Fannish5: Songs!
Name five effective uses of songs in movies or tv shows.
Must not give only SCC answers. Must not give only SCC answers. Must not give... okay, I'll try. Also, because it's all about the matching of music with visuals, I've included every single scene chosen, courtesy of YouTube.
1) The West Wing, season 2 finale, Two Cathedrals. Song: Brothers in Arms, by Dire Straits. . These are the last minutes of s2, the culmination of the season-long arc around Bartlet's illness, his keeping said illness secret and the decision he has to make as to whether or not he'll run for a second term after going public with these news. A superb ending of a superb season and a wonderful episode:
2) Six Feet Under, season 5 finale (series finale). Song: Breathe Me, by Sia. . The very last scene, in which Claire leaves Los Angeles and drives into her future, after everyone else's story arcs have more less been wrapped up. And while she drives, we fast forward through the next decades and see all our characters die, until Claire herself dies of old age, and we're back again with young Claire, life still ahead of her. This sounds depressing, but isn't, at all. Six Feet Under, with its main characters being undertakers (and their significant others), has always made mortality a central issue, both in humorous and serious ways. I can't think of another series which shows us the death of all our beloved characters and makes this feel joyful in addition to being sad, with the emphasis on joyful; it comes with the presentation (and of course with the fact these deaths don't take place all at once but are stretched over many, many years). Judge for yourselves:
3) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, s1 finale. Song: The Man Comes Around, by Johnny Cash. So you're a small budget series and want to show your season arc villain effortlessly killing off an entire FBI squad, as well as confront regular James Ellison with said villain. What do you do? You don't show the actual fight at all, is the reply. Instead, you use the wonderfully ingenious visual of a swimmingpool, a lot of dead bodies and Johnny Cash. And it beats a lot of explicit action scenes in terms of emotional impact without a sweat. Behold:
4) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, s2 opening episode, teaser of same. Song: Samson and Delilah, arranged by Bear McCreary, performed by Shirley Manson. I just had to use more than one SCC example, and I couldn't decide between these two. . These first few minutes of the second season resolve the cliffhanger of the s1 finale and introduce two important s2 themes in minimum time. They re-establish just how dangerous Cameron is, and how easy she could turn on the Connors; they show us the human menace, Sarah's problem when being confronted with human foes instead of machines; they produce the two events John will deal with for much of the season - what he does when he and Sarah are attacked by humans, and the very real possibility Cameron could kill him. Yet who is Samson, and who is Delilah in this particular constellation? The possibilities keep changing, because of the way the visuals and lyrics are matched:
5) Doctor Who, season 3 of New Who, season finale, but for once an early and not a late finale scene. Song: I can't decide by the Scissors Sisters. Aka the one the Americans didn't get to see in the miserably cut version of this episode that was broadcast over there, which is a real pity because it really sums up the cheerful insanity of Simm!Master. Plus you know, love, hate or be indifferent to RTD, but that song really fits the Doctor/Master relationship through the ages, and he knew it. If Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords is Rusty's Doctor/Master fanfic put on screen, this is his personal Master song vid. That's what you get when you put a fanboy in charge of the show. And sometimes, it's brilliant:
Must not give only SCC answers. Must not give only SCC answers. Must not give... okay, I'll try. Also, because it's all about the matching of music with visuals, I've included every single scene chosen, courtesy of YouTube.
1) The West Wing, season 2 finale, Two Cathedrals. Song: Brothers in Arms, by Dire Straits. . These are the last minutes of s2, the culmination of the season-long arc around Bartlet's illness, his keeping said illness secret and the decision he has to make as to whether or not he'll run for a second term after going public with these news. A superb ending of a superb season and a wonderful episode:
Click to view2) Six Feet Under, season 5 finale (series finale). Song: Breathe Me, by Sia. . The very last scene, in which Claire leaves Los Angeles and drives into her future, after everyone else's story arcs have more less been wrapped up. And while she drives, we fast forward through the next decades and see all our characters die, until Claire herself dies of old age, and we're back again with young Claire, life still ahead of her. This sounds depressing, but isn't, at all. Six Feet Under, with its main characters being undertakers (and their significant others), has always made mortality a central issue, both in humorous and serious ways. I can't think of another series which shows us the death of all our beloved characters and makes this feel joyful in addition to being sad, with the emphasis on joyful; it comes with the presentation (and of course with the fact these deaths don't take place all at once but are stretched over many, many years). Judge for yourselves:
3) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, s1 finale. Song: The Man Comes Around, by Johnny Cash. So you're a small budget series and want to show your season arc villain effortlessly killing off an entire FBI squad, as well as confront regular James Ellison with said villain. What do you do? You don't show the actual fight at all, is the reply. Instead, you use the wonderfully ingenious visual of a swimmingpool, a lot of dead bodies and Johnny Cash. And it beats a lot of explicit action scenes in terms of emotional impact without a sweat. Behold:
4) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, s2 opening episode, teaser of same. Song: Samson and Delilah, arranged by Bear McCreary, performed by Shirley Manson. I just had to use more than one SCC example, and I couldn't decide between these two. . These first few minutes of the second season resolve the cliffhanger of the s1 finale and introduce two important s2 themes in minimum time. They re-establish just how dangerous Cameron is, and how easy she could turn on the Connors; they show us the human menace, Sarah's problem when being confronted with human foes instead of machines; they produce the two events John will deal with for much of the season - what he does when he and Sarah are attacked by humans, and the very real possibility Cameron could kill him. Yet who is Samson, and who is Delilah in this particular constellation? The possibilities keep changing, because of the way the visuals and lyrics are matched:
5) Doctor Who, season 3 of New Who, season finale, but for once an early and not a late finale scene. Song: I can't decide by the Scissors Sisters. Aka the one the Americans didn't get to see in the miserably cut version of this episode that was broadcast over there, which is a real pity because it really sums up the cheerful insanity of Simm!Master. Plus you know, love, hate or be indifferent to RTD, but that song really fits the Doctor/Master relationship through the ages, and he knew it. If Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords is Rusty's Doctor/Master fanfic put on screen, this is his personal Master song vid. That's what you get when you put a fanboy in charge of the show. And sometimes, it's brilliant: