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Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Chapter
1: A Brief History of Leitmotif
Chapter
2: Leitmotif The Narrator
Chapter
3: Limitations of Leitmotif in Film
Chapter
4: Leitmotif's Connotative Associations
Chapter
5: Using Leitmotif to Create Stereotypes
Conclusions
Final
Thought
Appendix
A- Star Wars Themes
References
Bibliography
Abstract
"So
much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so
it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's
memories." - John Williams
Ever
since music was performed in conjunction with film in the golden age of
Hollywood, its function has always been to enhance the visuals, portray emotions
and create a complete experience for the audience. Many of the scoring
techniques used for early film were taken from nineteenth century opera and
successfully adapted to the big screen.
One
such technique that has had much influence in the history of film music is that
of the leitmotif. Often dismissed as a simple device to tell us what we already
know. We will discover that the leitmotif not only plays an important role in
supporting film's narrative. But more importantly, we will uncover the huge
social and political disturbances it can cause by creating stereotypes.
Top
Introduction
Along with unifying the
narrative, music has always been required in film to underscore the drama and
tension. When film was first introduced in the early silent movies, people were
subjected to a visual onslaught of ghostly images of animals, vehicles, people
and other scenes which could be seen, but not heard. The only thing that could
be heard was the rumbling of the projector. It wasn't long before music was
performed in conjunction to these images to set the audience at ease.
Re
1
When music was first introduced to the cinema, it
bore no true relation to the image portrayed on screen. However, with the
introduction of the fakebook Re 2,
came a new way for image and music to become interrelated. Certain moods could
be portrayed by playing an appropriate piece of music in relation to a desired
image.
The emergence of sound film in the mid 1920's,
has had a huge impact on the role film music was to play. As films now featured dialogue between the characters, music was required to be
written in a more subtle, unobtrusive way; yet at the same time it was needed to
help unify the narrative, comment on how the characters were feeling, and help
the film flow smoother. With these requirements in mind, film composers of the
1930's looked to the former successes of the opera, as a means for inspiration
and adaptability to this new art form of film scoring.
Top
Chapter
1: A Brief History of Leitmotif
During the 19th
century, composer Richard Wagner was dreaming of creating the Gesamtkunstwerk
or total work of art. Gesamtkunstwerk would be the perfect unity of music
and drama as one whole. It was relevant that in this total work of art, a
variety of musical techniques should be incorporated that would help unify all
the characters, emotions and other physical and non-physical elements of the
drama together. One of the most important musical techniques Wagner employed was
that of the leitmotif. The function of the leitmotif has been described by
Arnold Whittal(2003) in The New Grove Dictionary of Music as:
A theme, or other coherent musical idea, clearly
defined so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances,
whose purpose is to represent or symbolize a person, object, place, idea, state
of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work.
Re 3
As you can see from this description, it is
possible to develop the leitmotif in relation to different situations. We will
look into this in more detail in the next chapter.
The
English translation of leitmotif is leading theme, this translation
perhaps makes the concept of leitmotif a little clearer.
Wagner extensively used leitmotif to musically
reinforce the presence of certain characters and locations in many of his
operatic works. For example, Wagner would use leitmotif in his famous opera The
Ring to anticipate the entrance of the lead character Siegfried. Wagner
would often further develop these leitmotifs to coincide with the thoughts and
feelings of the relevant characters, this was achieved through changes in tempo,
instrumentation, rhythm and many other parameters, this will be looked into more
closely in chapter 4.
The leitmotif was not just used by Wagner to tell
people what they already know. One could be told precisely what a character is
thinking about by using a previously established leitmotif. As an example, a
love theme could be denoted between Character A and Character B. If this love
theme is repeated every time they embrace or speak to each other romantically,
then an emotional leitmotif has been created. This love theme can then be used
to represent the feelings and emotions that character A has towards character B
even when character B is not involved in the scene. Re
4
Since leitmotif is used to denote character,
emotion and location among many other things in opera, it is also apparent that
its use can be adapted to film scores. The connection between opera and cinema
is recognized by Richard Davis(1999):
The
thinning out of the orchestra during recitative(dialog), the grand crescendos
and emotional outbursts at high points of the drama, and the use of leitmotif in
opera are no different in concept from the marriage of music and film during the
early days of Hollywood.
Re 5
So
why use the techniques that 19th century opera created instead of
inventing new techniques? Roy M.
Prendergast(1977) suggests that this could be due to the extremely tight time
restrictions that were imposed on the Hollywood composers of the day:
While
directors of films have had the chance to experiment and make serious but
instructive errors, composers, because they are usually the last contributors to
the corporate art of film, have had little opportunity to experiment with their
art form.
