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Music and the Fictive Dream- Star Wars: Main Title

The music-


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXDnFYu91vY






The Fictive Piece: Star Wars: A New Hope


The music: Star Wars: Main Title- March 8th, 1977 Denham, England


Biographical information


The Star Wars film series is one of the most well-known and impressive theatrical works in the history of the world. Written and directed by Stephen Spielberg, the Star Wars saga gave him a lot of credibility. The series is 12 movies long, but for this assignment we will be focusing on the first film, Star Wars: A New Hope. Released in 1977, this culturally icon film tells the story of a rebellion, an antagonist, and a magical space knight. This was one of the first movies to make use of ground breaking visual effects and a beautiful soundtrack. Star Wars: A New Hope also included a few 

breakouts actors for the time. Esteemed actors such as Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher (RIP) were also highlighted by their amazing performances. Soundtrack wise, Star Wars: A New Hope is also very notable. Composed by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra completed the recording in March 1977 in 8 different sessions.


The “why?” of Star Wars: Main Title:


The song I chose to specifically highlight is the first song of the movie. For those of you who have watched the movie, you’ll know the unique beginning of the movie. Spielberg specifically said that the first song needed to be something special. The opener of the movie is literally empty space (like stars/moon), with a floating list of words describing the situation the start of the movie happens in. Spielberg wanted a "blazingly brilliant fanfare" of brass instruments. This work really sets the whole tone for the movie. It’s upbeat, dramatic, and inspiring. People who have seen the movie know that the way the song flows mirrors the plot of the entire movie. The overwhelming theme of heroism and adventure Star Wars: Main Title emotes is necessary to the story.



Musical Elements:

The use of dynamics in the song is part of what helps it tell such an accurate story of the film. The song is played in fortissmo, with a contrasting section B, bars 12 to 19 the dynamic is played in mezzo forte. Fortissimo just means "very loudly", mezzo forte just means "moderately loudly". The difference in volume helps depict the reaching upward, gathering strength for another try, and attainment of the goal. The texture of the song is best represented by the contrasting lower and upper brass sections highlighting the heroic and fanfare-y vibes of the song.


Social Commentary- Star Wars: Main Title :


Piggybacking off of the themes of heroism and adventure within the song, translate into the film. During the late 1970’s space travel was certainly at the top of everyone’s minds. The Apollo lunar expedition would make it’s 3 final trips beginning in early 1970. The idea of a movie outlining the excitments and unknowns of space was very alluring. People were beginning to have thoughts about “what is out there?” and what it could look like. This was also a time when the U.S was beginning to unite as a nation, and end segregation. The inclusion of so many different types of alien characters in the film is a symbol for the shift we were making as a nation. The visual display of these questions coupled with the emerging special effects technology made Star Wars: A New Hope a success. Additionally, this was also a time The extensive use of brass in the piece is used to give it  a more majestic and magical theme.




Personal Reaction:


Star Wars: A New Hope is one of my favorite movies of all time. Growing up we never had TV stations, but we did have a lot of movies. My brother and I would watch all of the movies all the time. I can play most of the soundtrack of the first movie back in my head extremely easily. When I think of Star Wars: Main Title, I imagine the infamous intro… but also some of the heroic highlights throughout the film, most of which have a different soundtrack behind them (the song is used in a few other scenes besides the intro). The theme of the song is really THAT good. Relating back to the various aspects I discussed in the social commentary section of my post, the music really provides an upbeat and masterful soundtrack to a colorfully diverse and mold-breaking movie for the time. Composer John Williams nailed the mark in terms of giving the opening of such a revolutionary movie a timeless and effective sound that sticks within whoever hears it. 


Carney, Emily, and Name *. “Space in the Seventies: The Decade That Brought the Human Element Back to Spaceflight - National Space Society.” National Space Society - Working to Create a Spacefaring Civilization, 26 Sept. 2021, https://space.nss.org/space-in-the-seventies-the-decade-that-brought-the-human-element-back-to-spaceflight/.

“Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope.” Lucasfilm, 17 Aug. 2018, https://www.lucasfilm.com/productions/episode-iv/.

 

Comments

  1. Jared BatinApril 10, 2023 at 3:52 PM

    Nice choice of music for this blog post! I agree that Star Wars music has a “timeless” sound and that John Williams nailed it. Star Wars has some of the most well-known theme songs of all time, whether you watch it or not. In my opinion, since this was all composed in 1977, this work was ahead of its time.

    On the social commentary, I completely agree with that this music has an adventurous and heroic sound! The music matches exactly the visuals of the film and the message they are trying to portray. I like how you added the symbolism and the connections to the real-world events happening at that time.

    The main thing that is missing is a biography of the composer, John Williams. I would like to know more about him and his journey to score this film. I think this article would be very helpful for this topic:
    https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/john-williams-and-star-wars/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rachel ShawcroftApril 12, 2023 at 2:40 PM

    It is amazing how even a song without lyrics accompanying it can add to the mood of a film. The song itself is so easily recognizable, even by people who have not watched the movies. I do agree that the song has a very marching and victorious feel to it. I found this website that talks about how they got the effect of the moving words in the introduction with the limited technology they had at the time. If you are interested, you can find that here. https://www.cultureslate.com/explained/how-did-the-star-wars-opening-crawl-come-to-be

    ReplyDelete
  3. Soren LarsenApril 12, 2023 at 11:27 PM

    The opening theme for Star Wars certainly is very memorable, so I'd say its a job well done. Everybody who has every seen a Star Wars film will know that opening. I'd also agree that it does prepare the audience for some exploration. Fun fact, the opening theme is actually Luke's theme for the movies. A lot of themes have been repurposed over the years in Star Wars, and this is one of them, but originally it was Luke's theme. Similarly the "Force Theme" was originally Obi-Wan's theme. Here's a link to a great video explaining this stuff:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_8-dWSLDWI

    ReplyDelete

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