#like i *do not* understand where the jenny is the nicer and easier going mom figure narrative comes from -

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, but if you’re characterizing Jellylorum as the strict, no nonsense, bossy mom figure when Jennyanydots is literally *right there*, I don’t trust your judgement.

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

The Three Words: The Mom Cats or Why Jellylorum Confuses People Without Them Noticing It

Okay, I’m not gonna do an analysis of everyone’s three words, so this isn’t like a series or anything, but what I have to say here involves the three words of two characters. However, this essay is more about audience perception.

In any work of fiction, the audience can learn a lot about the characters or the setting from short scenes and small details. This essay is mostly about Cats 1998, so I’ll start with two examples completely unrelated to the characters this essay is about and I’ll try to be quick about it.

Short Scene: Munkustrap begins singing The Old Gumbie Cat. Mistoffelees believes that Munkustrap is about to sing about him, but quickly realizes that he isn’t.

That’s only a few seconds, but what do we learn from them? We learn that Misto craves attention and sees himself as worthy of praise. In different versions, we get different vibes. 1998 Misto being extremely embarrassed and then sitting down next to the kittens tells us that he’s an awkward, young cat. He makes mistakes like this sometimes because he’s immature.

Small Detail: Grizabella’s design includes what looks like a little black dress covered by a shaggy, gray coat.

Grizabella’s design looks more human than the others. Since the audience is made up of humans, this makes them want to sympathize with her out of a sense of familiarity. Memory is one of the few songs in the show to not contain the word “cat”, so it’s easily removed from context and made human. The show gets the audience to side with Grizabella, despite her not being onstage very often, by making her more like the audience than the other characters are.

What does this have to do with mom cats and three words? Well, here are the three words for Jennyanydots and Jellylorum, the two older women who act as mothers to the kittens:

Jenny has two sets of words, but I’ll go with the first one, because I think it’s easier to understand.

Jenny is a mom, but that means being an authority figure, as well as a nurturer. Her tap number has a military vibe with her barking orders at her troupe of beetles. Contented means that she’s happy with her life the way it is. She doesn’t really want anything. That’s why, after Munkustrap gives her a musical number while suggesting her as a potential Jellicle Choice, she later sings about Bustopher, passing the nomination on to him, because she doesn’t want a new life. She’s happy where she is.

Jellylorum is down-to-earth, a very active member of the community, and one of the nicer, more upbeat characters, except where Grizabella is involved.

Now, in many ways, in the fandom, Jenny and Jelly’s personalities are reversed. Jelly tends be thought of as Controlling and Jenny is more Cheery.

Here’s the thing: Unless you look it up, you don’t know the three words. Most people see the show before knowing that those even exist. How they perceive the characters is based entirely on what’s shown to them, what they see and hear in the show itself. The 1998 version is the most common “first”, so the versions of the characters there will be the first impression of many people and every other show they see will be compared to that first version, whether the viewer means it or not.

So, the audience doesn’t know the the three words. Instead, the audience knows what they can see and hear in the 1998 version.

1998 Jenny and Jelly do fit their respective three words, so nothing went wrong here. This isn’t a problem with the cast or the direction or anything like that. It’s just a matter of audience perception. The perception is really one of General Vibe, but it can be summed up in a short scene that compares the two.

Short Scene:

Jellicles wash behind their ears

Jellicles dry between their toes

Two lines in one song, but they put Jenny and Jelly next to each other, doing pretty much the same thing. A kitten is doing some acrobatics and the moms are momming them.

Side by side, you get two very different line reads. Jenny is smiling while speaking to Electra, who smiles back. “Wash behind your ears” is a common “parental nagging” line, but Jenny isn’t nagging here.

Jelly says her line sternly while chasing after Pouncival. Pouncival fails at his tumbling routine, so she’s most likely taking the tone of voice of a parent who doesn’t their kid to do anything stupid. Electra is one of the more well-behaved kittens. Pouncival is a little walking disaster. How many times have the mom cats in the tribe heard “Hey mom, watch this!” followed by a loud crash as Pouncival once again does something he probably shouldn’t.

So, Jenny and Jelly are talking to two very different kittens and it’d make sense for them to have different tones.

But, the General Vibe you get is that they’re both moms, but Jenny is in a better mood than Jelly is. Jelly is the stern one. She’s the parent who nags.

Add the Glamour Cat Reprise on top of this. Jelly is mean to Grizabella, and because she’s singing, it feels more direct than the adults just pulling the kittens away. She also yanks Victoria away from Griz pretty hard and Victoria looks very upset. Jenny yanks Jemima away from Griz in pretty much the same manner, but Jemima doesn’t look quite as upset by it. On top of that, Jelly chases Victoria offstage while Jemima runs off, leaving Jenny to hiss at Griz. 

Jelly seems angrier and meaner during this scene than Jenny does, even though they’re still pretty much on the same level and almost all the adults are mean to Griz, so this isn’t actually anything special.

These are only a two short moments and most of the show isn’t quite like this. Jellylorum is Cheery, as her three words would suggest, most of the time. Most of the time she’s in the spotlight, she’s smiling. She’s very gentle with Gus. “Busy” here creates a sort of “stressed out” vibe at times, but not to the point where it kills her good mood. She’s in-character. But, because of a couple of moments, the audience perceives her as a more stern, uptight character than she was probably meant to be.