Re
6
Many of the early Hollywood film composers
including Max Steiner, Erich Korngold and Alfred Newman used leitmotif
extensively in their film compositions. Of these composers, Max Steiner was
perhaps the most obviously influenced by Wagner's leitmotif style of scoring.
This is particularly evident in his score's for films such as Gone with the
Wind(1939), Mildred Pierce(1945) and The Informer(1929). Steiner has
been famously quoted for saying “If Wagner had lived in this century, he
would have been the Number One film composer.”.
Max
Steiners score for Gone With The Wind provides a great example of how
leitmotif can be applied to a variety of characters, locations and emotions in
film.
·
Character Theme- Such an example is the ragtime based theme used to
represent the black slave Mammy.
·
Location Theme- This is used to represent Tara; the house in which the
O'Hara family live.
·
Emotion Theme- This is a love theme that is used to express the affection
between the protagonist Scarlett and her suitor Ashley.
The reason that composers such as Steiner and
Korngold were chosen to score motion pictures could lie in their past
experiences in composing and conducting opera, operetta and theatre. Thus these
composers were already very familiar with the composing techniques that the
Hollywood producers were looking to employ in their films. Hollywood composers
combined the late romantic music of composers such as Richard Strauss and Mahler
with the operatic techniques employed by Wagner. But why choose the nineteenth
century late romantic style of composing and not the modernistic sounds of
Stravinsky and Schoenberg? Richard Davis offers an opinion:
The
late romantic period of classical music was the most familiar to the film going
audience... The melodic thrust, the harmonic structure, and the overall thematic
development were musical events that the average film audience could easily
grasp. Re 7
Claudia Gorbman(1987) suggests that late romantic music was used for it's
“epic feeling”:
Music especially lushly scored late Romantic
music can trigger a response of epic feeling.. it elevates the individuality of
the represented characters to universal significance.
Re
8
Many of the early Hollywood films were works of
great drama. so it is quite easy to see that a style of music that produces an “epic
feeling” would be a suitable method of film scoring. It also makes sense
that if you are going to use a technique such as leitmotif to help the audience
identify with characters, then a familiar style of music would be best suited to
this cause.
Throughout
the 1950's the traditional Hollywood studio was in decline, producers were
forced to have to pay their way. Short term contracts were drawn up between the
producer, technicians and actors etc. then everyone disbanded after the film was
made. With the introduction of the film High Noon(1952), arose the idea
of using a pop song as a theme. Hollywood studios caught onto the financial
potential of featuring a theme song in their films. Re 9
Roy M Prendergast states:
No longer did producers care if the music written
for their films was the best possible music for that specific picture; they now
wanted music that would sell away from the picture. Re 10
Due to the extra revenue created from using theme
songs in their scores, the romantic composing style of old was on the wane. In
the 60's and throughout most of the 70's the rock and roll soundtrack became a
popular accompaniment to film. Re
11 Easy Rider(1969) and The Graduate(1967) are good examples of films
that employ this soundtrack.
So did the demise of romantic scores during these
decades also signal the end of leitmotif? Although leitmotif was perhaps used
most extensively during the golden age of Hollywood, there is nothing to
intrinsically tie the technique to the romantic scores that it often became
associated with. Therefore, can theme songs or even pop soundtrack music act as
a leitmotif? This matter shall be addressed in chapter 4.
The
traditional use of the leitmotif in its late romantic form re-emerged in John
Williiams' score for Star Wars (1977). Although Williams had previously
used leitmotif extensively in Spielberg's Jaws (1975), Star Wars was the
film that really harked back to the golden age of Hollywood. Lippencott(1998)
explains why George Lucas opted for this style of composition:
He wanted a dichotomy to his visuals, an almost
19th Century romantic, symphonic score against these yet unseen sights. Re
12
Some have been critical in Lucas' choice to
revert back to the Hollywood style of the 30's questioning why a more
modernistic sounding score wasn't used. John Williams response complements
Lucas' intentions perfectly:
In that escapist thing is the whole
romantic idea of getting away, of being transported into another kind of
atmosphere. Re
13
Traditional use of leitmotif has seen quite a
recurrence since the introduction of Star Wars. Most recently, this
technique has been used in the new Star Wars Trilogy and also the hugely
successful and critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy.
It may be useful at this stage to look into the
differences between leitmotif and general movie themes or motifs. General themes
or motifs are used in films without a specific relation to character, location,
or any other physical or supernatural presence. These general themes are often
used to heighten the sense of emotion at key points during the course of the
film. It is sometimes difficult to recognize a general theme from a leitmotif.
