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| From | "Larry O Dean" <larryodean@poetrycenter.org> |
| Subject | Re: Music in film |
| Date | Mon, 16 May 2005 09:28:25 -0600 |
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floatingunder writes:
[regarding]
> Tarantino's
>> Reservoir Dogs' use of "Stuck In The Middle With You"....the
> opposite was
>> true. Tarantino managed to take a respectable innocuous song
> represent a
>> horrific act. The emotional response is still to those visuals.
>
> I'm with Jamie on this one. My take was that the brilliance in his
> choice WAS (as Jamie says) that the song is innocuous and something
> you might hear as background music while going on with your everyday
> life. The power and impact of this is seen in that the sociopath
> leaves the horrific scene to go to his car, yet the song is still
> played off screen, from far off in the background. Like it's just
> another song being played that you might over hear on some regular
> day, yet we all know, as the audience, the horror that lies within
> the world of where the music is being played. Thus, this link is now
> stuck in our mind. Linking the everyday ordinary to the horrific.
> Which really is more interesting and unsettling to me then using some
> more expected horrific music. Probably more honest in twisted a
> way...
I don't disagree necessarily. He (Tarantino) meant it as ironic, and it
worked in Reservoir Dogs. But irony, in my opinion, once such a great
literary and filmic device, is way overused these days -- or in the case of
Alanis Morrissette, misunderstood completely. My main point is that music is
being used too readily for affect as well as effect. Actually, it's damn
hard to find an old-fashioned movie score that's any good, as composers who
are great at doing their best to enhance the visuals are few and farbetween
(Morricone), or dead (Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini).
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