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• / Essay by Mark Hare

How is music used as memes in movies?

I have long believed that we use music as memes. Two supporting arguments for this premise are

1. Music elicits emotion;
2. This emotion is moderated by one's culture and musical-listening experience.

Hence, music can be used in movies to set the mood and suggest what emotion the viewer should feel for the next scene.

What makes gothic movie parodies so funny?

Music primes the viewer to expect one thing; something else happens.

Filmakers today use music to make us feel the emotions of the moment and to anticipate the next action scene. Bits of the comedy of Scary Movie and other parodies rely on the action scene NOT being the the one anticipated by the viewer who has been primed with music to expect a particular event.

What musical experiences in our culture prime us to expect horrific, gothic, blood-chilling horror?

Why would we expect vampires as opposed to ghosts, killer bees or predator lions? We all grew up watching movies in theater and on tv. Certain rhythms, chords, and melodies are part of our memories of these movies. We have been enculturated by our common viewing experiences to anticipate similar action scenes and particular plot advances. Try watching a foreign film in an unfamiliar genre to compare the difference in your reactions to the music and abilities to anticipate the action. I imagine the initial experience would be a bit jarring.

What musical experiences prepared us for Twilight?

Mark Hare traced the history of the music used in gothic, romance and horror movie genres. He wrote this essay on the history of music to trace the roots of our musical experiences that make the music of Twilight so effective.

Twilight and Its Musical Roots
--by Mark Hare

While a movie like Twilight relies on modern rock ballads to connect with its teen audience, the music used to depict the supernatural elements draws upon a 19th century tradition of the supernatural in classical music. Continued...Before then, musical pieces with a macabre or spooky twist were

Essay by Valerie Coskrey ©2009