The Role of Popular Music as Part of the New Hollywood

A New Wave in American Cinema

A new generation of filmmakers sprouted in the American cinema in late 1960 and early 1970s. The rising stars introduced innovative, thematically complex and morally ambiguous movies. There were new stylistic approaches that were different from traditional and classical norms (Harris, 360). Revolutionary cinema wave re-imagined and re-worked some of the genres such as war, crime and western culture films. Writers, editors, composers, and cinematographers altered the sound of American movies. The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde and Night of the Living Dead are some of the films in the new (Harris, 361).

The Role of Popular Music in “The Graduate” and “Baby Driver”

The paper compares the role of role of popular music as part of the new Hollywood using the movie The Graduate and the film Baby driver.

Popular Music in “The Graduate”

The Graduate film 1967 used popular song such as ’The Sound of Silence’ by folk-rock duo Garfunkel and Simon (Levine, et al. 2007). The artists opened up to older audiences that turned director, Nichols’ legendary into filmmaking maverick of the 1960s. It would turn the little-known actor, Hoffman, into the household name. In addition, it set a precedent on how popular musicians can influence emotional impact of film’s music. The Traditional score by composer Grusin David approach was unpopular but played an integral part in film’s impact. The song established a sad feeling. It may sound non-digital but it reinforces the theme of alienation music acted a spacing device during editing. The producer further requested Simon to write new songs for the movie. By the end of edit in the film, only one song was complete ’It’s not for the movie’. Simon changed the soundtrack album to Mrs. Robinson’ which played an essential role in propelling the song to the top of the music chat in 1968.

Music Integration in “Baby Driver”

It is not new to choreograph an elaborate scene into an energetic song. However, Edgar Wright framed the different scenes in a manner that reflected the context of every song and the Baby Driver film the songs by Jon Spencer, The Dammed and Queen are presented in a manner that allows the audience to enjoy full spectacle of car-chase musical. The crime file illustrates chaotic scenes that help in awakening other gems through Laundromat toe-tapping and apartment dances. The soundtrack creates music nerds. The music helps in meshing and integrating the narrative in a film.

Work Cited

Harris, Mark. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. Print.

Levine, Joseph E, Mike Nichols, Lawrence Turman, Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Robert Surtees, Dave Grusin, Paul Simon, and Charles Webb. The Graduate. Beverly Hills, CA: MGM DVD, 2007