Originally Posted By oneyepete I need your help again. For my humanities class I would like to cover music from 130's to present in the from of documentaries or movies that represented an era like American Grafitti. Mind you they can't be rated R.
Originally Posted By mawnck Hmmm ... well, that post casts a pretty wide net. How many movies are you looking to watch, and what specific topics are you hoping to cover? Here's why I ask. Let's take your example of American Graffiti. That movie represents a very narrow subset of what was going on, popular music-wise, in the late 1950s. It also isn't very accurate from a historical standpoint. Most movies and documentaries are going to focus on one artist or genre of music, rather than giving you an era overview. And are you mostly concerned with American popular music? One more thing: Why the 1930s? Seems to me kind of an odd place to start ....
Originally Posted By MissCandice Oh Brother, Where Art Thou has a lot of early music in it but it's not a movie about the music. It is an adaptation of Homer's story of Ulysses that takes place in the Depression.
Originally Posted By oneyepete I mentioned 30's thinking big band. I would like my kids to be introduced to music as it shaped our culture. (US)What might have been listended to by their great grand parents and so on. I know that music during the Vietnam war was a social commentary about the war. I want them to step away from the crap (IMO)that they liaten to today. This is a new subject to tach for me and I didn't want it to be just an art history class.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Although the music isn't really the movie's focus, and it stretches out over several eras rather than focusing on a single moment in time, you should consider Forrest Gump. It uses era-appropriate music to help set the scene, and work as transitions between various events and group dynamics Across the Universe does a good job of capturing some of the Vietnam-era protests and the like, but it uses the songs out of their original context. It's a great film, but may not exactly show how any of those songs actually shaped the world, since they took some creative license And although it's not a film, I heard a story on NPR about the book Ready for a Brand New Beat: How "Dancing in the Street" Became the Anthem for a Changing America, and it sounds like it would fit perfectly with what you're trying to do. I haven't read it, so I can't offer any insights, but it sounded like they went into a lot of depth on the song's impact (silly me, I always just though it was a fun party song) <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-For-Brand-New-Beat/dp/1594487227">http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Fo...94487227</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I know that music during the Vietnam war was a social commentary about the war.<< Only a VERY small percentage of the "music during the war" was social commentary - but that's what gets the most attention in the media when you talk "late 60s". During that war you had soul, country, pop, hard rock, soft rock, acid rock, bubblegum, folk, easy listening, jazz, blues, remnants of big band, and God knows what else. The obvious choice here is "Good Morning Vietnam" but I'm not sure what it's rated, and the music is second-fiddle to other goings on. Suggestion: Grab yourself one of these: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Stone-Illustrated-History-Rock/dp/0679737286">http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-...79737286</a> It's only rock and roll, but it covers the topic very thoroughly, and is a fun read. (Check out the customer reviews to see what its drawbacks are, though you'll note that it's mostly whining from 70s kids over a favorite act being omitted.)
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 So, to look at it a different way, movie soundtracks from movies that depicted specific historical eras from the 1930's to the present day?
Originally Posted By mawnck OK, here are some actual movies - don't know if there are any R's in here, and you may need to preview some of the older ones for un-PC content ... Hairspray (the original with Ricki Lake) Girl Groups - The Story of a Sound Atlantic Records - The House That Ahmet Built The Girl Can't Help It (good mix of mid-to-late 1950s music there, both rock & roll and otherwise - plus Jayne Mansfield) That Thing You Do (it's not original music from the era, but captures the vibe really well) 42nd Street The Glenn Miller Story This Is Elvis Singin' in the Rain (all the music in it is from the late 1920s-early 1930s!) Xanadu (well OK maybe not)
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Are we talking about fictional films or documentaries as it implies in the title?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Are we talking about fictional films or documentaries as it implies in the title?<< See post 1.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo Songcatcher (<a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210299/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210299/</a>) has some beautiful music (and a young Emmy Rossum). But I think it's set a little earlier than you're looking for: "After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life - a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains. With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted - not only by the rugged purity of the music, but also by the raw courage and endurance of the local people as they carve out meaningful lives against the harshest conditions. It is not, however, until she meets Tom - a handsome, hardened war veteran and talented musician - that she's forced to examine her motivations. Is the "Songcatcher," as Tom insists, no better than the men who exploit the people and extort their land? Written by Sujit R. Varma"
Originally Posted By oneyepete You are right mawnck, that was a very wide net. I had no idea where to begin so I picked the 30s. I guess in picking a specific artist it would need to be someone who had a major influence on the music scene/society of their time. I realize there is overlap. The music during the VN war was a social commentary for me and many of my friends because, for us, it spoke the words and feelings we had about the war and government, protests, tripping out, make love not war etc., maybe a small group but important to us. It was not fun waiting to be and being drafted. Oh well, I don't want to get into arguing anything, just looking for suggestion and help. Thanks
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Oh well, I don't want to get into arguing anything<< Not a thing wrong with any of that. We all have music that's meaningful to us. But if you're going for an overview, you also have to include music that's meaningful to others as well. I'm not sure an overview is what you're after though. That's why I suggest just picking some particularly interesting topics to focus on (certain singers, styles of music, etc.) rather than just, say, "music of the late 1960s" - which includes everything from "Helter Skelter" to "Gitarzan".
Originally Posted By Labuda Bye Bye Birdie maybe? Or how about something like Blues Brothers? Or, since Xanadu was mentioned, how about Grease?
Originally Posted By mawnck I'd veto Bye Bye Birdie. Regardless of whatever merits it possesses, the songwriters had absolutely no clue about the music they were trying to imitate/satirize. Think about it ... a mega-hit Rock and Roll musical in 1960, and a movie in 1963 that featured Ann-Margaret and Bobby Rydell (both teen idol singing stars), and the only hit song to come out of it all was ... "Put On a Happy Face"? TL;DR: If you're interested in popular music, Bye Bye Birdie doesn't contain any. Grease actually had the same problem (Broadway writers trying their hand at a style they weren't competent in), but the movie fixed it by adding a slew of new (albeit stylistically inappropriate) songs, and drastically rearranging the old ones. And you KNOW the kids will love it. If nothing else, they'll hear some big hits from 1978. ;-) Hey! You could show 'em Hair! Uh, wait, maybe not.
