topherchris

Jason Kottke’s posts about leitmotifs — those recurring musical themes which we associate with a person, place, or idea — got me thinking dorky thoughts.

It’s interesting to me when these leitmotifs transcend the work they were created for and are used in other contexts while relying upon the original evocation. That is to say, they’re not reused because of how they sound, they’re reused because of what we associate with them.

For example, we all know that the Star Wars Imperial March evokes Darth Vader, or in a wider sense, evil and opposition. Have you ever heard Imperial March blasted through the loudspeakers of a major sporting event as the visiting team is announced to 75,000 drunks? I have, and it’s quite effective at filling a slightly toasted sporting fan with hate.

That piece of music, and hundreds others like it, have become the musical equivalent of winged words.

How about a thought experiment: Imagine you’re watching a movie that takes place in Paris. The Eiffel Tower has just come into view. There’s background music. What music do you hear in your head? You probably don’t know the name of the piece you’re remembering — but I’d guess there’s a good chance that most of us (in Western societies anyway) are “hearing” something similar in our brains. For most of us, trying to describe it would be futile.

It’s not unlike we’re all speaking the same language in our own heads. It’s difficult for us to communicate to each other using this language, because we don’t come with built-in iPods that have the same type of holographic memory that our brains use for speedy access. Perhaps one day we will. Still, it’s being communicated to us constantly. There’s so much to listen to.

And yes, I realize that I need to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind and just get it over with.