In Week 6, the class broke down  the musical genre, and watched the film One Night The Moon(2001, Rachel Perkins) along with snippets from some other musicals.

While in groups, we looked at how quickly songs can advance the plot of the genre, while transmitting emotion to the audience. The music can position the audience to like or dislike a certain character and feel a specific way towards them.  An example of this was our feeling of respect to Eddie Redmayne’s character through the song we watched from Les Miserable(2012, Tom Hooper). I surmised from our group discussions that musicals are generally very straightforward, rather than complex. The story is easily understood and explained through song… which also tells the viewer how the characters feel and as I said above, how they themselves should feel.

Musicals also speed up character development, not just the story. A characters traits, motivations and deepest thoughts can be revealed through song while maintaining realism. No-one bats an eye when characters randomly break out in song, or when they bleed out their heart to the screen while everyone else seems unaware of what the character is saying. This is the power of genre, it enables the film creators to utilise certain powers. An example of this in One Night the Moon is when Jim and Albert sing the words ‘the land is mine’ and ‘I am the land’ in unison. This develops both the characters motivations and what understand of the land. It does not seem odd at all to anyone that they have just broken out in song.

Fiona Probyn discusses the duet “This Land is Mine” between Albert and Jim, writing that it expresses ‘lyrically and harmonically, the discordant beliefs held by the black tracker and the settler in regards t their incommensurable views of land ownership'(Probyn, 2002). The two songs create a parallel, which enables both characters beliefs and motivations with the land to be contrasted and developed within minutes. It is able to communicate to the audience the racial tensions in Australia at this time.

This week was very engaging in that I haven’t really looked at musicals before, as they don’t normally interest me. I was able to get a new understanding at how song can tell a story and engage with the audience in ways other films can’t.

 

References

  • Probyn, F. (2002). “This land is mine/This land is me”: Reconciling harmonies in One Night the Moon. Sense of Cinema, 19.