Musical clues

I love the way JW uses music to give you little hints about the story or the characters. For example, the first time Luke is introduced in ANH, you hear a warm, happy-go-lucky rendition of the Main theme, also used as Luke's theme, indicating his innocence and so on. When you see him for the first time in ESB, again you hear his theme, but this time it comes in as a sort of strained, twisted version of it, emerging from the darker chords associated with the probe droid. This can be taken as a hint of how he's going to teeter on the dark side by the movie's end. And by ROTJ, you don't even hear his theme at all! You can really take that as an indication of how much he's changed from the innocent farmboy of ANH, and how he is very much in danger of the dark side. Very interesting...

And there are other instances where the absence of music can say as much as the presence. When Luke meets what looks like Vader in the cave on Dagobah, it's important to note that the Imperial Theme is decidedly absent. So you can gather that it's not really Vader, right from the start. It also happens in Jaws, when those kids are impersonating a shark. If the people only listened to the music, they'd know it wasn't really Jaws, cause his theme isn't there.

 

Hi Cinde!

That is a very good point that you make about the music giving insight into the character's.Personally,I believe that the music in SW is as important an element of the storytelling as any bit of dialouge or sp. effect.

Another example of what you said can also be found in Yoda's theme.(I may have mentioned this before)The piece starts with very broad,very grand,sweeping tones showing the enormity of Yoda's spirit,as well as the depth of his connection to the force.The tune changes in the middle to an almost playful,childlike part.This could show the "playful" side of Yoda's nature,wich we see in his "squabble" with R2 over the lamp.

Great discussion;keep this going!

 

Actually Cinde, JW goes berzerk with Lukes theme in ROTJ... Ever seen the sail barge scene?

~Sithman~
the sithiest J.E.D.I. around!

 

I think he meant at Luke's introduction.

 

Oops! Yeah, that's what I meant. Good grief! that was quite a generalization I made there; I was just talking about his intro, not the whole movie. And that's a good point you made, Sithman, that his theme is used so extensively in the sailbarge scene. Considering that that musical cue is called "Return of the Jedi," I think it can be a theme for all heroic Jedi. Later on, though, Luke's theme isn't so clear, and like the lack of that theme during his intro, I think it can indicate his teetering on the dark side.

 

And then there's that part in ANH when Luke is the last X-wing making the trench run and Vader & co. are bearing down hard on his six and the pressure's on and the Death Star Fire Control is warming up the Big Gun . . . we hear a very high-stress, dissonant version of Luke's theme, complete with "heart-racing" tympani!

And then of course, this rhythmic and harmonic dissonance is resolved *visually*, by the Death Star blowin' up real good. Talk about release of tension! Nice symbiosis there between the visual and auditory.

**Piett**

P.S. Absence *is* a presence.

 

Speaking of the sailbarge music, isn't it just perfect? It lifts your spirits, literally. Here's my analysis:
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It plays Luke's Theme kinda of as the paint, then as a canvas it's these rising notes which seem to be outlining a chord or something. The rising notes occur as Luke springs from skiff to skiff, and then to the barge, almost propelling him in the air. I love it, Luke's Theme is great, and the notes in the backround outlining those bold major chords is just AWESOME!

-An analysis by Sithiness Inc.
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Comments? I'd love 'em!

~Sithman~
the sithiest J.E.D.I. around!

 

Dark Lady Mara once said something about the music reflecting the plot in the movies. If I can find where she made this comparison, i'll post it here.

Nice topic, CoN.

 

Music in SW is a HUGE part of not only the plot,but also the development of characters as well.

The way that the Force theme gets used is a pretty good example of the music tellin you what's going on in the story.Or,in some cases,filling in what the story doesn't tell you.Like with the Augie/Emperor's theme thing.An even better examole is Anakin's theme segueing into the Imperial March.Or,the way that the cd version of "Han Solo and the princess",about halfway through the track,the IM comes in,showing how their romance is "interrupted" by the Empire.Geez,I could go on for hours...

 

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