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Making Connections Between What I Have Learned in Multicultural Psych and Moulin Rouge! The Musical

 


   I got to see Moulin Rouge! The Musical recently at Broadway at the Eccles and thought it was amazing. A couple days later, I given the opportunity to see the musical again,  and seeing the show again was too good of an offer to pass off. However, I had one more blog post to write and so I decided to watch the musical through a multicultural lens the second time around. I brought a pen and a small notebook and took notes throughout the musical.  

    Moulin Rouge! The Musical takes place in turn of the century Paris. It tells the story of Christian, a young composer, who falls in love with cabaret actress Satine, who is the star of the Moulin Rouge. However, the club's owner, Harold Zildler has promised Satine to a Duke in exchange for the Duke funding the Moulin Rouge. Through a funny misunderstanding, Zilder agrees to put on a show created by Christian and his artist friends Toulouse-Lautrec and Santiago at the Moulin Rouge starring Satine, and the Duke agrees to finance the show as long as he is the owner of the Moulin Rouge and Satine. Zidler agrees and the rest of the show is about a love affair and preparing for the show at the Moulin Rouge. 

   The first connection I made between Moulin Rouge! The Musical and what I have learned in multicultural psychology has to do with acculturation. The show begins on Christian's first day in Paris (he's from Lima, Ohio, USA) when he meets Toulouse-Lautrec and Santiago. Everything is new and exciting and he is having a great time. This reminded me of Olberg's theory of acculturation, and more specifically, the "honeymoon" phase which is described as pleasing, exciting, and feeling like a vacation. You don't get any insight into any other stages in Christian's acculturation because the musical only takes place over a couple of months. 

The next themes I noticed were sex, gender, and culture. Because the Moulin Rouge is a burlesque, the women are scantily dressed and sexualized while dancing at the Moulin Rouge. While there are male members of the ensemble, none of them are as scantily dressed or as sexualized. The gender difference is made obvious by costuming, make-up, and choreography in the show. Additionally, the Duke, a wealthy man who ends up funding the Moulin Rouge says multiple times through out the musical that he "owns" Satine, which appears to be an upper-class, straight man desire as none of the other characters in relationships ever talk about "owning" the other person. 

    A third theme I tied to what I have learned in class is the themes of truth, beauty, freedom, and love being very individualistic values. When writing the show, Toulouse, Santiago, and Christian talk about how important those values are to them. To Christian, the most important value is love. At one point he asks Satine what the point of living is if not to find love and be happy. He argues that Satine does not love the Duke and is therefore not happy. In individualistic cultures, individual rights are seen as being the most important. Both France and the USA are individualistic cultures so it makes sense that they would value freedom and love as individual rights are seen as the most important. 

    Watching Moulin Rouge! The Musical and making connections to what I learned in class was a fun challenge, and I wouldn't have been able to make these connections at the beginning of the school year.  Stay tuned for my comprehensive reflection, which will dive deeper into what I have learned in my multicultural psychology class.


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