The Fisher King and Lost in Translation - Essay Example

English 104- Comparison and Contrast Table of Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 2 Works Cited 7 Introduction This paper undertakes a comparison and contrast analysis of the diegetic as well as the non-diegetic sounds in ‘The Fisher King’ and ‘Lost in Translation’. In both movies both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used to great effect, and this paper looks at the similarities as well as the differences in the way the two movies made use of the soundtrack to enhance the story telling and achieve their desired cinematic and aesthetic goals. One can say that in ‘Lost in Translation’ there is a heavy reliance on diegetic sounds and music, sticking to the natural sounds of the movie and of the key characters because diegetic sounds and music are more in keeping with the central themes, messages and style of narration of the movie. That said, the non-diegetic music in ‘Lost in Translation’ also deserves closer focus for its beauty and for the critical acclaim heaped on the sound track. In Fisher King too, the diegetic sounds are an important aspect of the story telling, even as the non-diegetic sounds at some crucial points in the story are indispensable to the understanding of the film. The latter’s soundtrack in turn is also very instrumental in achieving the movie’s cinematic and aesthetic aims (Genesis Framework; Creative Scotland; Film Score Junkie; FilmSound.org; “Diegetic”; Coppola; Gilliam; Phares; TheSirius911; Martino). Discussion In the movie ‘Fisher King’ sound is at the heart of the story of Jack Lucas, who was a radio personality. As a radio personality, he connected with his audience via sound. Sound and music were the vehicles with which he propelled his radio career. At the start of the movie we see Jack using canned sounds in order to stage his show, to cue his callers and to basically project a kind of online personality that was intelligent, quick thinking, and generally upbeat. The use of certain tracks such as ‘Hit the Road Jack’ seems handpicked to convey a kind of carefree attitude, and it is unfortunate that this carefree attitude also resulted in Jack giving a piece of advice that he did not reflect much about, but which led to the caller translating what Jack said literally and open-firing on a crowd in a yuppie restaurant. It turns out that Robin Williams was there with his wife, and it was because of Jack’s advice that Robin Williams’ wife was killed by gunfire. Here the diegetic sounds at the beginning are canned but very relevant to the story. One can see too that the lyrics to the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’ seem on hindsight to have been a premonition of things to come for the man. He would literally hit the road after being traumatized by the shooting in the restaurant, realizing that is was his advice on radio that led the man to commit the crime. He had been undone by a sense of guilt, and went on a downward spiral (Martino; Gilliam). In a later scene, with Jack trying to get Parry hooked up with Lydia, the movie again resorts to this diegetic formula in the form of Jack staging a “radio show”-like audio atmosphere to get Lydia to sign up to Anne’s video service. Again here the diegetic elements are orchestrated to reinforce the fundamental messages and themes of the story, of Jack using a radio show atmosphere to redeem himself from the restaurant massacre that he believed he had a part in, by coaxing the caller/murderer with ill-conceived nonchalant advice. The radio show formula is the key diegetic element in this part of the movie (Martino (b); Gilliam). Meanwhile one can say that the primary piece of music, that is both diegetic and non-diegetic as it was used in the movie, is the song “How About You”.. This song is about New York in June, and is full of meaning as it was used in the movie. It is worthwhile to note that this is both diegetic and non-diegetic, as the melody is a key soundtrack in the movie, making it a primary non-diegetic piece of music, but was also sung in various key parts of the movie, by Parry and his gang when they were confronting the thugs who ganged up on Jack and tried to douse gasoline to set Jack on fire in one instance. It was sung by the group of homeless people to startling effect, out of place in a crowd of homeless people in the midst of a tense and combative situation. At the end of the movie too both Jack and Parry, triumphant, start singing the first lines of the song, and this singing then transfers over to the background non-diegetic playing of the song itself, as the accompaniment music to the rolling of the credits. The effect of this melding of the diegetic rendering of the song, by the two leading characters in the movie, and with the non-diegetic soundtrack music, is uplifting and very intense emotionally. It is one of the highlights of the movie, and the song is used to great aesthetic effect in this