Music is very powerful in that it can trigger and influence our emotions. A simple tune or melody can send someone back to the past of a happy memory or a sad time in their life. This either happens because they can relate to song, perhaps due to the lyrics, or because music was playing during that memory they created. When the elements of tone, tempo and rhythm come together, they perform a powerful spell that can induce deep feelings and a whole range of emotions.
In analyzing one of the final scenes in Caramba, we can denote how music has a powerful effect on the characters participating at the Lava County Labor Day Parade. April-May was the same-old same-old. After winning for nine years in a row and skating to the same song every year, I bet the public was tired and bored of the performance which they observed many times. Also, I feel like the brief moment where we get to see her character, she is portrayed as someone who is a bit of a crab. Now on the other hand we have sweet little Favy. She starts out timid but in the end she has drawn all eyes on the parade on her and is stealing the show.
I think that April-May's performance had become associated with a bad feeling in the eyes and ears of her public. Billy Lee Riley's "Red Hot" was the same piece she performed to every year and I bet when the song started playing, everyone was taken back to the same performance which they new all to well. Favy offered something new, and the way in which she started off slow and gradually increased her momentum drew the attention of the crowd. They were able to create a new happy memory which trumps April-May's same-old same-old.
Very nice, Lucian.
ReplyDeleteNot only do you capture the relationship between memory, place, and song perfectly, but you also do a nice job of applying that relationship to the particular scene at the end of Caramba.
Thanks for your thoughtful and insightful posts and discussion throughout the semester!