The purpose of this blog is to create an outlet for SUU Communication graduate students engaged in the critical analysis of popular culture artifacts to post insightful contributions to our understanding of popular culture.
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Star wars musical motifs
This being the last post, I wanted to go for something I absolutely adore and that is Star Wars of course and the music that lies in between the scenes. That of the imperial march, and the duel on the planet Mustafar. These two musical moments impact how we feel for each of these characters so let’s take a deeper dive into that of the imperial march and what it makes us think of.
The imperial march to me means the end of whatever you were doing on your planet, the impending doom of I’m not going to make it am I? The imperial march gives the sense of power that emanates as Darth Vader goes about the ship or into any room really. The imperial march gets you ready to see all the clones that are also about to go down to the planet and conquer it. The hope of being able to get away seems to die by the powerful force of someone else. It’s seeming impossible to defeat these Sith who control the balance of the planet you’re on. In all other ways be prepared to be conquered or be prepared to run in the other direction! The other way to be prepared is getting two droids out of your ship and onto the planet of Tattoine. Anyways let’s go back in time to the planet Mustafar and see how Anakin and Obi-Wan are doing.
The music in this duel is the struggle of power of who will be winning the duel will good defeat evil? Will there be tears knowing that your padawan had gone astray from a prophecy? That everything that you taught someone is being used against you and you'll never see the boy you helped become a man betray everything you instilled in him. It’s not enough as you battle for your lives over the lava of this planet trying to get ahead of one another over this lake of lava dueling it out to see who will make it out of this alive. The good that once was in this padawan has all left he is lost to the madness of power that is falsely promised. Near the end of the duel the song goes into a somber mood as Anakin, now beaten crawling up this lava rock path will never be the same. The birth of Darth Vader the stone-cold killer, ruler, and expert in the force.
How does music let you know the emotions to feel? Why does music impact people in ways they may never fully comprehend?
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Conner, I don't think I've ever heard Duel of the Fates described so perfectly before. When you listen to it on its own, you can still see the story being played out in your head and it's almost like the music is moving the story along, rather than the opposite.
ReplyDeleteOne of the toughest things that music can do is make you feel the right emotion at the right time, and sometimes, the best way to do that is through motifs. As you've pointed out, we see that in Star Wars, but we've seen it time and again in so many other big franchises, such as Marvel. When you hear a certain music cue, you know that a character is about to come out or something big is going to happen. And I don't think we give music enough credit for being able to do this with just a few notes.