diegetic and non-diegetic manner (Martino (c); Martino (d); Gilliam). In comparison, where the music and sound elements in ‘The Fisher King’, especially with regard to its diegetic and non-diegetic use of the theme song ‘How About You’, the music elements that dominate in ‘Lost in Translation’ are arguably more non-diegetic in nature, with the soundtrack for example being characterized as being of a dreamy and experimental, in many instances non-verbal. Listening to the soundtrack, for instance, many of the tracks are non-mainstream and non-identifiable in pop culture, and are often lacking in any intellectual handle or cultural marker that one can latch unto for meaning and for some kind of verbal and intellectual engagement. A sample from the soundtrack illustrates this. In Kevin Shield’s ‘Goodbye’ the music itself seems abstract and is something that does not convey any intellectual message. It is more akin to ambient music, and the import of the song may be missed if not for the title, which seems to denote a kind of parting. One can take this as being representative of the abstract and non-mainstream nature of the non-diegetic music and sound elements in the film. This is in contrast to the overtly intellectually meaningful use of music in the movie ‘The Fisher King’. This is not to say that the entire non-diegetic set of sound elements in ‘Lost in Translation’ is non-intellectual and ambient. Phoenix’s ‘Too Young’ is catchy and seems to convey the existential condition of the young wife Charlotte relative to the aging Bob Harris. On the whole though, because of the largely non-mainstream nature of the music in this latter movie, there are fewer hooks to engage the viewer intellectually, and the non-diegetic elements convey emotion but not explicit intellectual, word messages in the way that the music in ‘The Fisher King’ does (TheSirius911; Mojica; Gilliam; Phares). The ending scene in the movie highlights the difference in the use of the diegetic and non-diegetic sound elements in ‘Lost in Translation’ as opposed to ‘The Fisher King’. The former movie ends with the use of the mundane diegetic sounds of the busy metropolis as a backdrop of an intense parting between Bob and Charlotte. They hug, Bob murmurs, and they kiss. Charlotte was in tears, but in the end she smiles. The use of the mundane diegetic elements is as backdrop for an intense emotional scene. Then the song ‘Just Like Honey’ by Jesus and Mary Chain cues in with its surreal melody and singing, out of tune with the harsh and mundane sounds of the busy metropolitan Tokyo street with its milling crowds and loud-honking cars. As opposed to the anchoring of the final scene in the latter movie in the theme song ‘How About You’, in ‘Lost in Translation’ the final song is used totally as a non-diegetic musical element to bring about surreal and dream-like effect, totally unrelated to mundane goings-on and sounds in that final scene (juanfegana; TheSirius911; Gilliam; Phares). Works Cited “Diegetic”. Urban Dictionary. 2010. Web. 21 March 2014. Coppola, Sofia. “Lost in Translation”. IMDb. 1991. Web. 21 March 2014. Creative Scotland & D fie foe. “Diegetic Sound”. Moving Image Education. 2009. Web. 21 March 2014. < http://www.movingimageeducation.org/resources/films/the-sandman/sound/sound-effects/diegetic-sound> Film Score Junkie. “Diegetic Music, Non-Diegetic Music, and “Source Scoring””. Film Music Notes.21 April 2013. Web. 21 March 2014. FilmSound.org. “Diegetic Sound, Non-diegetic sound”. FilmSound.org. n.d. Web. 21 March 2014. Genesis Framework. “Two Types of Music in Film and How to Use Each”. Free Stock Music. 2011. Web. 21 March 2014. Gilliam, Terry. “The Fisher King”. IMDb. 1991. Web. 21 March 2014. Juanfegana. “lost in translation full ending scene + Just like honey”. YouTube. 2011. Web. 21 March 2014. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bd2RE0OjyE> Martino, Gabrielle. “the fisher king (1991)- jack lucas the face behind the voice”. YouTube. 2012. Web. 21 March 2014. Martino, Gabrielle (b). “the fisher king (1991)- unusual message for lidia HD”. YouTube. 2012. Web. 21 March 2014. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flntCB75Iac> Martino, Gabrielle (c). “the fisher king (1991)- a brave knight HD”. YouTube. 2012. Web. 21 March 2014. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgyLooq4qpk> Martino, Gabrielle (d). “the fisher king (1991)- jack and parry with pinnochio”. YouTube. 2012. Web. 21 March 2014. Mojica, Frank. “Cinema Sounds: Lost in Translation”. Consequence of Sound. 2010. Web. 21 March 2014. < http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/05/cinema-sounds-lost-in-translation/> Phares, Heather. “Lost in Translation- Original Soundtrack”. AllMusic. 2014. Web. 21 March 2014. < http://www.allmusic.com/album/lost-in-translation-mw0000316244> TheSirius911. “Lost in Translation: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack”. YouTube. 2013. Web. 21 March 2014. Read More