Paranoia in Science Fiction Films of the 1950’s

Paranoia in Science Fiction Films of the 1950’s
The appealing nature of Science Fiction Films is their ability to use scientific possibilities and radical social arguments to convey their controversial narratives. Richard Hodgens believes some of the most original and thoughtful contemporary fiction has been represented in the Science Fiction film genre (Hodgens 30). So in a broader sense any style, vision or mood can be conveyed within the limitless boundaries of the Science Fiction narrative, especially during the 1950’s in US cinema. This belief is also echoed by Peter Nicholls who argues science fiction was deemed socially insignificant and could play host to political criticism of a kind which might elsewhere have attracted attention of Joseph McCarthy and his Un-American Activities Committee (Clute).
Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is the panicked stricken physician in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Dr. Bennell in the trailer looks into the camera and screams in desperation “They’re here already! You're next! You're next, you're next!” (Invasion of the Body Snatchers Trailer). This line of dialogue from the trailer of Don Siegel’s classic Science Fiction “B” movie sums up the fear and paranoia represented in Hollywood’s Science Fictions films of the 1950’s. These films allowed Hollywood to explore the pervasive anxiety caused by Cold War politics; these films target the ambivalence towards America’s creation of the very weapons that helped catapult the United Sates into superpower status as well as the generalized fear of nuclear proliferation.
The Soviet Union extended its control across the continent of Central Europe in 1945. Winston Churchill sent a top-secret telegram to President Truman on May 12, 1945, and he confided with Truman of his uncertainty of what was going on behind the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain (Churchill 1). The telegram was the first time the Prime Minister of England used his now famous term “Iron Curtain” and may have been the original seed of paranoia which ended up sweeping through the United States as the threat of communism grew under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.
As the director and principal scientist of the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos research lab in Alamogordo, New Mexico, J. Robert Oppenheimer witnessed the first explosion of the atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. "We knew the world would not be the same" (A Science Odyssey). A collective paranoia was triggered in 1945 and would expand during the 1950’s starting with the end of World War II and the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. With the threat of nuclear weaponry and radiation, Hollywood recognized and capitalized on this postwar “atomic age” anxiety.
In The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Michael Rennie stars as Klaatu, an alien from a distant planet whose spaceship lands on a baseball diamond in Washington D.C. Klaatu wishes to meet the representatives of earth to deliver a vital message, warning the citizens the dangers of atomic technology. “It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder your present We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you” (The Day the Earth Stood Still). The warning is a similar approach the United States took in cautioning the Japanese during the last days of the war. The United States military dropped leaflets on the Japanese people after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima warning the populace the United States was in possession of the most destructive force ever devised by man (American Experience). In addition, the leaflets encouraged the Japanese to evacuate their cities before the second bomb was dropped, even though they had little chance to escape or surrender. In this chilling spectacle of art imitates life, both invaders intended to warn the populations about the looming dangers through fear and paranoia which jolted the people into some degree of common sense. In the case of the Japanese, the Americans were using nuclear destruction as a threat to force the Japanese into surrender, whereas Klaatu, poses his warning as a possible threat for the entire planet. By the time The Day the Earth Stood Still had been produced, nuclear proliferation was evolving as an American bargaining chip in the battle of the Cold War.
Them! (1954), now regarded as a classic Science Fiction “B” bug film was the highest grossing film for Warner Brothers studios 1954. In the opening scene The Ellinson Girl, portrayed by Sandy Descher wanders the desert in her flannel bath robe, staring into the distance resembling someone who had just witnessed an apocalyptic incident. This foreshadowing scene sets the apocalyptic mood of fear and apprehension for Them!. Them!, starring James Whitmore, as Police Sgt. Ben Peterson discovers ants the size of Buicks that are exposed to radiation during the Trinity nuclear tests near White Sands, New Mexico. The irradiated ants destroy people and property as they hunt for nourishment in the barren New Mexico desert. These mutated ants then pillaged their way to Los Angeles where they finally succumb to military flamethrowers of the National Guard. Them! is the classic story of nuclear fear and widespread anxiety of atomic annihilation in the nuclear age (Tsutsui 240). The entomologist in Them!, Dr. Harold Medford, played by Edmund Gwenn reinforces the apocalyptic paranoia of the new atomic era by this foreshadowing statement “We may be witnessing a Biblical prophecy come true”, “And there shall be destruction and darkness come upon creation and beasts will reign over the earth” (Them!). And in the ending scene, Peter Graves characters Robert Grahm asks,
” if these monsters got started as a result of the first atomic bomb in 1945, what about all the others that have been exploded since then? Dr. Harold Medford, answers solemnly, “Nobody knows, Robert. When man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What will he eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict (Them!)”.
In Susan Sontag’s essay “The Imagination of Disaster”, Sontag argues a trauma exists over the use of nuclear weapons and Science Fiction films bear witness to this distress. Sontag also states the murderous insect genre “serve a complex psychological function for the anxious movie going- masses, at once distracting us from and numbing us to the ever-present possibility of nuclear Armageddon” (Tsutsui 241).
Them! was not the only film which capitalized on the paranoia of radiation and insects. AB-PT Pictures Corp produced, Beginning of the End (1957). This black and white classic was Hollywood’s first presentation of an atomic bomb (Hendershot 42). An Illinois state experimental farm accidentally creates giant grasshoppers with fertilizer laced with radioactive material. These giant irradiated arthropods descend on Chicago destroying everything in their path, even though they have been doused with poisonous chlordane by the military. Fear increases because science can’t solve the problem, immediately. The military wants to drop an Atomic bomb on Chicago to destroy the grasshoppers, but Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) has a solution to lure the locust into Lake Michigan with a recording of the locust mating call.
