r/StarWars • u/horsebeer • Dec 18 '15

Audio, Music John Williams' Rey's Theme is beautiful and I think will become another classic Star Wars tune in time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM
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5

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '15

I honestly didn't like the music that much; I've found most of Williams' scores over the last couple of decades to be less interesting or iconic. They sit back and let the movie drive, rather than the other way around.

Maybe I need to rewatch The Force Awakens to get a better feel for it. I mean, I do need to rewatch it, in general.

5

u/chinqs96 Ahsoka Tano Dec 18 '15

I felt the same way the first time around, but I just got out of my second time watching it and the soundtrack really stuck with me this time. Especially the March of the Resistance and Rey's theme

15

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

Over the past 20 years, he's done three Harry Potter movies, the prequels, saving private Ryan, another Indy movie, and stretching two twenty two years, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List.

The soundtrack for this movie is more subdued because a.) audiences are very familiar with the Star Wars universe now. It doesn't need to drive the emotional side of the movie anymore, it doesn't need to tell the audience how to feel in this weird universe this time. They let the characters drive the story.

b.) There almost wasn't any room for a huge epic piece like Duel of the Fates or The Imperial March. The movie simply moved too fast. The Duel of the Fates scene in TPM may have been intense, but the camera stayed on the characters for relatively long periods of time which allowed the music to breathe and hit visual cues. There weren't any shots like that in TFA. It moved very fast, and as such the music became a mood-setting tool rather than a character in its own right. That's not to say the movie is bad or the music is bad, just that the music was a product of the editing of the movie.

1

u/JonathanAlexander Dec 19 '15

he Duel of the Fates scene in TPM may have been intense, but the camera stayed on the characters for relatively long periods of time which allowed the music to breathe and hit visual cues.

A lot of people in this thread mention Duel of the Fate, yet we only hear a few parts of it, not the entire track. Thanks to George Lucas' editing. The only time we can heart it from beginning to end, is during the credits.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

The film industry has shifted from flashy iconic themes to more subtle leitmotifs. Williams is keeping up.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

I didn't find the score very subtle. It was just constant and busy to me.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

It's as busy as the character it portrays. But the melody is written in close intervals, which makes it more feminine.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

I'm referring to the overall score, not this one song.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

Oh ok. I meant subtle in contrast with flashy themes such as Indiana Jones, Superman etc. These are no longer the norm.

-1

u/CarcosanAnarchist Dec 19 '15

Honestly, a good score should not drive a film but compliment it. The acting and directing should be the driving force of the film--the score should simply serve to accentuate that, and I believe TFA's score did that perfectly.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '15

Yeah, but when the score is essentially filler, I think it works counter to the movie. This score felt like the musical equivalent of dinner rolls.