Commentary

Great movies tend to have great soundtracks. Music can intensify scenes that need to be intensified and pacify the scenes that need to be pacified. I don’t know that most classics would be what they are today if not for the songs they utilized (i.e. Pulp Fiction, American Graffiti, The Graduate). Take American Beauty, for instance. A movie that is absolutely fantastic on its own but completely improved upon by the sounds of Thomas Newman’s imagination. That is, a score so versatile and gorgeous that it shadows the darkness of the film while highlighting its uplifting moments.

If there is anything that I have ever envied from the silver screen (aside from the happy endings, the perfect love scenes, and the genius comedic timing), it has been the moments made unforgettable and infinite by their musical counterparts; I can only wish that real life were the same. Only wish for “Playground Love” to start playing in the background while someone kisses you, or the relaxed strumming of “Kaze Wo Atsumete” to kick in at the start of a particularly lazy spring day. Sure this concept would have its downfall. After all, not everyone is keen on finding out that some terrible occurrence has happened in their life through the sudden sound of a bass-line from a very morbid and somber song. The first note of any eerie piano key would send most of us into self-induced catatonia.

Which is why I am incredibly grateful for my mp3 player. It gives me the ability to create my own soundtrack. A soundtrack that drifts me into a cinematic ambient, where the fuzz of a My Bloody Valentine record morphs me into a character of a subtle, black-and-white film on a cold December night. And on the days where my imagination doesn’t take a hold of me, I find that there is nothing better than playing myself – nothing better than walking around Washington Square Park and swaying to Fatboy Slim’s “North West Three.” A great song for a great scene from a lovely little movie that I like to call my life.

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