[78-L] Mikado

[Chris Zwarg]

At 16:35 23.01.2009, you wrote:
>Chris Zwarg wrote
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>At face value it is derogatory in "Mikado", but Gilbert put it there in a farcical vein, as part of Ko-Ko's "little list" of despicable individuals he'd like to see executed. A few moments later it is revealed in the story that despite this mighty rant - BTW set to the most tip-toeing and non-ranting music imaginable - he couldn't even kill a bluebottle. The ominous list contains among others the author himself ("the judicial humorist" - Gilbert had been a lawyer before he turned to writing operettas), and traditionally, in the last verse, any current celebrity the singer and producer find a way to fit into the metre
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>I don't think the intention is that the folks on the list are despicable, just that Koko feels that if it's ever time for an execution, these people should be ahead of him.

I have always felt it a part of the joke that Ko-Ko piles on strong language here, as he believes is appropriate for his position as "Lord High Executioner", grotesquely contrasting his rather more pacifist (not to mention cowardly) real feelings. Toning down his "little list" thus doesn't help the effect - nor does it in the pretty similar enumeration of gruesome but ridiculous punishments the Mikado himself gives in the other "censored" number. Both characters are certainly not asking for their fellow creatures' sympathy with what they have to say/sing - they *want* to appear offensive and aggressive, don't they?

Chris Zwarg