Transcript The Musical
Sociology Schedule
Today and Wednesday (early release) –
Finish LGO 1
Thursday– Review LGO 1 – Binder checks –
test cards
Friday – Chapter 1 test
American Cinema
Schedule
Today – Introduce Musicals unit – turn in
binders for Unit one note and review check –
Start Meet Me in St. Louis
Take your Movie review basics notes, Silent
Film notes, and two reviews out of your
binder and use a paper clip on my desk to
bind them, then turn them in
Wednesday – Friday – Finish Meet Me in St.
Louis and Grease
The Musical
Setting the Stage
Heart of the musical lies in its music and
those who sing and dance to it
The music functions as an extension of the
character singing (shows their personality,
ideas, motivation, etc.)
Musical Reality
Very different from classical narrative reality
Musicals operate according to two different
laws
There are sudden shifts between narrative and
musical spectacle
There is a shift between from one reality to
another that involves a rupture or break
Musical numbers break the linear flow of the
narrative and shifts to a world of spectacle and
fantasy
Shifts in Register
Two different dramatic registers:
Narrative and spectacle
Often these shifts are accentuated
technical elements
Shifts of scenery
Lighting changes
Fog/wind machines
Anything that helps the illusion of a shift to a
fantasy world of music
Types of Musicals
Two main types
Revue – nearly all spectacle with little or no
narrative between songs
Book musical – prominence of the story book
background – integrates musical and
narrative sequences – goal is a seamless
integration of the two
Ideology of the Musical
Creates a utopian space in which our daily
problems do not exist
Poverty replaced with abundance
Work related exhaustion becomes limitless
energy
Dreariness of everyday routine becomes
excitement and intensity
Isolation becomes close knit communities
Men and women find their perfect matches
and win them over
The end and the
beginning
Traditional musicals declined in the 1960’s
and began a general move fro film to
Broadway
From the 1970’s to today there has been a
rise in different types of musicals than seen
before:
Rock n’ Roll and popular music themed
Animated features (Walt Disney esp.)
After school specials (precursers to High
School Musical)
Unit Films
Meet Me in St. Louis – 1944 – Vincent Minnelli
- In the year before the 1904 St Louis World's
Fair, the four Smith daughters learn lessons of
life and love, even as they prepare for a
reluctant move to New York.
Grease – 1978 – Randal Kleiser - Good girl
Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over
the summer. But when they unexpectedly
discover they're now in the same high
school, will they be able to rekindle their
romance?