Moulin Rouge The Music example essay topic

Musicals, because of the lack of sound until the late 20's, were the last major movie genre to appear (web). Their roots are quite evident in broadways and operettas and they are defined as narrative movies with musical and dance numbers which carry along the story line. Two great musicals from two different film eras will be studied throughout this paper. Their similarities, but also differences shall be pointed out and argued by their use of film form.

The more recent musical to breakthrough is Moulin Rouge (2001) directed by Baz Luhrmann. Although it got many mixed reviews, I find it quite rich in film form. The movie unrolls in one long flashback of the protagonist, Christian. He goes on a quest to the famous Moulin rouge to search for acceptance of his bohemian values that have been oppressed by his father. He then meets a group of actors who are trying to perform a play at the Moulin Rouge night club and joins them. Christian goes one night to the Moulin Rouge to meet with who would be the star of their play, Satine: but she confuses him with the wealthy Duke, who is to invest in remodeling the Burlesque house into a theater.

Christian and Satine fall in love but must keep their relationship a secret because the Duke obtains the deeds to the Moulin Rouge and has been promised to be with Satine if he invests. The story of their Play reflects the story of the movie and both begin to unravel together in an extremely racy and uncommon fashion. The editing of Moulin Rouge has been one of the topics of the film which is either loved or hated. Although most of it is normal continuity editing there are two specific times throughout the movie which are far from. The first is Christians first time going to the Moulin Rouge after dining absinthe. The cuts are executed at an extremely high speed and the continuity is broken in almost every single shot.

This type of editing can be explained by Christians overwhelming feelings of being in a completely different world than he's used to and also being under the influence. Luhrmann also does this in another movie, Romeo and Juliet, (1997), when the main character takes drugs and then goes to a party. The scene in the Moulin Rouge is edited as a montage sequence allowing us to feel the rapidness and confusion of the main character but also allows us to imagine what the Moulin Rouge would be like in our times by using modern mixes in the soundtrack. The second sequence that montage editing is used is when Satine is with the Duke and Christian becomes jealous. During a remix of the song "Roxanne" the cuts "collide": Christian walks away from the camera vs. the duke walking toward the camera. This is similar to Soviet Montage films (ex.

Battleship Potemkin, which we saw in class). The synchronization of the ascending intensity of the music and the shots becoming shorter and more frequent allows tension to build up and demonstrates the characters emotions well. At other times in the Film other continuity rules are broken. An example of this is during a musical number when they jump off Satine's balcony into the sky and the 180 degree rule is broken. This I believe was intentional to emphasize the impossibilities which occur in musicals all the time such as breaking into song and jumping off elephants onto clouds: which is exactly what happens in that scene. Thematically there is a lot of emphasis on costumes and set.

The costumes worn by almost everybody in the film are very elaborate and colorful. They reflect the period in which the movie is trying to re-create. One article of clothing which re-occurs is Satine's veil. The first time we see her wearing it is when she goes to convince the Duke that she loves him and not Christian.

The second time is when she goes to convince Christian that she loves the Duke not him. The fact that she is wearing it on two separate occasions to tell a lie is a direct link to her hiding her true self behind the veil. The veil can also be considered like a curtain, on the stage where she acts, therefore we know both time she is merely acting and not stating her true feelings. The set, like most musicals is quite extravagant. Being unlike anything you would see in your day to day life. The movie, having been set in and around the Moulin rouge and their play allows it to be more convincing.

An apparent symbol in the mise-en-scene is the bird in the bird cage symbolizing Satine's entrappement in what is referred to as the underworld. The scene where Satine is about to go meet the Duke so that she can become a "real" actress we see the bird cage located right next to her. We are also again reminded of that symbol when she sings "One Day I'll Fly Away" after meeting with Christian. The music used in Moulin Rouge is all modern songs although the movie is set in the late 1800's. The recycling of music for thematic purposes is a reoccurring trend that happens a lot in the musical genre.

In Moulin Rouge the music also sometimes stands in for dialogue almost like an opera more than a musical, though there are many times where the music has no purpose at all. The other musical which I chose to analyze is Singin' in the Rain (1952), directed by Stanley Done and Gene Kelly. The movie is extremely lively but also very typical of the time. The story of this movie which was made in 1952 is somewhat of a historical account of the late 20's when sound was introduced to the cinematic world. The story revolves around one of the most famous acting duos Lockwood and Lamont. The production studio they work for, Monumental Pictures, wants to turn the latest movie into a "talkie" to keep up with the latest blockbuster The Jazz Singer.

The problem occurs because Lina Lamont, the female counterpart of the duo, has a horrible voice. Meanwhile, Don Lockwood falls in love with a starving actress, Kathy Seldem who has a beautiful voice. Together they come up with the idea to dub Kathy's voice over Lina's. The truth is that during the time when sound was introduced this was a reoccurring problem for some of the actors and actresses in Hollywood. During the majority of this narrative film continuity editing is obviously dominant.

Similar to Moulin Rouge this movie also has two sequences that "break the rules". The first is the Musical number when Monumental Pictures decides to attempt their first movie incorporating sound. It is a montage sequence that begins with a few headlines from a newspaper spinning into the frame announcing the arrival of sound. This is followed by a few cuts to different musical numbers which don't really have any real connection to one another. All of this happens at quite a fast pace although it is not even comparable to the extreme rapidness of the Moulin Rouge sequence.

The last musical extract that is shown includes one of the main characters Kathy Seldem as one of the extras; this allows this outburst to tie back in with the story. The second time that the continuity is broken is by sudden set changes without any explanation. It is in a musical number, "Broadway Melody Ballet". It is a daydream of Don's which does not relate very well to the actual plot of the movie. This sequence runs 14 minutes long and took $600 000 of the low budget film (web). It tells the story of a young man looking for fame.

He eventually meets his dream girl through this attempt at success and many satirical stereotypes of mobster movies get twisted in at the same time. Many different locations and sets are very elaborate in Singin' in the Rain. This is one Generic element which is seen in almost all musicals. From a dietetic standpoint it does not throw you off because; the story revolves around movie studios where it is understandable to have elaborate sets. A good example of this is when Don wants to confess his feelings to Kathy, so he takes her to one of the empty studio lots to create the mood.

He uses lights for an artificial sunset and turns on the wind machine so that it seems as though it is a nice summer's breeze. As stated before, musicals often recycle music. In Singin' in the Rain that is exactly the case. With the exception of one, every single song had come from another musical (Roger Ebert, web). Using songs which had been in other musicals helped strengthen the underlying parody of musicals and other genre films.

The outbreaks of song and dance sometimes replace dialogue, such as when Don expresses his feelings to Kathy in the studio. At other times it is incorporated as a flashback or daydream similar to "Broadway Melody Ballet". The other songs are explained just as an expression of the characters emotions. In conclusion, the many similarities of musicals such as set, montage editing, music and the way it is incorporated; are all very evident throughout both musicals. The large amount of time which has passed between the creation of the two explains the thematic difference between them, notably the explicitness of Moulin Rouge versus the toned down Singin' in the Rain. Overall they both were extremely enjoyable to watch..