The mating call draws the locusts to their watery death. An even greater sense of paranoia is injected into the final scenes of the film, when Dr. Wainwright ponders what other creatures have feasted on the radioactive fertilizer and have grown to a humongous size. The government in its role as protector actually fails the citizens of the United States and causes the radiation catastrophe, furthering the paranoia, not from an external source, but from within the authoritative society.
With the adaption of the National Security Council Report 68 the United States tried to contain the spread of communism through policy. Arguably the use of economic and diplomatic measures was more desirable for some. But after the Soviet Union’s test of an atomic bomb, RDS 1 on 29 August 1949, U.S. officials believed they needed an arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons to contain the threat of communism (Leffler 69). As Gary B. Nash in his textbook, The American People so accurately states, “The Cold War was the greatest single force affecting American society during the decade and a half after World War II” (Nash 330).
In 1952, Winchester Pictures Company released The Thing From Another World (1951), distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and produced by Howard Hawks. Early on in The Thing, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) is notified, an unidentified aircraft has crashed landed near their arctic research station. Captain Hendry shows the first sign of paranoia by assuming it’s a Russian plane that has crash landed. “Could be Russians, They’re all over the place like files (Saleh 29)”. In addition, to the Soviet invasion theory, paranoia is also abetted by the Geiger counter, a device that measures radiation activity. When the North Pole scientists discover the crash site, the Geiger counter measurements are off the scale, increasing the nuclear fear and paranoia that often accompanies Science Fiction films of this generation.
The scientists soon realize this is no ordinary airplane, but a spaceship from outer space with an alien which is made of vegetable tissue. Even though The Thing, played by James Arness goes on a rampage and kills several sled dogs and personal by drinking their blood. The botanist, Dr. Arthur Carrington, hypotheses the alien vegetable is an intelligent creature and he desires to communicate with it. Eric Smoodin in Watching the Skies believes the vegetable alien in The Thing is a metaphor for Soviet infiltration. Believing the Soviets can infiltrate anything and thus everything is potentially vulnerable and dangerous -- even plants.
In addition Scotty, (Douglas Spencer) the intrepid reporter in The Thing, ends the film with a radio transmission to his fellow journalists, further establishing the anxiety driven narrative, “I bring you a warning. Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies, everywhere, keep looking, keep watching the skies” (Saleh 37).
In The Day the Earth Stood Still a number of paranoia themes, including the threat of a Soviet invasion are introduced. After being shot and taken to Walter Reed Hospital, Klaatu is visited by Mr. Harley, a secretary of the President. When Klaatu wants to get out among the people, Mr. Harley rejects the idea, and asks Klaatu not to attempt to leave the hospital. Clearly, the United States government is fearful and does not want Klaatu influence to spread. In another scene, Mrs. Barley (Frances Bavier) after hearing Klaatu has escaped from an army hospital expresses her concern he is a spaceman from the Soviet Union (Pardon 145). Mrs. Barley’s paranoia is also inflamed by the morning radio reports, “The creature- where is he? What is he up to? He must be tracked down like a wild animal. He must be destroyed.” The realism of the radio broadcasts in The Day the Earth Stood Still is amplified by the director, Robert Wise. Wise used real-life television and radio personalities who contributed to the sense of authenticity and accuracy (Haspel 65). Their voices were so familiar for the exhibition of this film they contributed to the verisimilitude of this paranoid narrative.
As Walter Lippman so appropriately coined the term “The Cold War” in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee, went looking for communists and communists sympathizers in Hollywood from 1947 to the 1950’s. The most famous victims of the communist hunt were the “Hollywood Ten”. These eight writers, including one director and producer refused to discuss their political affiliation with the congressional commission. The “Hollywood Ten” were blacklisted from Hollywood and jailed for one year for contempt of Congress (Eckstein 424). Also, during the early 1950’s the Korean armistice was signed, and American newspapers were full of stories reporting American soldiers who chose communism instead of returning home (Johnson 6).
This political atmosphere in the United States created a perfect storm for mistrust and fear that communists were on every block threatening the American values and way of life. Two films in particular, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Invaders from Mars (1953) exemplified anxiety in their narratives. However, many film theorists, writers and producers of these two landmark film exhibitions have differing views of the causes and interpretations of paranoia in these groundbreaking productions.
The communist-infiltration allegory in Invasion of the Body Snatchers is reflected in the odd behavior of the citizens of Santa Mira. They just do not seem like themselves. They fall asleep and their bodies are taken over by aliens who promise a life free of the pain of love and ambition. According to R Briley, in Reel History and the Cold War: A Lesson Plan, the message embodied in Invasion of the Body Snatchers is to be vigilant. Anyone, doctor, friend or wife could be part of a communist conspiracy (Briley 21).
