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Oscar and Music: The Rules of Estrangement

Oscars

Stroking Interest?

For film fans, who pay attention to music in the movies, and the industry at-large, the Oscar’s process of honoring music’s contribution to film has been routinely puzzling over the years, or completely forgettable.  You can at least thank the Alone Yet Not Alone controversy this year for stoking interest in the music category.

Generally, you can set your watch to the inevitable complaints with the announcement of the Oscar nominations for Best Original Song.  Some of the most memorable movie music tie-ins don’t qualify, and the general public doesn’t understand why, probably because they are not aware of the narrowly-defined criteria on which voters base their decisions.  And those who do, view the Oscar process as old fashioned, stodgy, and pedantic.

The Rules:

The first rule is that the song must have been originally composed and written for the movie, and it needs to be featured in the body of the movie, or as the first music cue that starts before the end credits.   It cannot be sampled from another song not associated with the movie, or adapted from other versions of existing songs. Another big takeaway is that choices are not solely about how good the songs are…, Nominees are judged on“effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole.”  That last bit being the real kicker, and open to all sorts of interpretation.

So, if you are bummed that Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” (The Great Gatsby) didn’t get nominated, all you need to do is hold your tweet tantrum and remember how it was used and placed in the movie.  Does it check off all the boxes for voters?  Lana Del Rey fans will still not be vindicated, if Disney’s sick trailer for “Maleficent” is any indication of song usage in the film, as it was composed for Disney’s 1959 version of Sleep Beauty.

The View is Great from this Soap Box

Does Oscar fail with the music categories?  I think it’s critical that the winning Best Original Song be part of the film’s dramatic structure, and composed specifically for the work.  But these outdated rules don’t reflect the attitudes of our current generation of film makers and fans, as it relates to the art of music supervision in creating a mood, and an era with music. The Generation of Now is being ignored and it begs the questions, does Oscar really care?

Does Oscar Fail with Music?

Does Oscar really want to be relevant in today’s pop culture? Constant quest for pop culture relevance, music still remains to be the last pillar to fall – with only two categories representing it.   Creating categories for best soundtrack and music supervisor of the year would resonate with both the public and the industry, building Oscar’s credibility.  If the Academy doesn’t address all the great music being created in conjunction with film today, it will continue to open itself to criticism of the Best Original Song category — you can’t be all things to all people.

Need More Convincing?

Consider the era-defining soundtrack work over the years – such as Easy Rider, The Graduate, Juice, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, as well as Oh Brother, Where art Thou?  – Why wouldn’t Oscar want to reward these rather significant musical contributions to film? If a costume designer is eligible to receive an Oscar, why shouldn’t a music supervisor? When I saw and heard David Bowie’s Cat People sequence in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, it felt like a purely original music moment that furthered the story and my experience of the film like no other.
Is this not Oscar worthy?

…This year’s Nominees

As a direct result of the nominations for Best Original Song, the performance offers this year will at least promise that the ceremony will have its share of pop culture moments, including live performances from U2, Karen O, Idina Menzel, and Pharrell Williams.  And interestingly enough, Bette Midler and now Pink will be performing, as well. Interesting line-up…

The Moon Song

It’s definitely a mixed bag this year.  “The Moon Song“, with music by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O, and lyrics by Karen O and Spike Jonze is intimate fair which speaks to the personal tone of the film, as well as the long-standing creative and personal relationship between Spike and Karen, dating back to Spike’s music video directing days.  This should make up for 2008′s snub of “All Is Love” from Where The Wild Things Are.  (you can also link to Spike’s music video for ‘Y Control”)

Ordinary Love

U2′s “Ordinary Love“, produced by Danger Mouse and written for “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom,” doesn’t quite recapture the urgency of “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”, but is as perfect a marriage as you can get, even though it’s a tad on the nose.  It would be a career highlight and first for U2 — and they are doing a lot to promote the movie.

And then there were two…

This leaves us with the two animated pictures – “Frozen” and “Despicable Me 2″.  I absolutely loved both usages…

Let It Go

Let It Go“, music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, is performed by Idina Menzel, and performed on camera by Elsa, one of the film’s protagonists.   Statistically speaking, songs that are performed as part of the film’s narrative do extremely well.  The soundtrack selling as well as it does, also shows how effective the music is within the framework of the feature.

Happy

I feel just as bullish about Pharrell William’s “Happy” in Despicable Me 2.  Who doesn’t want to clap along with Gru, the story’s rehabilitated villain, turned dad, feeling the power of returned romantic love for the first time in his life?  This is a great contemporary song with a CeeLo-ish retro pop feel, and is turning out to be a massive Top 40 hit just in time for the telecast.  I love this franchise, I love Gru, I love the French minions (at least I think it’s a French amalgam), and I especially love how it speaks intelligently to both kids and adults.

Best Original Score

Best Original Score nominations are way more straightforward.  So much beautiful music in this year’s category, with all the greats coming out (John Williams “The Book Thief“, Alexandre Desplat “Philomena“, Thomas Newman “Saving Mr Banks”, and some newcomer surprises (Arcade Fire’s William Butler and Owen Pallett for “Her” and Steven Price for “Gravity“). The one that had the deepest impact on me was Steven Price’s score for “Gravity.”

Everyone talked about the perfect use of 3D for “Gravity” – but the music should have been the buzz topic.  It was the driver for the dramatic narrative in the movie.  The sound felt like an alien that belonged in outer space.  Basically, Sandra Bullock’s co-star.  It’s as if Steven Price put one part Bernard Herrmann, one part John Carpenter and one part “Lost In Space” theme song in a blender for us.  It was disquieting, and disorienting.  A sure fire test for an excellent score?  You know the movie it’s from in the first few seconds.  You simply cannot separate Price’s score from this film.
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