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May. 2nd, 2005 12:16 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
baelarion.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ship_manifestoTitle: Mighty and Powerful Gods: The Miguel/Tulio Manifesto
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baelarion
Email: smooze[at]queenitsy[dot]com
Website: The Refuge
Fandom: The Road to El Dorado
Pairing: Miguel/Tulio
Spoilers: The movie (but in no detail)
Notes: Big thanks toqueenitsy, second_batgirl, and poisonivory, for convincing me to do this, and for helping me put certain things about these two wacky guys into words when I started forgetting how to speak.
I. Introduction
Dreamworks’ 2000 animated feature, The Road to El Dorado, is an unusual movie. Whereas most recent animated movies focus on romance, El Dorado is a movie about friendship and loyalty (though I will be arguing, aided by lots of pretty visual aids, of course, that it’s also about romance). It features the voices of Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh, and songs by Elton John.
The plot is relatively simple: during the time of explorations in the New World, two Spanish conmen, Miguel and Tulio, find themselves in possession of a map to the legendary El Dorado, the city of gold. Due to several unfortunate events, they wind up as involuntary stowaways – and then prisoners – aboard Cortes’ ship. They escape with the help of Altivo, the warhorse who’ll do anything for an apple, and find their way to El Dorado, where they are greeted as gods. There they have to contend with Chel, a native woman who’s every bit as manipulative as they are (and later, Tulio’s love interest), and Tzekel-Kan, the high priest of El Dorado, who is obsessed with human sacrifice. In the end, despite their greed, both Miguel and Tulio give up power and gold to save the citizens of El Dorado from the invading Spanish conquistadores, and together with Chel, head off into the sunset for more adventures.
II. Tulio and Miguel
“I am Miguel!”
“And I am Tulio!”
“And they call us Miguel and Tulio!”
I’ve tried to do short character studies for both men individually, and to define them as separate entities, but the fact is that it just doesn’t work. The movie sets them up as an inseparable pair, so no matter what might happen, they are defined by each other. All this means is that this part of the manifesto might get slightly confusing and very back-and-forth-ish.
Tulio and Miguel are voiced, respectively, by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh. Of the two, Tulio is the pragmatist, whereas Miguel is the idealist. When trying to convince Tulio that they should try to get the map, Miguel claims that it could be their fate, their destiny; an irritated Tulio only responds, “Miguel, if I believed in fate, I wouldn’t be playing with loaded dice.” That early exchange sets up their characters fairly efficiently.
Miguel is much more guileless, sweeter, and definitely nowhere near as intelligent as Tulio. What he lacks in brains, however, he makes up for in moral conviction (yes, moral conviction in a swindler). For example, while both men are horrified by Tzekel-Kan’s continuous efforts to sacrifice people to the glory of the “gods,” only Miguel has taken the time to get to know the people of El Dorado, and only Miguel is willing to jeopardize his own position to stand up to Tzekel-Kan.
Tulio, on the other hand, is much more with it than Miguel. He, much more than Miguel, is cognizant of what’s going on. When Cortes growls at them, kneeling before him in manacles, “You will be flogged, and when we put into Cuba, God willing, you will be flogged again,” Tulio is the one who winces. Miguel, on the other hand, gets a great big smile on his face and says, “Oooh, Cuba!” Tulio is full of plans; while Miguel is the idea man, Tulio is the one who actually comes up with how to implement the idea. However, despite Tulio’s quick, calculating brain, he is morally and emotionally weaker than Miguel. Though they both agree to not get involved with Chel, Tulio fails, and fails magnificently. And while Miguel can function independently of Tulio, Tulio seems to be at a bit of a loss without Miguel.
Looking at them, it’s very easy to imagine them as small children, always getting into scrapes together; after all, no matter when they met, that’s what they essentially are: little boys, grinning at each other, with their proverbial hands in the cookie jar. The two of them share a sense of mischief that is very nearly palpable.