In Guy Braucourt’s 1972 interview with Don Siegel, Siegel affirms the majorities of people in the world are pods, existing without any intellectual aspirations and are incapable of love. Yet again, in a 1976 interview with Stuart M. Kaminsky, Siegel reaffirms his view of humanity, “many of my associates are certainly pods, they have no feelings, they exist, breathe, sleep” (Sanders 56). Siegel’s execution of paranoia can be seen thru the interpretations of his characters, by turning friends, neighbors and lovers into lifeless individuals who lack emotion, drive and inspiration. Granted Siegel used Jack Finney’s serialized stories, Body Snatchers (1954) and Daniel Mainwaring’s script which guided the film to its unhappy ending (Sanders 56).
But in the most interesting analysis of Invasion of the Body Snatchers Steven M. Sanders in Philosophy of Science Fiction Film, see’s Dr. Miles J. Bennell story told to Dr. Hill (Whit Bissell),of the pod invasion, as a deranged paranoid tale. A complete fabrication of fantasy, without a strand of truth, told by an anxiety driven madman.
Also, in a 1985 interview with Kevin McCarthy, Tom Hatten of Golden West Broadcasters asks McCarthy if there were any political ramifications in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. McCarthy answers with a bit of a chuckle, “the movie was about Madison Avenue, they have no hearts at all, they turn out material just to sell things” (1956).
In William Cameron Menzies’s Invaders from Mars (1953) paranoia is generally depicted as there is no place to hide in postwar small town America (Hendershot 43). In Invaders from Mars, a flying saucer lands in David’s (Jimmy Hunt’s) backyard. David’s father, George (Leif Erickson) investigates the landing and falls into a sand pit and is captured by the Martians. The Martians insert a small crystal device in the base of George’s skull and he becomes a slave to the Martians demands. As the Martians collect slaves for destroying the secret atomic rocket installation of this small western town, paranoia has spread, concerning the Martian invasion and the secret US military installation.
Even before David’s father is captured by the Martians he talked about his work as being secret. And when David visit’s his friend Dr. Kelston (Arthur Franz) at the observatory, there is a heightening sense of anxiety when David is told his visits must be curtailed since, “things got to hush-hush”(Latham 200). The secrecy in Invaders from Mars tends to lend itself to a Cold War allegory. The Martians are represented as Soviets who are invading with Marxist theory and attacking and destroying the working middle class in this military industrial complex.
As Bryan E. Vizzini points out the Martins in Invaders from Mars would also be identified by the spectatorship of the 1950’s as Communists. Given, the Martins are attacking a secret nuclear missile project by proxy with American spies (Vizzini 29). The spies could easily be interpreted as Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The first American civilians executed for espionage in 1953. With the increased publicity surrounding the Rosenberg trail and nearly two dozen newspapers and magazines, influenced public perceptions of the danger of "communist sub- version in government". The Department of Justice "framed the Rosenberg case for the news media" instead of merely reacting to public fears that the press had fanned (Whitfield 1079). Clearly this hysteria surrounding the Rosenberg trial helped fan the anxiety level.
In the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists a disturbing and anxiety driven view of suburban life was discussed (Latham 201). The atomic scientists believed in 1951 the United States should move its population from larger cities to smaller communities, so as to ease the destruction of a nuclear attack. A 1954 review in the New York Times describes Invaders from Mars as pabulum for adults and has having met the demands of today’s space-struck youngsters (Science-Fiction Tale Exciting Most of Way 2). Little did this 1954 reviewer know Invaders from Mars would propose a piercing commentary on the postwar experience of suburbia and the cry for conformity and anxiety which goes along with the suburban community.
George Pal, a Hungarian animator who worked for UFA (Universum Film AG) in Berlin during the Weimar Republic, immigrated to the United States at the start of the Second World War in 1939 (Saxon 44). Mr. Pal is now regarded by many as the father of contemporary Science Fiction, with films as Destination Moon (1950) and The War of the Worlds (1953).
Destination Moon, produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel is based on the novel Rocketship Galileo (1947) by Robert A. Heinlein. Destination Moon in the opening three scenes does not hesitate to jump on the paranoia bandwagon of the 1950’s. The film starts with an abortive rocket launch at a high security military installation. General Thayer (Tom Powers) and Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson) witness the disastrous rocket crash from their desert bunker. General Thayer asks, “What happened Charles, what went wrong”, Charles’s explains the rocket motor failed and was probably due to sabotage. Both Scientist and General agree that it must be sabotage and they should leave it up to “Intelligence” to find the persons responsible. The film audience at the time of exhibition should accept the communist infiltration narrative, particularly since Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs, a Los Alamos physicist had been found guilty in 1950 for passing secrets to the Russians from 1942 to 1949. “It was probably due to sabotage”, this simple line of dialogue, confirms the hysterical political atmosphere surrounding Destination Moon.
In the next scene, General Thayer, meets Jim Barnes (John Archer) of Barnes Aircraft Corporation. Thayer convinces Barnes his company needs to build a spaceship to the moon without government support, because the government is not interested in pursuing space research during peace time.
In the following scene, Barnes, Thayer and Cargraves meet with investors to convince them to invest in their rocket ship to the moon. After viewing a marketing film with cartoon character Woody Woodpecker as the moderator, General Thayer explains the urgency of this moon mission.”The reason is quite simple. We are not the only ones who know that the Moon can be reached. We're not the only ones who are planning to go there. The race is on - and we'd better win it, because there is absolutely no way to stop an attack from outer space. The first country that can use the Moon for the launching of missiles... will control the Earth. That, gentlemen, is the most important military fact of this century” (Destination Moon). These three before mentioned scenes, were the only references to the Cold War paranoia in Destination Moon. The screenplay based on Rocketship Galileo was altered by Robert A. Heinlein, to highlight the Cold War tensions during the McCarthy era (Saleh 17). Heinlein was also anxious about beating the Soviets into space and emphasized the realism and believability of space travel portrayed in Destination Moon. Heinlein also believed a trip to the moon was essential for military concerns and this narrative became part of the national rhetoric (The Future Is Now 58). Indeed, publicity material for Destination Moon also emphasized the need for military exercises on the moon. One of these articles was, “Must America Engage in a Race to the Moon in Self-Defense?” which was published in press kits for Destination Moon in 1950 (The Future Is Now 62).
