Ok, so I was not allowed to post a link to my site, which is fine. I watched Pier Paolo Pasolini's 'Il fiore delle Mille e una Notte (Arabian Nights)' las week and I think Prince may have gotten inspiration for 'Gett Off' from this film.the lyric that made me think this is "...Something about a little box with a mirror and a tongue inside..." In the film the section with Ninetto Davoli who watches the woman he loves at her window doing odd things that he must then take home and have his cousin interpret; in the song it could very well be that Prince is telling the story as Davoli’s character, talking to his love in the window (When they finally meet), she does have a little box with a mirror, and since she doesn’t talk at first it could be Prince’s interpretation of the situation. I would not be surprised if this is where the song sprang from, as a lot of his music was inspired by film, and Italian film is a source of inspiration for him, as well as films like ‘Barbarella: Queen Of The Galaxy’ (1968), which confirms his preference for ‘sex’ movies, and this film defiantly has sex in it. If you have seen this film, please tell me what you think

(And there is no link to my Blog... see I can be good)

Wish he was into european movies and more specifically Pasolini's movies... I have never been really impressed by Prince's taste in movies...
I heard that the little box...was a nod to Barbarella movie, is it not ? (I haven't seen the movie...). But I can tell you that Prince was into (french director) Roger Vadim's movies since "And god created woman" is the title of one of his film (with Brigitte Bardot).
Vadim directed Barbarella.

The set for Gett Off is almost identical to a set from the film Caligula

Interesting thought. I would like to see Prince's interpretation of "Salo". That would be a trip
Big Chick

merkwurdichliebe said:

Interesting theory. I was always very intrigued by this "little box with a mirror and a tongue inside" sentence.

I agree, I haven't seen this Pasolini film yet but Gett Off has an identical atmosphere and premises to certain scenes in Calicula film.

yankem said:

The nods to Barbarella are many, including having it playing on the screen when he is making out with Sexy MF in the '3 Chains O' Gold' video collection, being sampled in 'Live 4 Love' as well as being referenced in the 'Segue' before 'The Sacrifice Of Victor' (Which is where he references the 'Tongue Box', which alters your voice), and he obviously loves French films, but he has mentioned Italian cinema in his music as well, specifically in 'The Good Life'. I think even though 'Under The Cherry Moon' is set in France it feels more like an Italian film, especially (With all the strangeness) Fellini. The 1991-95 period he seemed to reference films quite a bit, and the spectrum is wide as to what he may have been watching (Like sampling 'Back To The Future' on Mayte's album), and we could live forever and not know exactly what he was referencing in all his music, but as soon as I saw that little box with a mirror being put in it I thought of Prince immediately. There is another moment in the film that made me think of Prince, and I had forgotten until I mentioned '3 Chains O' Gold': there is an almost identical scene in 'Arabian Nights' where some girls playfully take a bath and slash each other, the only difference is there was a young boy with the girls in 'Arabian Nights', obviously this may be coincidental, but I just wonder... as for Caligula... well it would not surprise me if he had liked that film as well; it is full of sex, and we all know he likes that! Or he did at one point anyway... I am glad others had things to say about my thread! Thank you guys for the dialogue!

P.S. Big Chick: That is hysterical!!! I would love to see Prince put that horrorshow into a song!

merkwurdichliebe said:

It is an interesting view, your thread is intelligent.
Good intelligent thread always have a lot of answers !!!!


Well, thinking about it, the others thread too !!!

If you listen to Tony M. on "Gangster Glam" he says "the style we sporting 4 the ladies and the fellas is Godfather 3 meets Barbarella". The Gett Off set was straight out of Caligula. This look and vibe started with the Diamond & Pearls CD and carried over to the CD.