IV. My Proof
“Oh, you can’t blame me for this.”
“I… blame… you.”
The movie is chock-full of moments that are very difficult to watch with any interpretation other than Tulio and Miguel being very, very homoerotic with each other. It’s barely even subtext; it’s mostly just text. In fact, when watching this once with friends, one of my male suitemates commented, “You know, I usually think you guys are crazy with looking for slash in everything, but these two… are really just gay, aren’t they? Did they make them like that on purpose?” Here are some of the moments that stand out as being particularly full of “Migulio,” as it’s called.
-Near the beginning of the movie, Miguel tries to convince Tulio to gamble their hard-stolen gold in order to obtain the map to El Dorado. Tulio isn’t convinced, so Miguel pulls out all the stops, from waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Tulio to panting like a dog. And, of course, Tulio is convinced.
-While drifting aimlessly in a rowboat, convinced that they are about to die, leaning against each other, they share the following dialogue:
Miguel: Any…regrets?
Tulio: Besides dying? Yeah…I never… had enough…gold.
Miguel: My regret, besides dying, is that our greatest adventure is over before it began and no one will even remember us.
Tulio: (starting to cry) Well, if it’s any consolation, Miguel, you…made my life…an adventure.
Miguel: (also starting to cry) And if it’s any consolation, Tulio… you made my life…rich.
(on the other side of the boat, Altivo the warhorse rolls his eyes)
-Tulio and Chel have begun an illicit relationship, and have kept it a secret from Miguel. Tulio, trying to convince her to come back to Spain with them, says, “All right, cards on the table. I want you to come to Spain with me and Miguel. Mostly me. Especially me. Only me. Forget Miguel.” Chel laughs and agrees. As they kiss, the camera pans around to reveal Miguel in the doorway, arms folded, with a look of what can only be described as insane jealousy and heartbreak on his face. “Forget Miguel,” he quotes softly. “Well…forget Tulio.” He turns and leaves.
-Miguel and Tulio bathe naked together. For real. Now, I do realize that in 1600, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal… After all, they’re lost in the jungle together, there’s no need for maidenly modesty, etc. However. This is an animated movie, ostensibly for kids. Surely there was no need for Dreamworks to include something so risqué. Kids wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t shown them bathing… They must have meant something by it, is my opinion.
-One of Miguel and Tulio’s ways of getting out of trouble is to have a big, dramatic “fight,” and while the audience is captivated by the yelling and hitting, the two men maneuver around and make their move; in the big showdown with Tzekel-Kan, they do this again. Miguel is so angry with Tulio for having slept with Chel that he no longer bothers to pull his punches. Tulio, on the other hand, doesn’t know that Miguel is mad at him, and quite obviously pulls his punches – because he doesn’t want to hurt the person he cares about most.
-They have a secret handshake… and a secret dance. Oh, and they sleep together. Don’t ask me, I can’t explain it.
… Wait, yes I can. They’re gay. Very, very gay.
-Once Miguel and Tulio have had their falling out, and it’s been decided that Miguel will stay in El Dorado as a god and Tulio will leave with Chel, the movie goes into a song called “Friends Never Say Goodbye,” as well as a montage of the hours leading up to Tulio and Chel’s departure. The entire montage is reminiscent of those in romantic comedies and dramas in which the man and woman, having broken up, spend their time moping around, avoiding eye contact with each other, and just generally realizing how much they miss each other. Tulio, aware that Miguel is watching, cruelly tears the map in half, and Miguel reciprocates by nonchalantly putting on his divine vestments while watching Tulio in the mirror. And of course, they both have a moment when one is staring at the other, ready to forgive and forget should the other turn around… but by the time the other does turn around, the moment has passed and the original sad-eyed moper is looking away again. (And the song includes the lyrics, “All I know/ is all we had/ is over, said and done.” I mean, come on.)