The War of the Worlds (1953) was Paramount Pictures most successful motion picture in 1953. George Pal produced The War of the Worlds after the script sat idle at Paramount Studios for some 26 years. H.G. Well’s sold the movie rights of The War of the Worlds (1898) to Paramount Pictures in 1925, hoping Cecil B. DeMille would direct the film. Pal discovered the script contacted Byron Haskin to direct the film and Barre Lyndon to write the screenplay. The War of the Worlds was an “A” list Science Fiction saga which took eight months of special and optical effects to complete and won the Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects in 1954 (Pal 2). It cost Paramount Pictures an estimated two million dollars, more expensive than Pals previous films, Destination Moon and When Worlds Collide (1951).
Much has been written about H.G. Well’s apocalyptic novel The War of the Worlds. It was updated considerably, to account for the current political and social issues of the 1950’s. Originally, The War of the Worlds was written based on several historical events, the unification and militarization of Germany, being the most important historical event (Study).
George Pal's, The War of the Worlds reveals a number of cultural fears that plagued America in the years immediately following the Second World War: the fear of Soviet invasion, the dubious security of nuclear weaponry, and fragility of civilized behavior in the face of apocalyptic threat (Journal 2). In November of 1952 the United States tested its first Hydrogen bomb code-named “Mike” for “megaton” which was 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb denoted over Hiroshima (Operation Ivy). A year later, the Soviet Union tested RD-6 the country’s largest nuclear test which was 30 times stronger than the Hiroshima detonation (12, August 1953).
Robert Torry, in his seminal work, Apocalypse Then: Benefits of the Bomb in Fifties Science Fiction Films (1991) describes the realism and special effects in The War of the Worlds. The special effects with the help of Gordon Jennings and Walter Hoffman created the horrors of modern warfare conducted on American soil. With the heighten anxiety of Soviet weapons research, the Martians in The War of the Worlds demonstrated a technology that surpassed the United States and acted as a metaphorical surrogate for the Soviets in this apocalypse narrative. When the military generals decide to drop a nuclear device on the invading Martins, a top secret Northrop Flying Wing is used to drop an atomic bomb on the Martians spacecraft. The atom bomb fails to inflict any damage to the Martian spacecraft. This humiliating military defeat, furthers the narrative of the United States inferiority against a technologically advanced military. Thus, we can view the threat of invasion and annihilation very possible in the age of nuclear weapons on US soil.
The War of the Worlds is also filled with religious allegories. With the Martin threat over, ”The ending is a ringing endorsement of humankind’s place in the universe secured by God’s blessing and protection” (Journal 2). The narrator in a “Biblical Voice” recites an ending prayer during the last scene of The War of the Worlds. “After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth” (The War of the Worlds (1953) - Memorable Quotes).
Although the “savior” ending in The War of the Worlds does ease the anxiety factor of complete human annihilation of the human race. Except history, has demonstrated the contrary to this dramatic ending. “Most scholars agree the American Indian population were reduced substantially following European contact by a variety of Old World diseases “(Thornton, Russell, Tim Miller, and Jonathan Warren 28). In this historical context, the paranoid and cautious view should have resulted in finding microbes from the Martin planet that invades and ravages the human race. Instead, George Pal turns this historical concept on its head. The Martins succumb to the common cold and are destroyed and humanity on earth is saved. This scenario neutralizes religion, science and military might and enforces Well’s acceptance of Eugenics and Darwinism. The survival of the fittest narrative plays well in this story, except the human race is the dominate species, not the technically advanced Martins invaders.
The political and cultural atmosphere of the 1950’s provided a rich and fertile landscape for anxiety driven narratives in the Science Fiction genre. As we look back some 60 years, our interpretations are mixed with historical perspectives, critical scholarship and various opinions. And in some film analysis, the Cold War, nuclear annihilation and McCarthyism have little to do with these thoughtful presentations. But this miracle ending is counter to invasion principals





















Works Cited

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Music in Film

Music in Film
Music in cinema is often heard and interpreted by moviegoers as mere background sound. Something that they eat popcorn with, as the movie progresses and as the incidental jingle that drones along with the visual, filling the holes of missing dialogue and ambient sound. It’s my intention to demonstrate the musical sound track is more than aural wall paper. It is a separate art form that creates a holistic experience and frames the narrative both subconsciously and consciously transporting the audience to a more inclusive film experience. An experience that adds layers of emotional cues and address the films narrative. This powerful tool which is created by the film composer’s imagination can carry the audience’s hearts and minds to a thoroughly new experience.
The musical score can be the solidifying agent that glues the films scenes with power and emotion. Each note and rhythm stitches the characters performance with feelings and passion. Without the musical counter balance, Technicolor films would seem “monochrome” and lifeless. Chase scenes devoid of the pounding back beat of a base electric guitar would crawl along at a snail’s pace. Love scenes lacking the quite violins serenading the embracing couple would seem unromantic and dull.
