Musicals exist in a privileged space, “a ‘place’ of transcendence where time stands still, where contingent concerns are stripped away to reveal the essence of things” (Altman 1987, as quoted in Grant 2012¹). The transcendence in question is often to do with limitations either emotional or physical — the ordinary rules of narrative fiction cinema are temporarily suspended and anything is possible. Characters break into song, music appears suddenly and interacts with characters in the story world, physical limitations can be overcome, etc. A film musical is, basically, a lie agreed upon.

Having read this piece by Grant, I think I now understand why I love Singin’ in the Rain so much. It’s one of the few musicals that acknowledges, embraces and celebrates the artificiality of the form so comprehensively. The reading examines the scene where this is most obviously foregrounded — “You Were Meant For Me”, in which Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood literally prepares a soundstage with fans and lights for the heartfelt musical number — but the entire film interacts with Hollywood artistry in the same way, from “Make ‘em Laugh” to “Broadway Melody”.

Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind is another film musical aware of the conventions of the form, but in that case the knowing quality is used more directly for comedy. In All That Jazz, it’s used for tragedy.

Do all films exist in a privileged space? Is that not one of the defining qualities of cinema — that anything is possible as long as the filmmaker can adequately suspend the audience’s disbelief? I think the difference is that while all films can break the rules of immersive narrative construction, it is by definition a necessity of the film musical to operate outside the normal rules of cinematic form. A film musical must contain songs performed by characters in the film that, while they may ostensibly be part of the story world, are actually for the audience watching the film, which is a breach of the fourth wall.

This is one of the things I found most interesting about our screening, One Night the Moon. I’ve not seen too many musical dramas in my time, but the film felt constantly in tension between the social realism of what are ultimately pretty horrific themes, and the inherent artificiality of the musical. In the song “This Land is Mine/This Land is Me”, the lyrics and performance are so perfectly in tune with everything else happening in the film that it feels seamless on every level, but the other songs aren’t quite as well integrated, resulting in a somewhat disjointed and confusing film.