-Near the end, Tulio, with Chel by his side, is desperately trying to figure out a way to stop the conquistadores from reaching El Dorado. Tulio, the man who always has a plan, uses coins and a leaf as small models of what he has to work with to help him organize his thoughts. This echoes earlier in the movie when he and Miguel are prisoners of Cortes, and he uses peas and a cup to outline his plan (“Okay, here’s the plan. In the dead of night, you and I grab some provisions, hijack one of those longboats, and then we row back to Spain like there’s no mañana!”). Unfortunately, without Miguel by his side, Tulio does not do very well, and the dialogue goes like so:
Tulio: Okay, here’s the gate, and here’s the boat…”
Chel: Uh huh, and?
Tulio: Here’s the gate—
Chel: Uh huh.
Tulio: Here’s the boat—
Chel: Right…and?
Tulio: Well, here’s the goat, and here’s the bait—
Chel: Tulio!
This quick interaction proves that Tulio really just can’t function without Miguel. His plans are never all that good to begin with, to be fair, but at least he’s usually able to speak.
-This last one isn’t actually a movie moment, but it’s worth mentioning. Normally, in animated movies, the voice actors all record in separate studios and never actually work together. However, with The Road to El Dorado, the directors felt that Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh had such wonderful chemistry that they had the two men record together. This definitely contributes to the chemistry of Miguel and Tulio in the movie, as well as to the characters’ comfort with each other that is so palpable that they appear to have lost all sense of personal space. They constantly touch each other, hit each other, sleep with each other, and generally appear to be utterly and completely familiar with each other.
V. As a Couple
“We’ll follow the trail!”
“What trail?”
“The trail that we blaze!”
Without each other, Tulio and Miguel are each only half of a person, the yin without the yang, the peanut butter without the jelly, the ballpark hot dog without the beer. You only need to look at their characters (or at my short character study further up the page) to see how one-sided each of them is. Without Miguel, Tulio cannot form his plans. Without Tulio, Miguel has no one who understands him.
Basically: they work as a couple because their personalities complement each other, because Tulio is realistic enough to create plans and Miguel is imaginative enough to make the plans work, and in the end, because, as we’ve already seen, they just don’t work well without each other.
VI. How I Got into Migulio
“What’s happening here?”
“We’re both in barrels. That is the extent of my knowledge.”
I first saw The Road to El Dorado about three or four years ago, before I’d even heard of slash. Watching it with a completely uncorrupted eye, I still had the idea that something was… a little off. Though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I definitely felt that the two main characters were a lot closer than men tend to be portrayed as in Western culture.
However, I didn’t give it another thought until the end of sophomore year in college, when I had been introduced to Newsies, as well as the rabid slashability of it all (you all should go check out the Newsies ship manifestos, too, by the way). At that point, I began to watch movies with an eye slightly more attuned to homoerotic undertones; one night, we were all bored and looking for something to do, and suddenly, something snapped. I said, “Uh, guys, I think I might know a movie that’s even more slashy than Newsies, believe it or not…”
Since then, even though we all have different OTPs, we’ve all been fascinated by Miguel/Tulio, and come up with story ideas that, unfortunately, never seem to actually materialize.
VIII. Recommendations
The El Dorado fandom is pretty small; not many people seem to have even heard of the movie. Sadly, the Migulio fandom is even smaller. Most of the fan fiction out there tends to be OC/Miguel, or occasionally, OC/Tulio (though that’s rarer, since Tulio has a canon love interest).
There are, however, a very few intrepid souls who’ve written some quite good Migulio.
Cross My Heart, by Zarla - A very sweet, angsty one-shot
My Road… To El Dorado, by ladyjaida - Short, yet hysterical; not terribly overt about its slashiness, but it is definitely there
And O’er His Heart a Shadow, by LC - Another one-shot with unrequited Miguelio
…Okay, so there’s really not much of a Migulio fandom at all. But, darnit, there should be! If ever a pairing deserved more, it’s this one. Come all ye slashers, I know you’re out there and dying for something new to sink your teeth into!