I will explore three distinct musical paths in cinema. First, the symphonic driven film score that is written and produced for the film. Second, a music sound track that uses both the classical musical form and pre-recorded music that takes a contemporary structure. And lastly a film score that incorporates pre-recorded music to set the tone and mood of the narrative.
In addition, I will show that these three differing types of compositions that are used to fulfill the films story invoking different emotional contexts for each of the films structure.
Music in cinema has progressed significantly since the days of silent movies. The Vitaphone, an early recording system using multiple discs, developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to add sound to films was introduced. (Film Sound History).
During the silent movie age, the film projector was anything but silent. In fact one of the reasons live music accompaniment was introduced was to mask the forward sound of the clanking film projector (Cohen). Music was then played to enhance and accompany the narrative using distinct motifs for comedy, melodrama or horror. W.D. Griffith and other silent film directors of the early 20th century introduced original musical scores to reinforce their powerful monochromatic film images.
Also, in the silent age of movies classical music became an important creative tool. W.D. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation used Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and Richard Wagner’s The Ride of The Valkyries, to fit the action and emotion of the silver screen. Griffith was one the first American directors to maintain careful control and selection of the musical accompaniment for his films (Anderson). As an early American auteur, Griffith was obsessed with his music. He even traveled with The Birth of a Nation with the orchestral parts in hand to distribute to each new theater and also oversaw the whole presentation (Anderson).
The mostly silent cinema world in the 1920’s was turned on its head when Alan Crosland’s, The Jazz Singer premiered in 1927. Based on Samson Raphaelson’s short story, The Day of Atonement, the Warner Brothers production featured synchronized dialogue and musical numbers by Al Jolson, virtually “silencing “ (and ending) the once powerful silent film industry (The Jazz Singer).
The talkies changed the way audiences reacted to the film narrative. They no longer had to interpret larger than life acting with over blown facial expressions and cue cards leading the emotional path of the melodrama. This new generation of film audience was experiencing an innovative approach to storytelling that added emotional dimensions to this bold new world of music and sound.
When we hear the Jaws theme music, written and conducted by John Williams wonderful orchestration, what emotions come to mind? Fear. Or when we listen to “Hedwig’s Theme”, composed by John William’s for Harry Potter and the Soccer’s Stone, what feelings are invoked? Magic.
For Harry Potter fans John Williams’ masterful motif for Harry’s white owl Hedwig is universally known and loved. Hedwig’s magical frame work is played on the harp, celesta and other orchestral instruments that invoke magical associations with historical music and drama. For instance composers before the age of film such as Tchaikovsky who used the harp in his ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker to support super supernatural characters, places and events which were techniques borrowed heavily by John Williams(Webster, Jamie Lynn) .
Williams’ magical motifs also become a signifier for the supernatural. Music accompanies magical characters throughout the Harry Potter series, but non-magical events and characters are not musically reinforced, contributing to the musical blandness and plainness of the muggel world.
For example in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, starts with a musical Prologue when we first see the Warner Brothers logo and continues thru to the fade to black and fades up onto Harry’s new home on Privet Drive. It is a dark and eerie night and the symphonic music swells when Albus Dumbledore played by the late Richard Harris arrives with his deluminator and starts removing the luminance from the street lamps. William’s again adds to the orchestration with a symphonic transition when the light is captured in his deluminator. But this musical “Mickey mouse” effect as it is called in the film industry, illustrates how a simple musical treatment can change the visual atmosphere to a complete visual and auditory sensation.
The magical symphonic score continues thru the delayed title sequence until Harry Potter’s Aunt says “it’s time to get up Harry” some eight years later in story time. These first four and half minutes of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone sets the tone for the next eight Harry Potter movies. True to his own artistic judgment and guidance from Executive Producer and Writer J.K Rowling, William’s envisions the magic and intrigue that is needed to sustain the Harry Potter phenomenon. Indeed, under the direction of Chris Columbus’s, William’s created a musical score that reinforced the expectations of the millions of existing Harry Potter fans.
Additionally, in the musical prologue of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone the celesta plays an important role in establishing the magical atmosphere. This small piano like instrument sets the stage for William’s delightful motifs that changes from minor to major chords, depending on the desired emotional enchantments that need to be addressed.
William’s again surprises the audience when he includes a motif inside of a motif. When Rebues Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) arrives with the baby Harry Potter under his arm, the Celeste motif is replaced with an orchestration rendition, this time in a major key that reinforces and further establishes the Harry Potter signature melody.
There is a wonderment and awe when we listen to William’s orchestration. The celesta is used again in The Arrival of Baby Harry scene, when Dumbledore places a letter on the Dursley’s door step, introducing the muggle family to the orphaned Harry Potter.
In the next magical scene Harry and his muggle family visit the zoo. William’s composes an atmosphere of wonderment and discovery when Harry starts talking to the snake from Burma behind the glass enclosure. Harry asks the snake if he misses his family, the music changes to a minor key, reflecting the sadness in the snake’s reaction. Dudley, played by Harry Melling, pushes Harry aside to get a better look at the snake inside the cage. At this point Harry has his first major magical impulse and makes the glass disappear in the snake enclosure and Dudley falls into the snake pit as the snake escapes. The music changes with a swirl of violins, with musical flourishes similar to Fantasia’s, Mickey The Sorcerer's Apprentice, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, to emphasize the historic event in Harry Potter’s magical life.
