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From | Ken Kase <kenkase@nighttimes.com> |
Subject | Re: Music in film |
Date | Mon, 16 May 2005 10:38:58 -0500 |
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Danny Elfman is no slouch, however.
--Ken
On 5/16/05 10:28 AM, "Larry O Dean" <larryodean@poetrycenter.org> wrote:
> 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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