Claudia Gorbman stresses the same concern when talking about the film All
About Eve (1950):
Does this melody, first heard over the credits
and subsequently at the most emotional moments where Eve appears, signify Eve
herself, or Eve's emotional impact on her “audiences” (the characters and
film viewers she manipulates), or is it simply a signature for the film “All
About Eve”? Re 14
Leitmotif used for physical objects such as
Character(s), location etc. are often easy to spot as a clear visual connections
can be made between music and object, but how about portraying complex emotions
using leitmotif? Since leitmotifs can be assigned to such a vast array of
emotions, feelings and desires, one is left wondering whether the theme or motif
they hear has any connection to the portrayed character(s) emotions or whether
the theme bears no relation to the character's emotions and just functions as a
general theme.
Many leitmotifs which function as a character's
thoughts or feelings is quite obvious in nature. Such an example is Ashley and
Scarlett's love theme from Gone with the Wind. Together with the fact
that we often hear this theme when they are embracing or talking romantically to
each other, the syrupy melodramatic string laden melody also indicates
connotatively, that this is a romantic relationship. After all, Fred
Steiner(1985) notes that the strings are often called “the soul of the
orchestra”.
Re
15
Top
Chapter
2: Leitmotif the Narrator
We have seen in the previous chapter how the
technique of leitmotif was borrowed from opera and adapted to film. But just how
successful was this transition? Did the technique used so effectively in opera
adapt well to this new medium? Adorno and Eisler(1951) digress:
Here [in cinema] the function of the leitmotif
has been reduced to the level of a musical lackey, who announces his master with
an important air even though the eminent personage is clearly recognizable to
everyone.
Re 16
Adorno and Eisler's views are echoed by Dan Hobgood(1999):
Oppositely,
in the "leitmotif" tradition, motifs appear here, and motifs appear
there...depending upon whom and/or what is happening on-screen. That, in
general, is what the "leitmotif" composer does--tell the viewer what
they are already seeing, rather than inform the viewer about that which it is
that they cannot. Re 17
Justin
London(2000) recognises that the “present indicative is the only tense/mood
that a leitmotif can take". Re
18 but he also realises that “it is a very useful and powerful one in
narrative-dramatic contexts”. London goes on to explain the various role a
leitmotif can have in developing the narrative:
A
leitmotif can... indicate the presence of someone/something that is otherwise
obscure (out of the frame, hidden in the scene, in disguise, and so forth) ; and
indicate the “psychological presence” of a character or idea.
Re
19
Thus
London concludes that “various functions are based upon the same
referential capacity as a proper name”. Lipscombe and Tolchinsky reach
similar conclusions in their findings:
... we hear a leitmotif but do
not see the associated character. The musical sound causes us to anticipate the
arrival of referenced character, to understand that a visible character is
thinking about the referenced character, or realize that the character is
significant in relation to events occurring on screen.
Re 20
These statements suggest that there is literally
far more to leitmotif than meets the eye. It might be useful to break up
Lipscomb and Tolchinsky's statement into sections, and seek some examples that
support their findings
Lipscombe and Tolchinsky's first statement
informs us that leitmotif ”causes us to anticipate the arrival of
referenced character”. Perhaps the finest example of this can be heard in
the film Jaws(1975).
In Jaws we are constantly aware of the
sharks presence through John Willams' use of an ostinato based leitmotif. This
tells the audience in non-verbal terms that the sharks presence is eminent. An
interesting event occurs later in the film. We see what appears to be the shark,
yet there is no accompanying ostinato riff. A few minutes later we discover that
it is not the real shark after all, but a couple of kids who are snorkelling with fake dorsal fins. It then becomes apparent
that the absence of the music was an indication that there was no threat to
begin with. Re
21 This makes clear that the absence of a theme or leitmotif can be just as telling
to the audience as the theme itself.
The second statement that Lipscomb and Tolchinsky
make is perhaps their most important: “to understand that a visible
character is thinking about the referenced character”.Elmer
Bernstein(1977) gives a fine example of this when referring to the film Laura(1944).
The mystique was supplied by the
insistence of the haunting melody. He could not escape it. It was everywhere. It
was there when he was in Laura's apartment. It was there when he turned on the
record player. It was never absent from his thoughts.
Re 22
The melody that Bernstein refers to is Laura's
leitmotif. Detective McPherson who is investigating Laura's death falls in love
with the dead girl after glancing at her portrait as he searches her house. The
love McPherson feels for Laura is represented by Laura's theme. Wherever
McPherson goes thereafter, he is accompanied by the same haunting melody
Re
23
Surely this example proves that not only is
leitmotif far more than a simple denotative device to indicate the obvious, but
further more it is a vital contributing factor towards the narration of the
film.
Imagine you are reading a fictitious book. The
narrator can describe visual/physical objects such as a tree or a person etc.
but it can also tell you the thoughts, feelings and emotions related to specific
characters, or the emotional relationship between two or more people. When a
book is converted to the big screen, the visual/physical objects are all to
plain for the eye to see. If leitmotif was used here to represent a character or
location then its use would be to simply denote the obvious, thus supporting
Adorno and Eisler argument.
