In this week’s show, I played music from a movie that is a “timeless” classic, American Graffiti. I say “timeless” in quotes because in a punny kind of way, the movie itself is saying something about the temporal aspect of life through the music that is also, in a way, timeless. Nevertheless it is the very reality and fate of life that is examined in this movie, American Graffiti. The musical score in the movie, which I played on my radio show, takes the listener to a time before vulgar imagery and ideas were on display in music. The music’s cheerfulness complements the story of the movie American Graffiti because, as the characters in the movie, who are played by some very famous actors; the youth and innocence of these characters, who are excited to meet the world they’ve been told about, with the tools they’ve been provided as a standard equipment for going through life, amount to ultimately tragic fates, even if the dramatic irony is created by really only the knowledge of history the audience of the movie possesses.
I like the movie American Graffiti for this reason, and decided to play 60’s hits from the soundtrack of the movie portray the 1960s as a dramatic decade, with the potential to create some quality art. The critical perception of the movie is similar to the recount I’ve provided: the state of reflection, or perhaps the dramatic irony, is a tension that depends upon a prior knowledge about history for the effect to take place. I like music from the 1960s because it tells a story, maybe because of the situation I’ve depicted. Even if the music from the 1960s, the music I played from American Graffiti, may seem naively cheerful, the perhaps somewhat metaphysical or ontological state of affairs, it arguably provides fodder for appreciators of art, perhaps albeit ironically.
One might be able to imagine the darker depths of the reality of history or of art when contemplating the whole story of the music from American Graffiti. As I touched on in the episode, the coming-of-age drama that may transcend generational gaps, and that has appeal spanning the decades, helps achieve a metaphysical solace about one’s place in society.
I think a lot of this analysis of a movie or music, is speculative, but nonetheless offers an insight that uniquely can give art value. Why else should one listen to a radio show about music? I think the more of an idea people have about what they’re listening to, the better the music is, and the more they can enjoy it. I hope music from the 1960s is interesting to people in this way, it certainly is to me. Cultural analysis is a difficult procedure to conduct objectively; often times with art nowadays, the old deferral to it as a matter of opinion is second-nature.
History and 1960s music is really entertaining and a fun subject to examine. I hope to further explore these in the following episodes.
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