Review article
The end of operatic approach in Hollywood film music
Mladen Milićević
; School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles
Abstract
There is a trend that has been steadily taking place in Hollywood film music—the deteriorating occurrence of expressive melody and leitmotifs. It seems that musical theme in many Hollywood films is no longer a recognizable melody but instead, it is a more of a feeling, a groove, an atmosphere, rhythmic pattern, or some kind of soundscape. The film audiences seem to increasingly consider melodies to be old-fashioned and dated. There is a perception that if a film score contains strong and memorable leitmotifs, those may undermine the drama while being experienced as sounding rather archaic. It is understandable that film industry has a conscious objective to create an appeal to a “younger” demographic. This audience is already accustomed to enjoying groove and rhythmic-pattern-based music, so the film scores naturally reflect the popular commercial music tendencies. In addition, the film storytelling narrative has become increasingly fragmented which also has significantly contributed to fragmentation of melody and weakening of the musical leitmotif concept. It is quite apparent that the approach to Hollywood film scoring has moved away from use of expressive melodies and leitmotifs. The Wagnerian operatic principle which relies on leitmotifs appears to be steadily going by the wayside. This might be due to multiple factors such as the extensive reliance on temp tracks and MIDI mockup demos. In addition, there is noticeable influence of musical trends and genres such as rap, hip-hop, and EDM, as well as the use of music in video games. Finally, many Hollywood films increasingly exploit fragmented storytelling rather than the linear one. The fragmented storytelling is less conducive when it comes to effective use of expressive leitmotifs, the practice which has been successfully utilized in the film scores composed throughout the “Golden Age of Hollywood” movies. Today’s Hollywood film scores tend to sound more like sound design projects which establish
a mood and feeling through all other musical means rather than the use of melody. In this article I will examine some of the main trends which in my opinion contribute to these changes.
Keywords
film music, leitmotif, melody, Hollywood, scoring
Hrčak ID:
279554
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2021.
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