Author:
baelarionEmail: smooze[at]queenitsy[dot]com
Website: The Refuge
Fandom: The Road to El Dorado
Pairing: Miguel/Tulio
Spoilers: The movie (but in no detail)
Notes: Big thanks to
queenitsy, second_batgirl, and poisonivory, for convincing me to do this, and for helping me put certain things about these two wacky guys into words when I started forgetting how to speak.I. Introduction
Dreamworks’ 2000 animated feature, The Road to El Dorado, is an unusual movie. Whereas most recent animated movies focus on romance, El Dorado is a movie about friendship and loyalty (though I will be arguing, aided by lots of pretty visual aids, of course, that it’s also about romance). It features the voices of Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh, and songs by Elton John.
The plot is relatively simple: during the time of explorations in the New World, two Spanish conmen, Miguel and Tulio, find themselves in possession of a map to the legendary El Dorado, the city of gold. Due to several unfortunate events, they wind up as involuntary stowaways – and then prisoners – aboard Cortes’ ship. They escape with the help of Altivo, the warhorse who’ll do anything for an apple, and find their way to El Dorado, where they are greeted as gods. There they have to contend with Chel, a native woman who’s every bit as manipulative as they are (and later, Tulio’s love interest), and Tzekel-Kan, the high priest of El Dorado, who is obsessed with human sacrifice. In the end, despite their greed, both Miguel and Tulio give up power and gold to save the citizens of El Dorado from the invading Spanish conquistadores, and together with Chel, head off into the sunset for more adventures.
II. Tulio and Miguel
“I am Miguel!”
“And I am Tulio!”
“And they call us Miguel and Tulio!”
I’ve tried to do short character studies for both men individually, and to define them as separate entities, but the fact is that it just doesn’t work. The movie sets them up as an inseparable pair, so no matter what might happen, they are defined by each other. All this means is that this part of the manifesto might get slightly confusing and very back-and-forth-ish.
Tulio and Miguel are voiced, respectively, by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh. Of the two, Tulio is the pragmatist, whereas Miguel is the idealist. When trying to convince Tulio that they should try to get the map, Miguel claims that it could be their fate, their destiny; an irritated Tulio only responds, “Miguel, if I believed in fate, I wouldn’t be playing with loaded dice.” That early exchange sets up their characters fairly efficiently.
Miguel is much more guileless, sweeter, and definitely nowhere near as intelligent as Tulio. What he lacks in brains, however, he makes up for in moral conviction (yes, moral conviction in a swindler). For example, while both men are horrified by Tzekel-Kan’s continuous efforts to sacrifice people to the glory of the “gods,” only Miguel has taken the time to get to know the people of El Dorado, and only Miguel is willing to jeopardize his own position to stand up to Tzekel-Kan.
Tulio, on the other hand, is much more with it than Miguel. He, much more than Miguel, is cognizant of what’s going on. When Cortes growls at them, kneeling before him in manacles, “You will be flogged, and when we put into Cuba, God willing, you will be flogged again,” Tulio is the one who winces. Miguel, on the other hand, gets a great big smile on his face and says, “Oooh, Cuba!” Tulio is full of plans; while Miguel is the idea man, Tulio is the one who actually comes up with how to implement the idea. However, despite Tulio’s quick, calculating brain, he is morally and emotionally weaker than Miguel. Though they both agree to not get involved with Chel, Tulio fails, and fails magnificently. And while Miguel can function independently of Tulio, Tulio seems to be at a bit of a loss without Miguel.
Looking at them, it’s very easy to imagine them as small children, always getting into scrapes together; after all, no matter when they met, that’s what they essentially are: little boys, grinning at each other, with their proverbial hands in the cookie jar. The two of them share a sense of mischief that is very nearly palpable.
IV. My Proof
“Oh, you can’t blame me for this.”
“I… blame… you.”
