Movie musicals

1. Movie musicals Film Studies v2.0 Unit 12

2. Movie Musicals • The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative (story). • The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers.”

3. Movie Musicals • The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. • Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a real theater. • Performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the audience.

4. First Musicals • The 1930s through the 1960s is considered the golden age of the musical, when the genre's popularity was at its highest in the Western world. • Hollywood released more than 100 musical films in 1930, but only 14 in 1931. • By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut the music from films that were then being released.

5. Busby Berkeley • The taste in musicals revived again in 1933 when director Busby Berkeleybegan to enhance the traditional dance number with ideas drawn from the drillprecision he had experienced as a soldier during WWI. • In films such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, Berkeley choreographed in his unique style. • Berkeley's numbers typically begin on a stage but gradually transcend the limitations of theatrical space: his ingenious routines, involving human bodies forming patterns like a kaleidoscope, could never fit onto a real stage, and the intended perspective is often the Bird’s-Eye view.

6. The Depression • In the 1930s, musicals proved to be a particularly appropriate genre both for addressing and escaping the urgent problems of the Great Depression. • The very nature of dance itself suggests a sense of social harmony, for dancing partners move in step with each other, and in film musicals dances are always done perfectly and with apparent spontaneity. • While dance was a useful metaphor of communal order, the lavish spectacles created by Hollywood musicals also took audiences' thoughts away from the sorrows in their own lives.

7. 1940s & 50s • Musical stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were among the most popular and highly respected personalities in Hollywood during the golden age. • During the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM) headed by Arthur Freed made the transition from old-fashioned musical films, whose formula had become repetitive, to something new. • Starting in 1944 with Meet Me in St. Louis, the Freed Unit produced some of the most popular and well-known examples of the genre, including Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon (1953).

8. 1960s • In the 1960s, 1970s and continuing up to today, the musical film became less of a bankable genre that could be relied upon for sure-fire hits. Audiences for them lessened and fewer musical films were produced as the genre became less mainstream and more specialized. • In the 1960s the success of the films West Side Story, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Oliver! and Funny Girl suggested that the traditional musical was in good health. • However, popular musical tastes were being heavily affected by rock and rolland the freedom and youth associated with it. Most of the musical films of the 1950s and 1960s such as Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music were straightforward adaptations or re-stagingsof successful Broadway productions, rather than original films.

9. 1970s & 80s • In the 1970s, film culture and the changing demographics of filmgoers placed greater emphasis on gritty realism, while the pure entertainment and theatricality of classical era Hollywood musicals was seen as old-fashioned. Popular musicals of the 70s included Jesus Christ Superstar, Cabaret, Hair, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory • In the 1980s, many animated Disney films of the period included traditional musical numbers. Starting with 1989's The Little Mermaid, the Disney Renaissance gave new life to the film musical. Other successful animated Disney musicals included Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, andPocahontas. 

10. 21st Century • In the 21st century the musical movie was reborn with darker musicals such as Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd, andLes Miserables. • One specific musical trend was the rising number of jukebox musicals based on music from various pop/rock artists. Examples of jukebox musical films included Mamma Mia, Across the Universe, Rock of Ages, and Jersey Boys. • Disney also returned to musicals with Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, andFrozen.

11. Musical: Examples • In the following film clips, identify how each film reflects the conventions and development of the genre. • Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) • On the Town (1949) • An American in Paris (1951) • The Sound of Music (1965) • Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) • Hair (1979) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • Moulin Rouge!(2001) • Camp (2003) • Sweeney Todd (2007) • The Muppets (2011) • Frozen (2013)