Soundtracks Tell Stories
In a recent online discussion, a friend* mentioned that John Williams' score for the movie Home Alone was not deserved by the movie itself. That got me thinking about the soundtrack and the film. Home Alone is a wonderful film partly because the soundtrack is integral to the story. Music and songs help to tell the story we watch on screen. There are other examples of soundtrack helping tell the story across many great films. Without the soundtrack, many films would be neither popular nor tell as good a story.
One of the first films I remember connecting the soundtrack and the story is Casablanca. The soundtrack expertly weaves themes from the song As Time Goes By throughout scenes. You cannot watch Casablanca without hearing refrains from the song. As I write this, I am humming some of those bars because of how deeply they are part of the fabric of the film. A recent film that does an incredible job at weaving music, songs, and voice is the latest James Bond film No Time To Die. The soundtrack looks back to the past and connects scenes across the history of Bond films. Hans Zimmer also blazes fresh territory by incorporating Billie Eilish’s voice into the atmospheric soundtrack and the orchestral themes. It is a beautiful nod to the past and an innovative move of the present as the current version of Bond comes to a close. What is a Bond film without an amazing title song just to cap it off?
Home Alone is a wonderful film because the soundtrack is part of the story. William’s is illuminating the story and his score becomes a character and narrator of a sort. I don’t believe we can separate the art of the score from the art of the script because they rely on one another. I will concede that Home Alone 2 is the superior film, but it has a similar intertwined soundtrack.
Many people have an inner monologue or narration in their heads. I have almost always experienced this phenomenon. Mine is a film noir narrator or, like Ron Howard narrating Arrested Development.
Narrator: It is more often Ron Howard than noir…
Besides the inner monologue, I also experience an inner soundtrack. At the risk of showing how weird I am, there are times I can drive in silence because I am hearing a soundtrack for the journey. My personal soundtrack is eclectic and eccentric. I may hear John Coltrane, Miles Davis, AC/DC, old hymns, U2, or many tunes or genres that speak to the circumstances in which I find myself. That soundtrack is a part of my story and it adds to the depth of my story.
If you could imagine your soundtrack, what would it be like? How would it help tell your stories? How much of the soundtrack is one you share or belt out in private? Even of you never experience an internal soundtrack, I hope that the beauty of art or even the beauty of simply life can enrich your journey.
*Name withheld to protect the guilty.