Musicals were always not part of my film vocabulary until I enrolled for this studio, Exploding Genre. I thought it would come second nature to me to identify what makes a musical (coming from a music and audio background from my tertiary days in Singapore). But I was so wrong…

What really goes into making a musical? The readings talked about having a musical film or a film musical? Film musicals tend to have a song number in an artificial space, take the film, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” directed by Howard Hawks, it starts off with a musical number to set the mood for the rest of the film where two girls singing on a cabaret stage to an audience, dominated with males and one in particular was a rich men who was soon to be one of the lead actress’s husband.

The readings also mention that the musical genre is the only genre that breaks the classical narrative rules of rigid logic due to its emotional situation. Characters break into songs and dance to emote their feelings and cue certain emotions from within the viewers. From the type of song they sing, to their intricate dance moves, to the location where they are performing, all adds up to providing an emotional experience to the viewer to express what the characters are feeling at that point.

This week has really opened my to the whole Musical genre. Re-looking into what makes a musical and some musicals mentioned in class did appeal to me and made my list of films to watch.