traditional catholic Latin mass!

Something that I have personally never heard anyone else comment on is when Esmeralda appears within the flames for a second time, you can hear the rattling of her tambourine. BUT that tambourine sound can also be hear as the shake of a rattle snakes tail (which snakes have huge biblical symbolism for sin). Just thought it was neat

As a choral performer, The Bells of Notre Dame is not just the best opening number for an animated film and Disney movie, it is a musically complex piece of work. Kyrie Eleison is one of the motifs throughout that work, which means “Lord, have mercy”. A frequent phrase we see in choral works, and I was pleased Menken included this, especially with the overarching theme of judgment. It’s seriously brilliant. So beyond underrated.

the fact that the list didn't have "Be Prepared" is an immediate red flag for me lol

I always thought it noteworthy that Quasi is almost certainly the adopted son of the Gypsy woman. Her husband seems nowhere near as fond of the babe, and of course Quasi looks nothing like either of them, having recessive traits (ginger hair and green eyes, the rarest and most recessive colours possible), as well as pale skin. I always thought this a clever inversion of the old racist trope of Gypsies stealing babies (something that is unfortunately a part of the original novel) - in this case, I believe Quasimodo’s mother rescued and adopted him, saving him from death twice. It makes her actions even more noble, and Frollo even more wicked as Quasi’s second adoptive parent. It makes Quasimodo even more tragic, as well.

Love how this almost 4 minutes masterpiece can be dissected in a 50 minutes video, and it feels like we've not even yet delved half-ways about it. I seriously think I could watch a 2 to 4 hours essay dissecting this song. That's how much it's a masterpiece

"Mea culpa" is also a legal term, for him to be a judge, the whole song is constructed well.

fun little detail many people miss, during the opening number Bells of Notre Dame, when Frollo is chasing the woman through the streets of Paris, the chorus we hear in the background is singing the Dies Irae. It's an old Latin chant/song that in more recent history has been used in movie scores to symbolize death/dying. So while we are watching this high-tense chase scene, the score is literally screaming at us that someone will die soon, which we see happening to the women and almost to Quasimodo before the Archdeacon steps in. It's been a while since I've seen the movie so I don't remember if it appears anywhere else in the movie but that moment in particular always has stood out to me. Anyway, this has always been my favourite Disney movie, if not first than definitely top 5. Hellfire has always held my number 1 spot for Disney Villain Songs and I have literally argued with a friend for 20+ minutes if Hellfire or Friends on the Other Side was better. (we never agreed on an answer. They're both great songs but Hellfire tops FOTOS for me).