Children Songs Gone Wrong 01: Hellfire

Growing up in the 90's, my childhood consisted of the animated Disney movies that we can't help but love and adore. However, rewatching movies that I was obsessed with in my childhood has been a bit of an eye-opener to all the serious themes that were actually staring me in the face for 10+ years. So why were we allowed to watch them if they had such adult-oriented issues? These issues were covered up by talking inanimate objects and catchy songs of course! But even some of the catchy songs had . . . some rather inappropriate messages. So the first one I'm going to cover is Hellfire.

The song, Hellfire, was featured in the movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and was performed by Judge Claude Frollo, who was voiced by Tony Jay. Judge Claude Frollo is the Minister of Justice, which I guess is just a religious authority figure. He is quite hypocritical and judgemental, but that must be OK because he is a believer and a follower in God. He also has a strong hatred for gypsies, but makes a sexual exception for Esmeralda, even though she defies his authority and publicly insults him. After Esmeralda claims sanctuary in Notre Dame, Frollo is determined to either kill her or have her as his own personal sex slave. To accomplish this, he sets guards at every entrance to Notre Dame and awaits her departure. He then starts the song, Hellfire, and sings about his own uncontrollable lust for Esmeralda and if he can't have her, then no one can. He also concludes that his desires cannot be the natural urges every man feels now and again. They obviously must be witchcraft, simply because he's a man of God and she's a gypsy. During the song, one of his guards alerts him that Esmeralda has escaped from Notre Dame, which starts an overdramatic manhunt, which consists of arresting everyone and burning down every single house they find. Let's get a closer look at the lyrics, just to delve deeper into Frollo's mind and get a better look at his personality.

Beata Maria
You know I am a righteous man
Of my virtue I am justly proud

(Even at 18, I had to look up 'Beata Maria', which supposedly means 'Blessed Maria/Mary'. I guess Maria is the closest thing he has to a wife. And what better way to break the news of a desired love affair between him and the type of people he hates most than to call your "wife" blessed? And it seems like he believes that anything is OK as long as it is in the name of God, including murder, lust, etc. Hypocrisy at its best.)

Beata Maria
You know I'm so much purer than
The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd

(A crowd that he basically rules over. Sounds like he doesn't have that much faith in his people if he's labeling them all as vulgar, weak, and licentious. His image of himself is overly pristine, regardless of what he does.)

Then tell me, Maria
Why I see her dancing there
Why her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul
I feel her
I see her
The sun caught in her raven hair
Is blazing in me out of all control

(As a man of God, I guess this is the closest thing to porn he's going to get.)

Like fire
Hellfire
This fire in my skin
This burning desire
Is turning me to sin

(You'd think that he would actually admit that his impure thoughts were of his own doing. Guess again.)

It's not my fault
I'm not to blame
It is the gypsy girl
The witch who sent this flame

(I would expect him to act this way based on everything that happened in the movie before this song. He wants to maintain his place in power, but cannot rid of the faults that make him human. So what does he do? He blames the source or anything else he can find an excuse for. And of course he can't actually have a weakness! That would taint his credibility as a leader, of course.)

It's not my fault
If in God's plan
He made the devil so much stronger
Than a man

(I'm somewhat glad he knows/doesn't think that he is the ultimate, all-powerful being. It sticks to his Catholic persona and makes him seem more human, which I feel is needed due to the themes in this movie. If Quasimodo and Esmeralda were just searching for the Court of Miracles, then I can understand Frollo taking place as a monster and not having as much as a humanized personality. However, since we're dealing with lust, religion, etc., it is better for Frollo to show his weaknesses through this song, than with a strong exterior.)

Protect me, Maria
Don't let this siren cast her spell
Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone
Destroy Esmeralda
And let her taste the fires of hell
Or else let her be mine and mine alone

(This is where we enter the disturbing children's version of the last Eminem's Love The Way You Lie. Frollo has this scary mentality which is similar to that of your generic abusive boyfriend/spouse. If he can't have her, then no one can. In this case, his motive for killing her would also be to erase his lust for her, until he finds some other hot gypsy who can also dance.)

Hellfire
Dark fire
Now gypsy, it's your turn
Choose me or your pyre
Be mine or you will burn

(Some more scary mentality. I'm a little surprised that Frollo actually gives Esmeralda a choice rather than just taking her somewhere and "having her for himself". As a villain, that's what I would expect him to do. Then again, this is a Disney movie; that's not allowed.)

God have mercy on her
God have mercy on me
But she will be mine
Or she will burn

(The first two lines really confused me. I kept thinking, that as a villain and just based on how he is, you'd think that he wouldn't care whether or not Esmeralda received severe judgement, especially since he believes she is the one solely responsible for causing him to stray from purity and head right towards sin. Maybe he does actually care for her somewhat, just not enough to change for the better good.)

And that's Hellfire. For younger audiences, I wouldn't deem this song as memorable. Years down the road however, I love this song. It is currently my favorite song in this movie. However, this movie was directed towards a younger age group than mine. Even though it's great, that doesn't overrule the inappropriate topics and the repetitive mentioning of hell. And even though Frollo is an awful human-being in this movie, he's still human and still carried out the emotions of a human, especially in this song. As a kid, he wasn't all that threatening or menacing to me. Back then, it was villains like Scar and Ursula who gave me the creeps, but I didn't understand what was fully going on in the movie to even give Frollo a proper chance to deem himself as a respectable villain, solely due to the mature themes in this movie.

That's Hellfire and Frollo for you in . . . many nutshells. And to give him a second chance at being the villain he has the potential to be, here's his face towards one of the ending scenes:

"I can save you from the flames of this world and the next.

Choose me or the fire."

I don't know about you, but that face is 100% creepy. It is scenes like these that give him his power as a villain, otherwise he's a bit of a whiny brat. Anyway, feel free to express your opinion on Hellfire or Frollo or if you have another children's song that you think is inappropriate, leave a comment down below.



~ Gaia<3