The music continues thru the next scene when letters arrive for Harry, inviting him to the Hogwarts School of Magic. A number of owls descend on the Dursley’s home delivering letters that Uncle Vernon Dursley played by Richard Griffiths keeps tearing up. The Hedwig theme continues to play thru this scene, adding magical realism and reinforcing Harry’s magical potential. In the final chapter in this scene, hundreds of owls arrive suddenly with letters from the Hogwarts School. The celesta plays the Hedwig theme again when Harry looks out the window to see an army of winged owls. Letters then fly down the chimney flooding the house with magical letters, the Hedwig theme changes again to a more powerful orchestration, filling the Dursley’s home with the full orchestration of violins, horns and harps with a celesta crescendo as the house is now flooded with letters flying and encircling the Dursleys and Harry.
The audience in now under John William’s spell. The Prologue and Hedwig’s themes have been truly established. Williams in these first four and half minutes was able to establish the growth of Harry Potter. From a mere mortal to an enchanted eleven year old boy, the music reflects Harry’s coming of age, and the new responsibilities that are forth coming in Harry’s life. The music is Harry and all that he stands for. In a way, John Williams was able to get inside the characters head, reflecting his inner most thoughts and fears.
John Williams’ musical leitmotifs are so powerful “the music for Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone... works on several levels. It's a brilliantly constructed companion piece to the film, integrating seamlessly with every image and emotion. But most importantly, it captures the soul of the Harry Potter world”, as film director Chris Columbus notes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Webster, Jamie Lynn).
I will have to concur with Jamie Lynn Webster in her doctorial thesis, The Music of Harry Potter:

Continuity and Change in the First Five Films, suggests “that Williams' music is the life-blood

that flows through the film, weaving emotion into the story much as arteries weave through the

body”. Williams’ music is so viable in the first two Harry Potter movies that it not only sustains the

visual narrative but may define characters and their emotions thru individual interpretation (Webster, Jamie Lynn)..
In the third scene of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hagrid finds the Dursleys and Harry on a remote sea island trying to escape the magical letters that keep arriving at the Dursley’s home on Privet drive. Hagrid breaks down the door and gives Harry a birthday cake for his eleventh birthday. Hagrid then explains to Harry that he is a wizard. The celesta begins again with it’s now well established tune and escalates to a partial orchestration of Hedwig’s Theme, reinforcing the magical statement that Hagrid has just made. Harry now knows that he is different and his parents were wizards and did not die in a car crash that he was lead to believe. Harry’s world is turned upside down and his new realism is taking shape. The music coincidently fades to the abyss as Harry feels and interprets this new fact in his life. Harry now is a wizard and the musical silence is deafening.
The orchestration composed by Williams is part of an historical continuum of narration and musical scores. Great films scores are now as popular as celebrated opera works were in the 19th century. Both are loved and appreciated all over the world, from Puccini’s, Madame Butterfly to Max Steiner, Gone with the Wind.
Steven Spielberg’s films also greatly benefit from the contribution of a talented composer that rivals some of these remarkable Operatic opuses. Spielberg’s musical vision eclipses and transforms the landscape of music and sound by creating a hybrid sound track, one that incorporates the classical form scored exclusively for the film, famous in the Hollywood narrative and contemporary music that is selected from modern day or popular music of the narratives time period.
The subtext of Steven Spielberg’s grand auditory cinematic vision creates settings and backdrops that define new boundaries for artistic cinematic expression by blurring the lines between diegetic and non-diegetic. Spielberg produces a hyper-diegetic synthesis of music, sound and dialogue that resonates at perfect pitch. If you watch and listen to many of Spielberg films, a catharsis is cast over you, engulfing you in his creative diorama.
In E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial , Spielberg is casting his imaginative web, in which emotions are trapped by this auteur’s craftsmanship. Spielberg palette is not new, since he follows the rules and regulations of old Hollywood.
As a director and composer that loves films and music, Spielberg and John Williams pay homage to other great composers. In E.T. you hear remnants of Miss Gulch on her bicycle from the Wizard of OZ as Elliot takes off on his bike is search of ET (E. T., the Extra-terrestrial) . In another scene, we hear one of the boys whistling the Twilight Zone theme, as they look for ET in the backyard. We also hear tributes to Cecil B. de Mille’s Ten Commandments in the opening space craft scene when ET first arrives on planet earth ( E. T., the Extra-terrestrial) .
Spielberg, carpets E.T. with wall to wall music. This isn’t just any carpet of sound, it’s a fine Persian fabric hand crafted in the Ottoman Empire. Spielberg mixes diegetic and non-diegetic forms, which are barely detectable.
E.T., has no dialogue for the first eight and half minutes. Ambient sound and music fills the screen. Musical parameters are established to capture the viewer’s attention.
John Williams musical compositions in E.T is established early. Williams’, famous motifs are used to determine good and evil. The close up of the keys, dangling by a mystery person, searching for the Extra Terrestrial is punctuated by Williams’ famous ominous measures.
