#hard promises

[tipsandtrixx]

Disney needs to stop making live actions and give us newsies animated already. Combine the adaptations, I have so many free ideas. Make it a series and not another movie. Show us the newsies day to day. Give us Jack's full backstory. Actually tell us how Crutchie lost his leg. Explicitly state that Racetrack is trans. Give us swedish AND black Medda. MAKE JAVEY CANON. Give us back Kloppman. Tell us more about the Refuge. Give us Annie Kelly. Give us Charlie. Give us Spot with his banjo and harmonica. Give us all the content and ships and fun and backstories we've been digging up and begging for since 1992.

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

ah, yes, Hard Promises

[notthesodaa]

the bandana is stained with michael’s blood btw

[starlightandmusings]

at the risk of sounding cynical, i really don’t think that post-canon, everything in newsies is great and happy and, well, disneyfied.

i’ve never seen crutchie as surviving past, like, 20. sometimes in polio patients, post-polio syndrome occurs, worsening muscle paralysis and possibly affecting breathing up to the point of death. not to mention polio itself affects the immune system. even if he did survive, his quality of life would be pretty poor — he would almost certainly live in poverty, if he avoided the poorhouse.

i’ve never believed that katherine and jack could end up getting married or being together long term. there were historical exceptions for wealthy people marrying below their own status, but they were rare; katherine would’ve faced extreme social pressure. and also, they’re like, 17 or 18 when they get together. katherine is utterly naive, privileged, and impulsive; jack has anger issues and unresolved PTSD. i mean it when i say they’re not really good for each other, no matter how sweet i think they are. and i don’t think it worked out for them.

on that front, i don’t think jack is a very healthy person, or at least not for a long time. his trauma is deep and severe, and he flinches at little touches, raises his voice at the littles (despite hating himself for it), has horrific dreams of michael almost nightly. tears became strongly feminized in the 19th century along with showing strong emotion, and jack — with his hypermasculine western fixation and predisposition to posturing— would’ve fallen especially prey to these ideas. he internalizes his trauma, covers his scars under layers of fabric, and shoves his feelings down ever deeper.

if race kept up with the gambling and skirting with the law, he could’ve gotten involved in bigger, sketchier stuff, like working with the five points gang (irish) or the eastman gang (jewish). (race is canonically italian/jewish/irish depending on your sources.) we know race has bad impulse control and is hotheaded; if he got into sketchier territory, he could have easily gotten himself into trouble, sent upstate to sing sing or rikers. that’s some major extrapolation, but i could see it happening.

all that to say, i resent disney for covering the show in this kid-friendly gloss when that’s just not the bleak reality. maybe that’s why i love hard promises. it’s hard, and dark, but it makes the glimpses of joy that much brighter. don’t do these kids a disservice by pretending their lives were all easy and happy, because they’re fighters for a reason.

[noxexistant]

hard promises is literally insane

[fangirlhehe]

Okay but Jack Kelly who blames himself for everything. Jack Kelly who feels responsible for anything and everything and everyone. Jack Kelly who no matter how hard he tries, can never seem to do anything right. Jack Kelly who continues to hurt people with stupid decisions. Jack Kelly who only cries at night to prevent people pitying him. Jack Kelly who just wants to help people, but ends up hurting them. Jack Kelly who tries to keep all of the little newsies safe, tucking them in at night and keeping them out of trouble. Jack Kelly who forever has oldest sibling energy. Jack Kelly who finds comfort in his artistic abilities because it’s the one thing he can do right.

@ey-theys-was-coronas I bet I made you sad

[annietalking]

the first night back in the refuge, jack cried. he cried because he missed david and sarah. he cried because he wasn't sure if he was ever going to get out of this place. more than anything, though, he cried for his family; for michael and for his mom.

[jackmkelly]

“me and this kid, like Les, but younger, we busted out.”

[yosefinthetrenches]

headcanon Jack hates the summer because Michael loved the summer, so Jack is just constantly reminded of him

[tipsandtrixx]

I usually imagine the boys sleeping in beds but sometimes I remember they canonically have hammocks and it cracks me up because you know Jack "chronic and extreme nightmare having" Kelly was falling out of his hammock constantly. That boy was tossing and turning his way to the floor every night.

[finestmindsmonty]

not me crying at school because I was reading hard promises script at the part where Jack and les are fighting ish and les hits his head on the wagon and Jack just kinda freaks out because he’s seen that before and both times it was his fault.

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Charlie | Sarah Jacobs | Katherine Pulitzer Plumber

[notthesodaa]

idc what disney says we all know their first gay couple was javey/javid

[nitttstdsdtoastd]

got bored and made these

use these as you may!!!!

[noxexistant]

on francis sullivan jack kelly

richard siken, the worm king’s lullaby / unknown / ben christensen / glenn dean, landscapes of the west / sherman alexie, the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian / cast bronze plaque by jenny holzer / user slimegargoyle / matt mccormick, can't explain / paula cole, where have all the cowboys gone? / matt dickman, killing flies / glenn dean, setting sun, rising moon / unknown / weyes blood, grapevine

[fangirlhehe]

okay don’t think about jack kelly sleeping with his red bandana under his pillow every night to try and protect what little he has left of micheal. don’t think about all of the newsies giving him pitying glances when they watch him tie the bandana around his neck every morning. don’t think about the name “micheal” being banned in the lodging house because every time jack hears it, he spaces out and stops talking for hours. don’t think about jack waking up from nightmares every night just to get his old family photo and cry in the lodging house bathroom. don’t think about jack and mikey, or more so, francis and micheal sullivan .

this one’s for you @ey-theys-was-coronas 🥰🥰