But it is very often the case that leitmotif does
much more than act as a “musical lackey”, In fact, it can often tell
us a great many things in relation to a characters thoughts, feelings and
emotions that the visual elements can't. As Kathryn Kalinak(1992) explains “image
is ultimately limited in its ability to convey emotion“. Re
24
Furthermore through changes in harmonization,
rhythm and timbre we can interpret whether character A is thinking of character
B in an affectionate or disaffection manner.
Of course, the referenced leitmotif doesn't have
to be a link between two characters. In fact, one of cinema's most famous
leitmotifs is one in which the protagonist's thoughts are repeatedly drawn to a
certain location. Here I am referring to Tara's theme from Gone With the Wind.
Finally, we look into Lipscombe and Tolchinsky's
last statement. Here they infer that leitmotif can help us “realize that
the character is significant in relation to events occurring on screen.”.
In the film Ben-Hur(1959), the theme for
Christ had previously been established when Christ gave Judah Ben-Hur some water
as Judah made his way to the galleys for punishment. Towards the end of the film
we witness the death of Christ. Shortly after this historic event, Ben-Hur's
mother and sister are both sheltering in a cave from the rain. Previous to this
scene they had both been lepers. But now it is evident that they have both been
healed of their symptoms So who is responsible for this miraculous act? Christ's
theme is played and leaves us in no doubt as to who it is.
From the above few examples, we start to become
aware of all the possible uses leitmotif can offer, to link and unify large
parts of the narrative, that neither the image nor the dialogue is able to.
Re 25
Top
Chapter 3: Limitations of Leitmotif in Film
In the previous chapter,
we have looked into how leitmotif can be used to fill in the gaps of the
narrative that the image and dialogue leave behind. In this chapter, I will be
looking into the practical issues of using this technique in film, the problems
it causes and how film composers have modified this technique to better suit the
film medium
I shall begin with another statement from Adorno and Eisler:
The effective technique of the past
[leitmotif] thus becomes a mere duplication, ineffective and uneconomical. At
the same time, since it cannot be developed to its full musical significance in
the motion picture, its use leads to extreme poverty of composition. Re
26
Here
Adorno and Eisler compare the use of leitmotif in film to that used in Wagnerian
opera. In his article Star Wars, Music and Myth James Buhler(2000)
expands on Adorno and Eisler's statement:
Where film simply takes the signifying function
of the leitmotif at face value, severing its link to myth as it were, Wagner
uses the leitmotif to put signification, the language like character of music,
into play. In other words, Wagner's leitmotifs both signify and resist
signifying. Re 27
The point Buhler makes is that opera is governed
by the sequence in which the music has a “large musical canvas". Re
28 in which to develop its leitmotif. Restrictive film cues mean that the role of
the leitmotif is often reduced to a mere signifier. Kurt London(1936) echo's
these concerns: .
The film, unlike the music drama with its slow
development, advances by leaps and bounds, and owing to the short duration of
its individual scenes, would not allow the themes any clear growth.
Re 29
Although leitmotifs cannot be developed to the
same proportions as they are in the Wagnerian opera, there are certain
developments that can be made keeping the cue restrictions in mind. Shortening
or lengthening the leitmotif is one such example.
Shortening, often involves extracting a
particular segment of the theme, often this segment is the first few notes of
the full theme. It is also possible to shorten a theme to fit its cue by
adjusting the tempo to a certain degree. Adversely, lengthening the theme
involves either slowing the tempo down or adding a few extra bars of variation
to the theme. Royal S Brown(1995) gives three reasons why he feels a short motif
has advantaqes over a longer more melodic line:
1.
“The
short phrase is easier to follow for audiences who listen with only half an
ear”
Re 30
2.
The short phrase also serves as a more
manipulable building block better suited than a developed theme to the rapidly
changing nature of the cinema and its edited flow of images.
Re
31
3.
To summarize Browns last point, he infers that
melody “has little trouble finding a niche for itself in the conscious
mind”. Concluding that vertical movement as opposed to horizontal
movements is “particularly inherent in its harmonic and instrumental
properties”
Re 32
Bernard Herrman was particularly interested in
the harmonic and instrumental properties that Brown mentions. E. Todd
Fiegel's(2003) analysis of Herrmann's score for The Day the Earth Stood
Still(1951) goes as far as to say that “it is the orchestration that
serves the leitmotivic function.”
Re 33
Examples of themes being shortened to fit various
cues can be heard in the opening sequence of The Empire Strikes Back(1980). We
witness a battle between the rebels and the imperial forces on the ice moon Hoth.