The movie is chock-full of moments that are very difficult to watch with any interpretation other than Tulio and Miguel being very, very homoerotic with each other. It’s barely even subtext; it’s mostly just text. In fact, when watching this once with friends, one of my male suitemates commented, “You know, I usually think you guys are crazy with looking for slash in everything, but these two… are really just gay, aren’t they? Did they make them like that on purpose?” Here are some of the moments that stand out as being particularly full of “Migulio,” as it’s called.
-Near the beginning of the movie, Miguel tries to convince Tulio to gamble their hard-stolen gold in order to obtain the map to El Dorado. Tulio isn’t convinced, so Miguel pulls out all the stops, from waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Tulio to panting like a dog. And, of course, Tulio is convinced.
-While drifting aimlessly in a rowboat, convinced that they are about to die, leaning against each other, they share the following dialogue:
Miguel: Any…regrets?
Tulio: Besides dying? Yeah…I never… had enough…gold.
Miguel: My regret, besides dying, is that our greatest adventure is over before it began and no one will even remember us.
Tulio: (starting to cry) Well, if it’s any consolation, Miguel, you…made my life…an adventure.
Miguel: (also starting to cry) And if it’s any consolation, Tulio… you made my life…rich.
(on the other side of the boat, Altivo the warhorse rolls his eyes)
-Tulio and Chel have begun an illicit relationship, and have kept it a secret from Miguel. Tulio, trying to convince her to come back to Spain with them, says, “All right, cards on the table. I want you to come to Spain with me and Miguel. Mostly me. Especially me. Only me. Forget Miguel.” Chel laughs and agrees. As they kiss, the camera pans around to reveal Miguel in the doorway, arms folded, with a look of what can only be described as insane jealousy and heartbreak on his face. “Forget Miguel,” he quotes softly. “Well…forget Tulio.” He turns and leaves.
-Miguel and Tulio bathe naked together. For real. Now, I do realize that in 1600, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal… After all, they’re lost in the jungle together, there’s no need for maidenly modesty, etc. However. This is an animated movie, ostensibly for kids. Surely there was no need for Dreamworks to include something so risqué. Kids wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t shown them bathing… They must have meant something by it, is my opinion.
-One of Miguel and Tulio’s ways of getting out of trouble is to have a big, dramatic “fight,” and while the audience is captivated by the yelling and hitting, the two men maneuver around and make their move; in the big showdown with Tzekel-Kan, they do this again. Miguel is so angry with Tulio for having slept with Chel that he no longer bothers to pull his punches. Tulio, on the other hand, doesn’t know that Miguel is mad at him, and quite obviously pulls his punches – because he doesn’t want to hurt the person he cares about most.
-They have a secret handshake… and a secret dance. Oh, and they sleep together. Don’t ask me, I can’t explain it.
… Wait, yes I can. They’re gay. Very, very gay.
-Once Miguel and Tulio have had their falling out, and it’s been decided that Miguel will stay in El Dorado as a god and Tulio will leave with Chel, the movie goes into a song called “Friends Never Say Goodbye,” as well as a montage of the hours leading up to Tulio and Chel’s departure. The entire montage is reminiscent of those in romantic comedies and dramas in which the man and woman, having broken up, spend their time moping around, avoiding eye contact with each other, and just generally realizing how much they miss each other. Tulio, aware that Miguel is watching, cruelly tears the map in half, and Miguel reciprocates by nonchalantly putting on his divine vestments while watching Tulio in the mirror. And of course, they both have a moment when one is staring at the other, ready to forgive and forget should the other turn around… but by the time the other does turn around, the moment has passed and the original sad-eyed moper is looking away again. (And the song includes the lyrics, “All I know/ is all we had/ is over, said and done.” I mean, come on.)