Spielberg subtlety sets the tone by auditory suggestions by inserting Jim Carol’s song, People Who Die, in the establishing exterior scene of Elliott’s house there a presumption and foreshadowing that everyone will die because this extra terrestrial has been left behind to fend for its survival. Spielberg also use’s the Persuasions song, Papa Oom Mow Mow, to establish an ambient layer of looseness and middle class harmony in the family room interior scene. Elliot’s brother Michael sings Elvis Costello’s song, Accidents Will Happen in the family’s kitchen, when moments later, Elliot introduces Michael to the extra terrestrial (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial).
Spielberg also mixes media in a very clever way by using the sound from PBS’s television children’s show, Sesame Street to set the mode of the kitchen and family room scene. When E.T. discovered the refrigerator and drank a number on beers, becoming intoxicated and wondering the house in a flannel bathrobe that is too big for him. With the television set on and blaring, a Sesame Street character is reciting the letters of the alphabet. Gertie (Drew Barrymore) is also trying to teach ET the alphabet by reciting the letters in front of the television set. The smart little ET creature instantly starts talking. The use of an existing media- diegetic to interact with the Gertie and ET is pure Spielberg genius (E. T., the Extra-terrestrial)
In 1967 the opposite approach to the interwoven symphony score is this use of popular music which is best demonstrated in the film The Graduate. It was a tumultuous time for America with the Vietnam War was in full operational mode and San Francisco was bursting out with the Summer of Love, and race riots along with urban tensions were ravaging across Americas inner-cities. In the backdrop, The Graduate, explores several coming of age issues. With a large number of baby boomers entering adulthood, thoughts of family, love and mortality consumed the age group.
The white youth of American cinema was being treated to a creative revolution, a revolution in the film and music industry that we still feel today. Mike Nichols, the director of the Graduate, choose to forgo the traditional route of using an orchestral film score, but instead used previously recorded popular music for his film. The Graduate opens with the Simon and Garfunkel hit song, Sounds of Silence, which had been released three years earlier in 1964.
According to David R. Shumway, the song Sounds of Silence claims a greater share of the viewer attention in the opening sequence than Dustin Hoffman’s character on a moving sidewalk at the Los Angeles International airport (Shumway).
Ben (Dustin Hoffman) is in the foreground as the cream colored background wall moves in unison while Ben looks lost and forlorn as he travels to pick up his baggage at LAX. Simon and Garfunkel’s song foreshadows Bens longing for clarity in his life after graduating with honors’ from an Ivy League university. Sounds of Silence sets in motion the angst Ben must experience in the next few days. Although the music is non-diegetic, the audience feels the pain and emotions that Simon and Garfunkel are conveying in their lyrics.
For example in the third verse of Sounds of Silence, Paul Simon writes, “People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs that voices never share, And no one dared, Disturb the sound of silence”. In the next scene the Sounds of Silence ends in perfect backed time fashion with Ben staring into the distance, with his own Sounds of Silence as he internalizes about his tenuous future (The Graduate).
In the Taking the Dive scene, Ben is 21 years old and his father (William Daniels) wants to do something special (The Graduate). Ben’s father, Mr. Braddock, is throwing a birthday party for Ben in the backyard swimming pool. Mr. Braddock has purchased a scuba diving outfit for Ben, to try out in the family swimming pool. The camera cuts to Ben wearing the scuba gear, the ambient sound disappears, and we only hear Ben’s forceful breathing. This obvious setup connects the audience to the Sounds of Silence and Ben’s further isolation of being at his parents’ house during his episodes of post college anxiety fears.
In the Fear and Lust scene Ben secures a hotel room for his affair with Mrs. Robinson, played by Ann Bancroft. Ben slams a door when Mrs. Robinson accuses him of being inadequate and a virgin. In the darkness of the scene we hear Sounds of Silence, “Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again. “ The segued music begins in black with montage images of Ben floating in the pool, drinking a beer. Ben gets out of the pool with the music still forward and puts on a white long sleeve shirt and walks into the house. The film cuts to Ben opening the bathroom door of the hotel room and lies down on the bed. Mrs. Robinson approaches him and takes off his shirt, before their affair officially begins, Ben gets out of bed and shuts another door, where his mother and father are symbolically eating dinner. All during the before mentioned scene Ben still has an empty and silent look about him. Ben’s face shows apathy that fits perfectly with the melody and lyrics of Sounds of Silence (The Graduate) .
In another change in the non- diegetic music, April Come She Will by Simon and Garfunkel is introduced as a visual and auditory montage to celebrate Ben’s and Mrs. Robinson’s successful carnal relationship. Nichols, subtly adjusts temporal and spatial interactions to increase the validity of April Come She Will montage. Suggesting in “April come she will, June, she´ll change her tune and August, die she must”, which clearly defines and establishes the arch of Ben’s and Mrs. Robinson’s relationship.
In Pressuring the Parents scene we circle back to another pool scene where Ben is floating in the pool. Ben’s father is pressuring Ben to ask out Mrs. Robinson daughter. Which Ben does not want to do, because he has promised Mrs. Robinson he would not go out with Elaine, (played by Katherine Ross). In frustration with the questioning, Ben dives under water with his scuba mask, to escape his parents monotony. Under water, ambient sound disappears and we and Ben experience diegetic silence and solitude. Another suggestive moment that alludes to the title song, Sounds of Silence.