During this battle sequence, there is not enough time to play Luke's theme/Rebel
Alliance theme in its full context. Here, dramatic underscore is required to
enhance the action. Instead what we hear are segments of Luke's theme appearing
at relevant intervals during the action. Re 34
John Barry's music for the James Bond films are
perhaps the best examples of the method of effectively shortening the main
theme. We hear Bond's famous theme in its entirety quite rarely, we are
far more accustomed to the shortened four note version of the theme we hear
after Bond has formally introduced himself.
Another obvious example of using the shortened
leitmotif is in William's music for Jaws. Here the sharks leitmotif can
be heard in its full glory in the opening credits and also played at various
lengths during the course of the film. The genius of this motif is that it is a
2 note ostinato pattern. As the motif is only two notes long, it is much easier
to edit the motif to the various cues.
Once the leitmotif has made reference to the
desired object, character, emotion etc., segments of the main theme can then be
used and further developed by changing timbre, rhythm, and harmony accordingly .
Bernard Hermann, although often eschewing the use of the long drawn out
melodious leitmotif, often used very short, un-melodic phrases as a form of
leitmotif, these phrases were often easily manipulated to fit in with the
relevant cues and were also easily harmonised
due to the ambiguity of their nature. In reference to Hermann's use of shortened
motifs William H Rosar(2003) states the following:
Herrmann eschewed the use of long melodic ideas
in his dramatic scoring, preferring the more succinct short phrase, which he
felt could be transformed more effectively throughout a score... a thematic idea
was used not merely for static identification of character, but for
psychological enrichment of it.
Re 35
It is often more difficult to develop the longer,
more melodic leitmotif as cue lengths often disallow this to happen. However
this is not true in every case. Often, motifs that relate to emotions can be
developed far easier than motifs related to physical objects. This is because
emotion is not portrayed visually but psychologically as discussed in the
previous chapter, thus emotional motifs need not always have a fixed relation to
the often harsh visual cues that film imposes.
Using another example from The Empire Strikes
Back; during the sequence on the planet Hoth, Han is teasing Leia about her
affections for him. Although Leia denies these affections for Han, we hear Han
and Leia's love theme, this indicates that she is repressing her true feelings
for him. At this stage, the theme has just been introduced and consequently is
rather undeveloped. Later in the film, as Han is carbon frozen ready to be
delivered to Jabba the Hutt, the theme is played in its full orchestral glory,
this represents the now unsuppressed feelings that Leia and Han have for each
other. The love theme is reprised
in its full glory once again towards the end of the film when Han's fate is
looking at its most ominous.
Occasionally, composers have had the good fortune
to be able to develop their themes and leitmotif at free will, this occurs when
the director decides to edit the scenes around the music. An example of this can
be heard in the closing sequence of E.T.(1982) Max Steiner also had the
good fortune to have free will to develop his themes for the film The
Informer.
When film composers are given this freedom they
can develop their leitmotifs in a similar way to the leitmotif's used in opera.
John Williams comments on his music for E.T. “At the end, it's kind
of a full-blown sort of operatic aria when E.T goes away”.
Re
36
There are certain cases where leitmotif in any
form would seem inappropriate. For example in Die Hard(1988) we are
exposed to many short and snappy cues where the use of leitmotifs, even
in their shortened form could negatively effect the flow of film. In many action
films, a more dramatic style of underscoring is often used to heighten the
audiences sense of danger and excitement. Film Composer Graeme Revell(2004)
supports this argument.
The
requirements these days are much more energy, pulse, dynamics in most films,
tension, those kind of things, more visceral rather than character. Re 37
Many
leitmotifs used in film have no need of being developed further. William Darby
and Jack Du Bois(1990) give an example of undeveloped themes when talking about The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad(1974):
Two Principle themes dominate in The Golden
Voyage of Sinbad but there is much action music of no particular thematic
profile.. two main themes which appear more or less on cue throughout and,
together with the less used Mariana theme, are not varied or developed in any
significant way, perhaps in keeping with a film devoid of serious dramatic
development. Re 38
Top
Chapter
4: Leitmotif's Connotative Associations
Prior to
this chapter we have looked at the way leitmotif functions on a denotative
level. Denotation occurs when an image or a sign is related with a word or in
the case of leitmotif a musical phrase. What we are going to look into in this
chapter however is the connotative associations that a leitmotif possesses.
Re 39
The denotative
level of leitmotif doesn't have much of an effect in itself. On strictly a denotative level
we are merely interpreting a certain sound to relate to a certain image.
Connotation
however relates “to the psychological or cultural aspects; the personal or
emotional associations aroused by words." Re 40
or in our case music.