-Near the end, Tulio, with Chel by his side, is desperately trying to figure out a way to stop the conquistadores from reaching El Dorado. Tulio, the man who always has a plan, uses coins and a leaf as small models of what he has to work with to help him organize his thoughts. This echoes earlier in the movie when he and Miguel are prisoners of Cortes, and he uses peas and a cup to outline his plan (“Okay, here’s the plan. In the dead of night, you and I grab some provisions, hijack one of those longboats, and then we row back to Spain like there’s no mañana!”). Unfortunately, without Miguel by his side, Tulio does not do very well, and the dialogue goes like so:
Tulio: Okay, here’s the gate, and here’s the boat…”
Chel: Uh huh, and?
Tulio: Here’s the gate—
Chel: Uh huh.
Tulio: Here’s the boat—
Chel: Right…and?
Tulio: Well, here’s the goat, and here’s the bait—
Chel: Tulio!
This quick interaction proves that Tulio really just can’t function without Miguel. His plans are never all that good to begin with, to be fair, but at least he’s usually able to speak.
-This last one isn’t actually a movie moment, but it’s worth mentioning. Normally, in animated movies, the voice actors all record in separate studios and never actually work together. However, with The Road to El Dorado, the directors felt that Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh had such wonderful chemistry that they had the two men record together. This definitely contributes to the chemistry of Miguel and Tulio in the movie, as well as to the characters’ comfort with each other that is so palpable that they appear to have lost all sense of personal space. They constantly touch each other, hit each other, sleep with each other, and generally appear to be utterly and completely familiar with each other.
V. As a Couple
“We’ll follow the trail!”
“What trail?”
“The trail that we blaze!”
Without each other, Tulio and Miguel are each only half of a person, the yin without the yang, the peanut butter without the jelly, the ballpark hot dog without the beer. You only need to look at their characters (or at my short character study further up the page) to see how one-sided each of them is. Without Miguel, Tulio cannot form his plans. Without Tulio, Miguel has no one who understands him.
Basically: they work as a couple because their personalities complement each other, because Tulio is realistic enough to create plans and Miguel is imaginative enough to make the plans work, and in the end, because, as we’ve already seen, they just don’t work well without each other.
VI. How I Got into Migulio
“What’s happening here?”
“We’re both in barrels. That is the extent of my knowledge.”
I first saw The Road to El Dorado about three or four years ago, before I’d even heard of slash. Watching it with a completely uncorrupted eye, I still had the idea that something was… a little off. Though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I definitely felt that the two main characters were a lot closer than men tend to be portrayed as in Western culture.
However, I didn’t give it another thought until the end of sophomore year in college, when I had been introduced to Newsies, as well as the rabid slashability of it all (you all should go check out the Newsies ship manifestos, too, by the way). At that point, I began to watch movies with an eye slightly more attuned to homoerotic undertones; one night, we were all bored and looking for something to do, and suddenly, something snapped. I said, “Uh, guys, I think I might know a movie that’s even more slashy than Newsies, believe it or not…”
Since then, even though we all have different OTPs, we’ve all been fascinated by Miguel/Tulio, and come up with story ideas that, unfortunately, never seem to actually materialize.
VIII. Recommendations
The El Dorado fandom is pretty small; not many people seem to have even heard of the movie. Sadly, the Migulio fandom is even smaller. Most of the fan fiction out there tends to be OC/Miguel, or occasionally, OC/Tulio (though that’s rarer, since Tulio has a canon love interest).
There are, however, a very few intrepid souls who’ve written some quite good Migulio.
Cross My Heart, by Zarla - A very sweet, angsty one-shot
My Road… To El Dorado, by ladyjaida - Short, yet hysterical; not terribly overt about its slashiness, but it is definitely there
And O’er His Heart a Shadow, by LC - Another one-shot with unrequited Miguelio
…Okay, so there’s really not much of a Migulio fandom at all. But, darnit, there should be! If ever a pairing deserved more, it’s this one. Come all ye slashers, I know you’re out there and dying for something new to sink your teeth into!
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Date: 2005-06-19 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-06 04:17 pm (UTC)