Once More, With Feeling
Riiiight. Something about breaking down movies! Well. Over the last few months, I've seen three musicals in the theatres. THREE. And they couldn't be more different: Across the Universe, Sweeney Todd, and Enchanted. All strange and beautiful in their own ways.
But this got me thinking. What is it about musicals that just feel funny on screen? Here's what I've come to. (And I hope you'll forgive me if this is just general consensus -- I've never articulated it to myself before.) The problem with musicals is that, when characters break into song, generally the story stops. Musical numbers tend to express a particular -- but usually static -- emotion. Sure, maybe a decision is made in there. Or something new is revealed. But generally, it's about the feeling, not plot development.
And to savvy moviegoers, it just feels artificial to go from plot point to emotional consequence like a switch is being flipped. In great non-musical movies, we get both of those things in the same scene, so intertwined we don't distinguish between them.
The best musical numbers, I think, are the ones that somehow incorporate a real turn. In Sweeney Todd, the barber's decision to not slash the judge's throat during "Pretty Women"; in Across the Universe, Jude's outburst at Lucy in the protesting offices, during "Revolution". Simply put, in these scenes, we're engaged by how this musical number is affecting the character... we're not just watching and waiting for what's next.
To recap: don’t forget to have both story and emotion in all of your scenes, whether they're catchily hummable or not!
*To address the thinly-veiled reference in the title, the musical episode of Buffy knew this lesson to be true. The proof? You can listen to just the songs and follow the entire story.
posted by Jennica at 10:32 p.m.
6 Comments:
Have you seen Once? Because I'm pretty sure that what elevates this film into the masterpiece category is that the songs move the plot forward... If you've seen it, please comment. It was my favorite film of the year.
I saw Enchanted and totally enjoyed it. But it was not at the same level of Once. I have not seen the other two...
How about Hairspray? I will rent that one soon.
I did, Christina, and loved it too. http://reversals.blogspot.com/2007/09/way-you-make-me-feel.html
I think it slipped my mind -- even mentioning it this time -- because I saw it in the summer, as opposed to during this spate of musical-going in winter.
I can't remember where I saw this description, but someone writing about Once noted that the characters were quite awkward in their ordinary interactions, and could only develop their friendship/relationship when making music. And that is something I've just never seen before!
Weird tidbit: at a work party this weekend, I found out my boss knows Glen Hansard. (He's Irish.) Also, that he dated one of The Commitments. What to do with this information...
I also really liked Enchanted. And truth be told, it kind of defies my 'lesson' at times, I think. I knew I was loving the film when Amy Adams uses her voice to call the animals of NYC, and the rats and pigeons perk up their ears.
Haven't seen Hairspray; it looks painful to me. Maybe someone will recommend it? I also haven't seen High School Musical, despite it being such a massive phenomenon.
I think for me the reason why musicals feel funny on screen is because you need to have a suspension of disbelief that is less common and harder to do when watching film than watching theatre.
In theatre, you sit down and watch live people pretend to do things and pretend that you aren't there watching what's going on. Everything about the experience is artificial. But in film, there is a sense that, because it is filmed, that we're watching real people in their real lives. So when folks break into song on stage, it's a lot less jarring than on screen, because as much as I would *love* it if folks burst into song in real life, it just doesn't happen.
Anyway, that's my half-baked, not very eloquent theory.
Hey Jennica, good topic and nice to have you back. Here’s my two cents: It’s said that in musicals a musical number occurs when the emotional stakes for a character have gotten so high, they have no other choice but to burst into song. So essentially the key action occurs in the moments just before the number. That’s not to say that discoveries, reversals, decisions, and the like can’t be made inside a song (and I would agree that in the best ones this occurs), but that in essence they are the result of actions already taken. A choice is made, something is risked, the stakes go up and up and up and… hey I have to sing!!
So I would liken songs in musicals to car chases and gun fights in action movies. They’re spectacle more than plot. The plot doesn’t often advance inside a car chase – the car chase is the plot point no matter how long it takes or how many street vendors are forced to abandon their pyramids of watermelons. We enjoy them for the spectacle. A musical number is similarly a bit of spectacle that comes (in a well crafted story) as a direct result of our characters making big choices and facing big reactions.
But like car chases and gun fights they can be clichéd, gratuitous, or not earned by the characters in the context of the story. So if you’re checking your watch during a musical number, then I would say the problem isn’t so much that of poor storytelling (no plot progression within the number), but that of poor execution of the spectacle or that it wasn’t earned by the preceding actions of our characters.
Incidentally, I also agree with M that by and large musicals work better on stage (while car chases work better on film). But that’s another discussion about the immediate vs. mediated entertainment.
I agree with everything everyone's said. Having worked on and attended countless musicals, I can say that part of the magic of them is that as an audience member, you can have two almost contradictory experiences at once. On the one hand, you disappear into the world of the musical, on the other hand you have an giddy, almost child-like awareness of sitting in your seat watching a fabulous spectacle unfold on stage. I think this dual awareness is what makes staged musicals so powerful.
In film, at least for me, that dual awareness doesn't exist. I'm transported completely into the world of the film.
So, when someone breaks into song in a staged musical, I think, how wonderful, a song and some dancing on stage! Whereas when someone breaks into song in a film, say, on an automobile assembly line, I say, hmmm...that probably wouldn't happen.
I think "Once" works so well because it solves this problem. It allows us to participate fully in the world of the film and, at the same time, it allows us the deep emotional experience of songs. There's no jarring moment when you think, why on earth is that person singing?
Perhaps the exception is when the filmmaker can genuinely convince me that in this world, people just sing and dance. (although I suppose this is the premise of ALL film-musicals, it's so rarely successful that it seems filmmakers put very little though into it)
For me, "Grease" is a good example of this. (of it working, that is.)
I truly believe that in the 1950s, people made decisions, handled emotional upheaval and battled out their differences through singing and dancing.
And I refuse to believe otherwise.
Wow, I'm so glad you all weighed in. I genuinely hadn't thought about some of your points before --the duality of the experience with a stage musical, a musical number like a car chase-- and feel like I have a much deeper sense of this idea now... makes me think of some musical movies differently. Like, Moulin Rouge (which many people loved, and I liked) DOES do spectacle well... maybe a little differently than it could have been done on stage? I'm wondering if the spectacle aspect (and so, that duality of feeling) can be done well in film, and it's just not usually the approach. Across the Universe does have some fun with this... for example, musical numbers underwater, and with visual effects. Not a bad way to at least try to do the film version of spectacle?
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