Rodman claims
that the above connotative form of expression is a "Subjective,
interpretive process". Re 41 Now this raises an interesting point. Could people from separate cultures
perceive the same piece of music in different ways Leonard B. Meyer(2001)
contests:
Affective
experience may be a result of the private meaning that the image has for a
particular listener. Re 42
If this is the
case, then surely this could lead to confusion over the empathetic response many
people would have in relation to a specific character. Could it be possible that
someone could perceive a hero to be a villain and visa versa purely through the
connotative powers of leitmotif? The answer to this question is a bit outside
the scope of this dissertation but it is important to notice that the
connotative powers of leitmotif are subjective and could differ from person to
person. It is hard to define exactly where we get our own personal connotations
from. Why do we associate a major key with happiness or a minor key with
sadness?
Let's
look into the main elements that contribute to the connotative side of the
leitmotif and see how this effects us on an emotional level.
I
acknowledge that this is my own subjective view. Emotional responses to some of
the tonalities that I refer to may differ from culture to culture.
Through
centuries of conditioning we have developed emotions relating to what we hear.
Something played in a major key, usually sounds positive and happy, whilst
something in a minor key sounds negative and sad. Other keys, modes and
harmonies can also have a desired effect. For example, a melody played in the
whole tone scale can often sound dreamlike and mysterious whilst something
played in the diminished scale can sound dark and ominous. These tonal
attributes can be applied to a leitmotif, this in turn gives the leitmotif a
connotative identity.
David Neumeyer
and James Buhler(2001) give an example of the powers of connotation in their
analysis of Raiders of the Lost Ark(1981):
The
dark filmic ambivalences of Indiana Jones' character in the prologue... are
forgotten the moment the score breaks into bright tonal sounds of the theme as
Indy runs toward the plane. The music here proclaims Jones' fundamental heroism
long before this is evident from the narrative itself.
Re 43
A similar
example can be seen in Superman(1978). When we first see Lex Luther's
sidekick Otis, he is accompanied by a melody played on a tuba which is very
similar to the music we would hear accompanying clowns at a circus. So before
Otis has even uttered a word, our connotations tell us that he is a comical
character that is not to be taken too seriously.
Using the Star
Wars trilogy as a model we can see three more examples of how the melodic
structure of the leitmotif can vary depending on the character it is depicting
(see appendix A). Yoda for example, has a motif that is based in the lydian mode
(fig.1). The nature of this mode reflects the mystery and wisdom that this
character radiates. The emperor on the other hand has a motif that is based in
the natural minor key (fig.2). This key gives the Emperor characteristics of
being evil and threatening. These attributes are made even more apparent by the
use of a diminished 5th which can be heard at the end of the passage. Finally
Luke's motif is based around the major scale (fig.3), this creates positive
associations for his character. The V-I perfect cadence that occurs at the end
of his theme emphasises these attributes.
Harmonisation
of the motif in a variety of ways throughout the course of a film helps us to
empathise with the character and the situation he/she finds themselves in, it is
also used to develop characteristics as the film progresses. Royal S
Brown's(1995) analysis for the film The Sea Hawk(1940), offers an example
of how simply changing the harmony can make us perceive the same theme in a
completely different light..
By
recasting a motif from the romantic theme in the minor mode and setting it to a
dirge-like rhythm... Korngold turns audience emotions around 180 degrees from
optimism to pessimism with an immediacy that bypasses the quasi-spatio-temporal
unfurling of the narrative. Re 44
It is
interesting to note from this example how the rhythm also reflects the state of
affairs of our hero.
Another example
can be heard as a variation of Yoda's theme that occurs in Star Wars III: The
Revenge of the Sith(2005). After Yoda is unsuccessful in defeating the
Emperor, we hear his theme re-harmonised in a minor key and also played in a
shortened form. This is accompanied by his words “failed, I have”. His usual
wise and mystical demeanour is thus diminished.
Timbre is
another important element of the leitmotif. A motif played loud and bold using
brass will sound quite different to the same motif played gently and
submissively with strings or woodwind. Variations in timbre can be used as a
technique to change and develop the character in the same way as altering the
harmony can. David Nuemeyer and James Buhler quote a statement by Darby and
Dubois(2001):
A
motif whispered softly by winds in one passage and blared out fortissimo by the
brass in another obviously shifts from membership in one style topic to another
even if all the other musical parameters remain unchanged.
Re 45
Neumeyer
and Buhler proceed to give an example:
The
Imperial March played serenely by flute and harp as Darth Vader dies near the
end of Return of the Jedi seems laden with meaning, due to its timbrel distance
from the model, which is nearly always pounded out by brasses from the moment it
is introduced in The Empire Strikes Back.
Re 46
This change in
timbre is an indication that Vader has overcome his dark powers, and as he takes
off his mask a human face is revealed. This theme is then appropriately played
by softer instrumentation, which indicates a more humane, sensitive character
that the audience can relate to in a more positive and sentimental way.