The inevitable happens when Ben goes on a date with Elaine. Ben drives fast and reckless to a strip club where Elaine breaks down and cries at the intolerable circumstances of their initial date. Ben quickly apologizes outside the strip club for his rudeness, and they quickly embrace in a kiss. The camera cuts to the next scene where Ben and Elaine are eating hamburgers in a drive in restaurant. The diegetic music presumably coming from the car radio is The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine, written and performed by Simon and Garfunkel . The lyrics so aptly reinforce the narrative at this point in the film, “Do people have a tendency to dump on you , Does your group have more cavities than theirs,
Do all the hippies seem to get the jump on you, Do you sleep alone when other sleep in pairs”. The camera sits on a wide shot, when the music if brought up full, as we see Ben and Elaine engaging in full date night conversation. Again filling in the emotional holes, that the narrative leaves out.
In another poignant scene in The Graduate, Ben confesses to Elaine that he is having an affair with her mother. Elaine screams at Ben to get out of her sight. The camera cuts to a shot of Mrs. Robinson, isolated in a corner of a room and the scene fades to black. The camera fades to a familiar scene of Ben in his bedroom with the aquarium in the foreground. Scarborough Fair/Canticle written and performed by Simon and Garfunkel is in the foreground as the camera cuts in montage style of Ben’s despair, longing for Elaine’s company. The lyrics reinforce Ben’s loss.” Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme .Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine”. In perfect harmony with the story, Mike Nichols picks a wonderful sonnet to express Ben’s deep desire to be with Elaine. Ben’s frustration with his life and his carless relationship with Mrs. Robinson is clearly evident, in this remorseful song. As with all the montage sequences in The Graduate, the music is forward, without ambient sound, as not to interfere with the lyrics and help place emphasis on the visuals.
In a number of reprise musical passages of, Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Ben travels to Berkley to find his true love. The camera follows Ben’s red sports car across the Oakland Bay Bridge, as the helicopter shot zooms out in great 1960’s fashion to reveal the San Francisco Bay. In these scenes Ben has a determined look. A look of a man with purpose and desire as he searches for Elaine.
Clearly, Elaine’s emotional frailty is exposed as she can’t decide to marry Ben or Carl Smith (Brian Avery). In her emotional quandary some feminist film theorists would be annoyed with Elaine’s stereotyped character, especially since she fully understands and has experienced Ben’s neurotic behavior.
In the Multiple Proposals scene, Ben is thinking that he is going to marry Elaine and shops for a wedding ring and other pre-matrimony gifts. A whistling rendition of Mrs. Robinson is introduced to accompany Ben’s new confidence with Elaine. Although reminding the viewer of his affair with Elaine’s Mother. Ben’s mood is jovial and blissful, which is apparent in the joyful melody.
Director Mike Nichols and music editor Dave Grusin introduce the Mrs. Robinson theme a number of more times, finding opportunities to intertwine the altered thematic form throughout the remainder of the film.
In the Surprise Visit scene Ben frantically drives to find Elaine before she gets married to Carl. He drives from Berkeley to Los Angeles, then Los Angeles to Berkeley, with the guitar and scat overture of Mrs. Robinson forgrounded. It’s reasonable to believe that adding the Mrs. Robinson theme adds additional anxiety and tension to Ben’s back and forth driving, up and down US 101. These short renditions of Mrs. Robinson were also remixed to emphasize the acoustic resonance of the solo guitar, suggesting a slight influence of the protest songs of the 1960’s.
When Ben finds himself a few blocks from the wedding chapel, he runs out of gas. The acoustic guitar version of Mrs. Robinson slows down in time with Ben’s car coming to a halt. Again, adding to the already tense scene of Ben’s marauding up and down the California highway system in search of Elaine.
In the final scene, Ben arrives at the chapel a few seconds too late, the groom has just kissed the bride. Ben screams Elaine, Elaine, and Elaine for several moments. Elaine turns her head, stares at Ben for a few awkward seconds and screams back, Ben, Ben. Angry wedding guests chase the couple to the chapel door, Ben blocks the door with a metal cross he removed from inside the chapel. The newly married Elaine runs off with Ben as they hop on a Santa Barbra city bus. As they reach their seats in the back of the bus, Sounds of Silence is brought to the foreground. Both Elaine and Ben stare forward, glancing at one another occasionally. Ben’s stare is reminiscent of his blank expression as he rode the moving walkway at the airport.
In one aspect the Sounds of Silence in this final scene fulfills the apathy and mistrust of the 1960’s. The mistrust of marriage, of social norms and of the conventions of moral decency. With this unusual ending we cannot predict what will happen to Elaine and Ben. In the context of the 1960’s, I don’t think anyone really cared if they lived happily ever after. But with the Simon and Garfunkel sound track, I believe their haunting lyrics and remarkable melodies added another level of uncertainty to this dramatic fictional tale.
Music editors, directors and symphony composers can create a synergistic atmosphere for films in a variety of ways.
Some film directors still prefer the conventional style of the orchestrated sound track, using an original musical score that was completed after the final visual edit. Other directors, who may have a more contemporary sense, use modern or popular music to convey more current trends in there film narrative.
It’s a collaborative effort to achieve the directors artistic vision for the musical component of any film. Many composers have tried and failed in interpreting the director’s creative requirements.
Using popular music can be more challenging in creating a distinct filmic mood since the audience usually has found emotions and ideas associated with the films. In rare cases such as The Graduate, it can work and yet songs such as Sounds of Silence have a life beyond their own outside of the film as Simon and Garfunkel compositions. Only compositions as composed by the symphonic masters as John Williams can create a musical film experience that is permanently linked to the films such as Harry Potter and E.T.




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