[mistocopat]

What do you think the message behind Cats is?

I've always had trouble with this question because there so many different morals. I always find myself coming up with different theorys each time I listen to "The Moments of Happiness". Old Deuterononmy shares his knowledge and young, little Jemima sings and reminds us all of the truely important things in life that are often forgotten.

Every time I watch Cats a new and wonderful meaning appears.

[QuaxoCoricopat]

The importance of assisted suicide in our culture.

[Roller Boy]

[Misto]

I don't look deep into Cats. That's why I don't like Fan-Fics and stuff. I am a fan of the show itself (the set, the costumes, the actors). I've never been interested in that side of things.

[Pawzxx]

I thought cats was just a fun ride...pure escapism (sp?) for two and a half hours lol!

[Dvarg]

This is a very interresting topic. And I don't mean that in a moralistic, condescending way.

[Moongewl]

I think the message is, if it's a British man's work, it must be respectable theatre even if it's people in brightly colored animal costumes singing and dancing to poems for children.
(Really, I don't think there's a message.)

[Mixu]

[Moongewl]

Let me rephrase: I don't think the message is of importance when watching the show. You can watch Cats in other languages and not have any idea what's going on and still enjoy the show.

[mistocopat]

[Mixu]

[Dvarg]

[mistocopat]

[Dvarg]

[Rumblepurr]

When Trevor Nunn first put the show together, he did not have a plotline to work with. TS Eliot's poems were a series of individuals (or pairs such as MY & RT). None of them really gave the show a unifying thread... During this time, Valerie Eliot brought in several of TS Eliot's works. One of them was the unfinished work entitled "Grizabella the Galmour Cat." After reading this poem, Mr. Nunn indicated that Grizabella would be the thread that united the various cat poems...

In one sense, this one character gives us our moral... Grizabella conveys to us a desire to belong and be accepted, as indicated by her coming back to the Jellicle Ball, perhaps the last chance she had before she died. A wish to be forgiven... and to be rejoined with the Family (or Tribe in this case). The story of the "Prodigal Son" comes to mind... "Family is Family - good or bad..."

Each of the poems is a commentary through TS Eliot of characters that one could have met in the early 1900s... A sleepy matron who is a strict teacher... A playboy who is never satisfied with what he has... A gourmet who enjoys his food and the limelight it gives him... A pair of mischievious catburglars who believe everythiing is a game and a challenge... An old and respected Elder... An individual who believe life should be run "on sched-ule"... A nemesis that disrupts life and those around him... A forever-youth with "magic." Each one of the poems used as lyrics for the songs could have its own message, depending how far into TS Eliot's poems you want to go...

As for the "Theme" - The musical begins with "What is a Jellicle Cat?" And then, we see a series of different Jellicle Cats - the characters of 1900s England in TS Eliot's poems. The underlying theme is the "Choice" and who will be chosen... At the End, we see who is chosen - Grizabella. And finally, we are told what a Jellicle Cat is... and that we have met them...

As to the "Choice" itself - One can see anything from a ritualistic suicide to a "Second Chance"... Many cultures have a thought of reincarnation, and the message we get from Munkustrap is that the Chosen One is sent to a "heaven" to see its wonders and then be reborn... A "new Jellicle Life"... I like to think that the Choice is given to a Jellicle who really needs that Second Chance - which is Grizabella in this case.

Respectfully submitted,
Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat.

[mistocopat]

I agree that the character of Grizabella provides the main moral.

I find cats interesting because in my opinion there are several different morals forming at the same time.

[Dvarg]

[Dvarg]

Please, don't let this topic die! It's so interresting!

Just because I haven't been able to figure out the theme(s) or message(s) of Cats doesn't mean there's nothing there. Or so I assume.

[LHSTrombone]

Awww come on, the message is so obivous! Even though the show is mostly spectacle there is one big overlying theme that is very important and people should know it because that is why people make fun of CATS, they dont understand it. All the cats are different and have their own unique abilities and styles and yet, except for Grizabella, they all are accepting of eachothers' differences. So if cats are, why can't we humans be?
In fact if you can remember in the late 80s CATS had a commercial against smoking and it ended with "You're only human" or something like that. Just to prove a point.

[mistocopat]

[Dvarg]

[MrsJemimaMistoffelees]

[Gwen]

I apologize to be necro-posting, but I've been looking around forever to say this....
Wether it's theme or motif, (don't know which,)
it was funny to me to read the program when I first saw the show (stage version) because it matched what I thought- the cats coming from different backgrounds being a comparison to people. (ie:Jennyanydotts being a housekeeper, Bustopher being an aristocrat, and so on.)
So I'd say it is about diversity in that sense, as well as the cats all having their own personalities. Grizabella being the outcast, she doesn't fit into any of them untill accepted back into the group as a whole. That's where (in my opinion) the message of forgiveness comes in.
Moments of Happiness...I definately think (and you may disagree,) that by "...come to dust....." Old Deuteronomy is taking a serious time to remind them that no matter what their status is, they'll die one day...both Jellicles, and Pollicles.

[littlgriz1]

cats to me is fforhivnes and love anf joy

[Phee]

Well on a slightly more simplistic level, I'll start by saying that the reason I first saw CATS was because I'm relatively obsessed with all things feline, (be they small and tame or large and wild). I collect cat figurines, books, stuffed toys, and whilst I'm only officially owned by one of the live kind, the neighbours' cats also have me wrapped around their paws because I give them snacks each day when they come to visit me, (I actually call one of them Skimble because he looks Skimble-ish IMO....no idea what his humans call him.....and there used to be another cat that lived down the street, and I used to call him MrMunks because he looked like Munkustrap).

So I went into my first viewing of CATS already with the mindset that felines are the most superior species in the known universe , so soaked it all up with that mindset, and everything I saw just reinforced the "mystical divinity of unashamed felinity" for me. I loved that the lyrics made mention of all the little things that make felines so wonderful.

Anyway, once I got over that initial reason that I fell in love with it, I was able to also appreciate the other aspects of it all, such as the reflection of characters in human society, and their diversity, and the whole forgiveness/redemption arc of Griz.