In the first
chapter we looked into David Raksins score for the film Laura. As we
recall, the film revolves mostly around a single theme (Laura's theme). Kathryn
Kalanak suggests that changing the timbre can act as a leitmotif in and of
itself. Thus the same theme can represent different characters simply by the
change of instrumentation. She goes on to give examples of detective McPherson
being represented by French horns, Lydecker is characterized by piccolo and
bassoon, and Laura is recognized through strings. Re
47
Top
Chapter
5: Using Leitmotif to Create Stereotypes
As we have seen
in the previous chapter, certain tonal and timbrel ideals can create subjective
connotations for various members of the audience.
National and
ancestral connections can be made through adapting relevant melodic and timbrel
ideals to the leitmotif, this often results in a musical stereotype of the
portrayed character, location etc. For example, a scene set in Italy or France
is usually accompanied by an accordion, Strauss like waltzes represent turn of
the century Vienna etc.
When certain
stereotypes are related to characters or social groups however, they can have
quite large social repercussions. The sight of Indians in a Cowboy and Western
film is almost always accompanied by primitive tribal drumming. A fine example
of this can be heard in the film Stagecoach(1939). This is the first
cowboy and western film to feature primitive rhythmic instrumentation as a
leitmotif to help us identify the Indian tribe as a primitive group of people.
Adversely, the cowboys leitmotif in the film has a lush, Copeland-esque
symphonic score. K.J Donnelly(2005) believes that this sort of ethnic
stereotyping is not a true representation of the people and places it depicts,
but it is a form of synaesthesia created by the film industry. Re
48
Jane Gaines and
Neil Lerner(2001) examine the social repercussions of stereotyping in their
article The Orchestration of Affect: The Motif of Barbarism in Breil's The
Birth of a Nation Score. The Birth of a Nation(1915) was the first true
sound picture film, and it features a leitmotif that has now become known as the
"Motif of Barbarism". Gaines and Lerner state:
In
'The Birth of a Nation', syncopation becomes attached to connotations of
“primitive” sexual instincts, instincts that are thought to have the
potential to become predatory and violent. Although at the outset the motif is
attached to all Africans in general, it will later become attached just to those
who are specifically positioned as sexually threatening.
Re 49
Lets analyse
this example so we can see more closely how the leitmotif can function as a
means of stereotyping.
In terms of
denotation, we relate the motif to both the African-American man and the scenes
where the African-American man poses a sexual threat. In terms of connotation,
we hear the syncopated rhythms of the tom tom and relate this to primitivism. As
the same motif is related to both the innocent man and also the guilty man,
implications can be made through this association that all African-American men
are primitive and sexually threatening, thus creating a stereotype.
It is worth
remembering at this point that the connotation is subjective and could be
perceived differently from person to person, Gaines and Lerner recognize this:
While
we may be able to establish that Breil and Griffith encoded the musical premise
that connotes “primitivism” it is somewhat more difficult to understand
exactly how the music would have been decoded by audience members even though we
are assuming shared cultural references.
Re 50
But in the case
of The Motif of Barbarism, the damage has already been done using
denotation alone. The link between the innocent man and the guilty man has been
made purely by associating their distinct differences with the same leitmotif.
As we see from
the above example, stereotypes can be created through using leitmotif to give
“false clarity” for the identified. James Buhler explains:
Even
in its wholly demythologized state, the function of the leitmotif remains
mythic, the unification of what is actually disparate... always using the devices of familiarity and straightforward dismissal
to avoid the labor of conceptualization. Re 51
In the first
chapter I mentioned that leitmotif has no intrinsic ties to the late romantic
classical score which it was often associated with during the golden age of
Hollywood. In his article The Popular Song as Leitmotif in 1990s Film,
Ronald Rodman(2005) takes the fundamental denotative and connotative
elements of the leitmotif and adapts these ideals to pop music scores used in
film:
Pop
songs in these films still connote but many now serve a denotative
leitmotiv function.
Re 52
Rodman goes on
to explain how popular music used in the films Pulp Fiction(1994) and Trainspotting(1996)
can be used as a form of leitmotif. The interesting thing to note about Rodman's
examples, is that different pop songs are used to denote the character(s) each
time he/she is on screen. The denotation in this case is inherently linked with
the observations made through the audiences cultural awareness. It might be
useful to give an example. Rodman associates John Travolta's character with “60's
surfer music”. Therefore, the denotation part of the leitmotif relies on
the audience's recognition that every time they hear a pop song from that genre,
it is it be associated with John Travolta.
