Emergence of Musical Film and Its Influence on Society
Essay Question: Critically discuss and describe the emergence of musical film and its influence on society.
"The musical is one of the most popular film genres among both audiences and film scholars, probably for many of the same reasons - the spectacle, the music and the enjoyable predictability of the outcome weighed against the pleasure of the varied details."
Bill Marshall and Robynn Stilwell
A proverb once claimed that "in life, you are either being entertained or educated. If you aren 't having fun, you 're probably learning something." Taken from the purest form, this statement explains that in common day occurrences, the people in society are challenged with opportunities that will either help them grow as a person or keep themselves occupied and happy about life. Film directors and writers seem to keep this in mind when creating cinematic representation. They want to constantly integrate the concepts of living and learning in innovative, unconventional ways; developing the dimension of media entertainment of musical films. For the first time in film history, directors and writers showcase a new type of convention, transgressing from spoken language ("talkies") into song and dance numbers. Through the discipline of academic research, I will explore the issues of emotions being brought into life, turning fantasy into reality, popularity and audience pull ', political and social controversy and the new ' generation of musical films and will critically discuss and describe the emergence of the musical film phenomenon, and how these subjects combine to shape cinematic representation and the society that views it.
Emotions Brought to Life Channeling emotions is what films generally do best, standing in as a key way in which the audience connects with the actors on the silver screen. Without a conventional approach to emotions, the actors ' intentions and motivations may not be understood very well. The emergence of sound in 1929 meant that
"The musical is one of the most popular film genres among both audiences and film scholars, probably for many of the same reasons - the spectacle, the music and the enjoyable predictability of the outcome weighed against the pleasure of the varied details."
Bill Marshall and Robynn Stilwell
A proverb once claimed that "in life, you are either being entertained or educated. If you aren 't having fun, you 're probably learning something." Taken from the purest form, this statement explains that in common day occurrences, the people in society are challenged with opportunities that will either help them grow as a person or keep themselves occupied and happy about life. Film directors and writers seem to keep this in mind when creating cinematic representation. They want to constantly integrate the concepts of living and learning in innovative, unconventional ways; developing the dimension of media entertainment of musical films. For the first time in film history, directors and writers showcase a new type of convention, transgressing from spoken language ("talkies") into song and dance numbers. Through the discipline of academic research, I will explore the issues of emotions being brought into life, turning fantasy into reality, popularity and audience pull ', political and social controversy and the new ' generation of musical films and will critically discuss and describe the emergence of the musical film phenomenon, and how these subjects combine to shape cinematic representation and the society that views it.
Emotions Brought to Life Channeling emotions is what films generally do best, standing in as a key way in which the audience connects with the actors on the silver screen. Without a conventional approach to emotions, the actors ' intentions and motivations may not be understood very well. The emergence of sound in 1929 meant that
References: Barrios, Richard. 1995. A Song In the Dark: The Birth of Musical Film. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press Dyer, Richard. 2000. "The Colour of Entertainment" Pp. 23-30 in Musicals: Hollywood & Beyond, edited by Bill Marshall and Robynn Stilwell Feuer, Jane. 1982. The Hollywood Musical. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Kemp, Peter. 2000. "How Do You Solve a ‘Problem ' Like Maria von Poppins?" Pp Laing, Heather. 2000. "Emotion by Numbers: Music, Song and the Musical." Pp Marshall, Bill and Robynn Stilwell. 2000. Musicals: Hollywood & Beyond. Exeter, UK: Intellect Books. Pearl, Monica. 2000. "Zero Patience: AIDS, Music, and Reincarnation Films." Pp Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2002. "Technicolor." Boston, MA. Retrieved 15 July 2005 Wood, Michael. 1975. America in the Movies. New York, New York: Basic Books.