By: Emma B.
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series about musicals both the popular and the little known shows.
Part 2: Theatre Thoughts - An Analysis: Grease: Pretty Music Disguised as a Good Musical
Part 3: Theatre Thoughts - The Great Comet Of 1812 + Dear Evan Hansen & The Portrayal Of Mental Health In Musical Theatre
Part 4: Theatre Thoughts - An Analysis: The Phantom of the Opera: The Perfect Cheese Wheel
Part 5: TheatreThoughts- An Audience Review: School of Rock
Part 2: Theatre Thoughts - An Analysis: Grease: Pretty Music Disguised as a Good Musical
Part 3: Theatre Thoughts - The Great Comet Of 1812 + Dear Evan Hansen & The Portrayal Of Mental Health In Musical Theatre
Part 4: Theatre Thoughts - An Analysis: The Phantom of the Opera: The Perfect Cheese Wheel
Part 5: TheatreThoughts- An Audience Review: School of Rock
Be More Chill is a musical about high school.
Unapologetically about the modern high school. However instead of filling the
script with dumb jokes about emojis, Be
More Chill gives high schoolers a chance to work through two issues that a teenager
faces, the issue of popularity and fitting in. It also gives high schoolers
something they normally never get.
It gives high schoolers the fantasy of being able to be
amazing and cool in a moment. Yet it also warns high schoolers of the extreme
desires of trying to fit in and be part of an identity that isn’t yours. This
musical also shows how, surprisingly, both extremes intersect.
And how really; it doesn’t really matter.
The Basics
The basic premise of this musical is that a boy named Jeremy
Heere comes into contact with a device known as a Super Quantum Unit Intel
Processor or a S.Q.U.I.P. for short. This device starts telling Jeremy how to
live his life so that he’ll be popular and more specifically win over the
affections of a young girl named Christine.
Now with that premise alone, it doesn’t sound like anything
particularly special, just another cute Off-Broadway show. However, where this
show starts to gain a new level of narrative depth is not only how the
characters interact with each other but how the theme of negative messages in
your head begins to come to the forefront.
The Story:
Jeremy’s conflict throughout the show is more than anything a
struggle of uniqueness versus popularity and how it affects him and the people
around him.
It starts off with Jeremy incredibly insecure about his
identity only to then discover the S.Q.U.I.P. through one of the more popular and
well-respected boys in his school. His name is Rich. The audience later learns
that Rich has a truckload of insecurities as well.
This leads to the theme of voices guiding you during your
life and how during high school, the voices in your head can often mislead you
in pretty negative directions.
This internal conflict within Jeremy is personified within two
characters, Jeremy’s best friend Michael Melle and the S.Q.U.I.P. itself. It is
how Jeremy interacts with these two characters that starts to paint his
narrative development throughout the show.
Michael in the Bathroom
Michael Melle personifies two painful elements throughout
high school existence, the need to cling to the past despite growing popularity
as well as abandoned friendships.
At the beginning of the show, he acts as the supportive best
friend of Jeremy who reassures him that he’s okay. In the song Two Player Game Jeremy furthers this
point in the line, “Guys like us are cool in college.” He even tells
Jeremy not to believe Rich’s rumors about the S.Q.U.I.P.
However once Jeremy takes the S.Q.U.I.P. pill, the pill
starts the slow and painful process of separating Jeremy and Michael. It starts
convincing Jeremy that Michael doesn’t care and is only weighing him down. This
clearly hurts Jeremy but he blindly conforms to The S.Q.U.I.P. for popularity
and also because he thinks getting Christine will solve all his problems.
All of this comes to a head about halfway through the show
when Michael confronts him and when Jeremy ignores his warnings about the S.Q.U.I.P
and how dangerous it is. Michael breaks down.
In my opinion, this shows, in surprisingly accurate detail,
how painful it can be when friends leave you and you do not completely
understand why. It makes Michael a relatable character in ways that he wasn’t
before. However, it also balances Jeremy’s character.
Yes, in that moment Jeremy is supposed to be so lost that he
looks awful yet because of Jeremy’s insecurities and heartbreak over not
getting Christine we’re willing to forgive him later when he comes around and
makes up with Michael.
I think, this reflects how teenage friendships can be. Teens can
care about each other yet can be so lost in nonsense that they forget what’s
important. I think this is what makes Michael and Jeremy making up later all
the more satisfying. Which brings me to the other primary narrative voice
throughout the play, the S.Q.U.I.P.
The S.Q.U.I.P.
I think the S.Q.U.I.P. is the metaphorical embodiment of
insecurity. Whenever the S.Q.U.I.P. is mentioned in the show everything in the
soundtrack becomes very computerized and technical. The S.Q.U.I.P. itself speaks
with very technical terms with little emotion. It is commanding and as the show
goes on, it finds more and more ways to take control of Jeremy and those who he
cares about.
And yet despite all of that, it isn’t always right about
things and I think that is the brutal irony of the S.Q.U.I.P.
Much like real-life insecurities, it seemingly calculates
every possible variable and starts altering your life to make things seem
better and yet it doesn’t always make things better, in fact most times it
doesn’t.
Toward the beginning of the show, The S.Q.U.I.P. only gives
Jeremy something of a confidence boost, giving him only small nudges in the
direction it thinks he should go. Jeremy becomes more obedient after he
disobeyed The S.Q.U.I.P. once. The disobedience? Jeremy simply wanted hang out
with his friend.
After Christine, Jeremy’s crush flat-out rejects him in favor
of another boy the S.Q.U.I.P. goes into complete overdrive. it pushes Jeremy
into befriending the popular girls in school and abandoning Michael. All of
this ultimately leads to Jeremy losing his friend and scaring away his love interest.
It’s only when he realizes that The S.Q.U.I.P. is just using him and his class
to infect everyone with its programming that Jeremy starts fighting back.
Warning: Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to know what
happens to the S.Q.U.I.P. skip to the next section of this article: In Summary.
This idea of the S.Q.U.I.P. embodying insecurity is further
supported by the fact that Mountain Dew Red and Jeremy with Michael embracing
his inner nerd is what ends up destroying The S.Q.U.I.P.
In Summary
I think Be More Chill
is an amazing allegory for teenage insecurity. Whether it be figuring out your sexuality,
trying to be popular or keeping friends, it doesn’t matter. Being a teenager is
hard and something coming along and seemingly providing all the answers is a
teenager’s perfect fantasy. However, what makes Be More Chill good is that not only that is it a funny musical but
that it also points out the flaws in such a fantasy.
I think, it points out that if we give up ourselves for
popularity, we’re not really human anymore. We’re just a shell of our former
selves which at the end of the day, is just as unhealthy as anything else.
The show also points out that hearing so many conflicting
voices in your head is completely normal but the most important voice in your
head is your own.
So go out there, play video games and live your life.
Ultimately the voices in your head don’t define you, your thoughts can’t
control you. Only you making smart and well-guided choices can control who you
are.
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