Rodman presents
quite a bold argument here. The main principles of the leitmotif remain, but now
the audience is expected to have cultural knowledge of the required pop genre
for the leitmotif to function adequately. In the case where one is not familiar,
or cannot make the denotative and connotative links between the pop songs, the
function of the leitmotif breaks down. Rodman is aware of this possibility.
This process of denotation is now nuanced, and relies on
different dimension of the viewer's/listeners competence to signify at this
denotative level. Re
53
In this chapter
we have looked at how connotations can effect our emotional response to given
characters. But how would we relate to particular characters when we are fed no
musical hints to the nature of their personalities? Lipscombe and Tolchinsky
note that:
The
absense of music (or other sounds) may create a sense of mismatch... there is an
expectation or presence of music in a specific scene, but no music is heard, the
affected audience member asks: Why has the music been deleted? How does it
change the perception of the character.
Re 54
In
his masterpiece The Birds(1963), Alfred Hitchcock decided not to use any
music whatsoever. With the absence of any theme or musical idea that can be
related to any of the characters, we are left not knowing how to react to each
individual, thus there is no true definition of good and bad and it is left
entirely to the viewer to make his/her mind up whether the individual is of good
or bad intent. The decision to use no music in this film compliments the
mysteriousness of the plot perfectly. Why are the birds attacking people? What
is their motive? Does Melanie Daniels hide a dark past? Are the bird’s actions
justified? All these questions remain unanswered due to the fact that there are
no musical clues to tell the audience what emotional response they should have
in relation to any of the characters and creatures in the film.
Top
Conclusions
Early
Hollywood cinema was often steeped in melodrama, portraying characters that were
often far larger than life, thus leitmotif was perfectly suited to label these
characters with a musical tag. It is evident that many modern films that try to
portray realism usually feature characters which have complex personalities that
are not strictly black or white in nature. So how has this new sense of realism
effected the use of leitmotif? Adorno and Eisler infer that: “There is no
place for it (leitmotif) in the motion picture, which seeks to depict
reality”. Re 55
Eisler
correctly realises that for many modern films leitmotif would be an
inappropriate way to try to convey a sense of realism and non-fiction. There is
a valid argument to be made that many characters in modern cinema are far too
complex for composers to be able to label their characteristics with simple
melodies (although Bernard Herrmanns use of short manipulable phrases might seem
more appropriate). However, I found Eisler's statement to be too general when
referring to motion pictures as a whole.
Taking
Star Wars as an example, we can see that this particular film
contains characters that are very black and white in nature, as is often the
case in a fairytale. It is most apparent, even for the most uninformed movie
goer, as to who the heroes and villains are in such a film. The leitmotif has
survived in its traditional symphonic form in many of todays fantasy films such
as the new Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings trilogy
simply because these films create solid stereotypes of good and evil which are
almost always rigid and undebatable. .
The
focus of many of todays films rely on action, horror and suspense, which often
require more of an atmospheric type of underscoring. Therefore, to use leitmotif
in its traditional sense in many of todays films is seen as unnecessary, and
perhaps more importantly as an obstruction to the flow of the film in relation
to the cue lengths as I discussed earlier.
Geoff
Brown(1992) writing for The Times sums up the typical modern state of cinema and
the music that accompanies it:
In
too many cases, music has become a matter of decibels, not notes. The dynamite
explodes; the characters scream ``Let's get out of here!''; and the soundtrack
goes into hysterics. Subtlety is impossible; and a score with each character
given a distinctive theme can hardly be written when films have no characters,
just shooting targets. Re
56
Rodman makes an
interesting point in the previous chapter by implying that principles of
leitmotif can be adapted to pop soundtracks, even though the function of the
leitmotif in these circumstances relies on the audiences' personal interpretive
skills to function properly. But it is most important to note here that the
leitmotif is still being used as a means to stereotype. But the stereotypes in
these cases relate to a social group rather than a racial group.
Top
Final Thought
So is the
technique of leitmotif relevant in cinema? As we have seen leitmotif can be used
to fill in gaps in the narrative by warning us of an unseen presence, or
expressing the emotions, thoughts and feelings of specific characters. But
perhaps most importantly, leitmotif has been used to musically stereotype
certain social and racial groups in often demeaning and controversial ways. The
repercussions of this stereotyping causes distortions in our own subjective view
of the character(s), by dismissing their personalities as either good or evil,
foolish or wise etc. Therefore, as long as cinema continues to show audiences
films in which characters are seen as one dimensional or whom conform to the
stereotypical groups created by society, leitmotif will still be relevant to
function as a concrete label to which many unwary members of the audience will
unwittingly respond to in whichever way the director chooses.
Top
Appendix
A - Star Wars Themes
Fig.1
Yoda's Theme
To Come
Fig.2
The Emperor's Theme
To Come
Fig.3
Luke's Theme
To Come
Top
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