MovieChat Forums > John Williams Discussion > Why is his music so memorable?

Why is his music so memorable?

posted 8 years ago by rebeccagbert
4 replies | jump to latest

My nephew is in love with Star Wars. He will sing all the songs from the movies when he’s doing, well, everything. If he’s brushing his teeth, it’s to the rhythm of the famous Imperial March. Or he will randomly start singing the song that comes on at the very beginning when the prologue starts to roll. When he comes to visit me, I will hear a song or two from Star Wars at least five times. And after he goes home, a couple hours later, I myself will be humming the Imperial March. So I ask, what makes certain film scores more memorable than others? If the soundtrack from the Hunger Games came on I wouldn’t know unless someone told me. But if anything from Star Wars started to play, I would know exactly what was playing. So why are some soundtracks more memorable? For example, there are a lot of songs that we know that were composed by John Williams. What did John Williams do that other composers did not do in there music to make it memorable to all of us? We all know most of the theme songs to the Star Wars movies, Indiana Jones, even the famous two note horror that comes from the movie Jaws.

[–] Mitchcraft 8 years ago

He has the talent is the best answer. His themes for things like Star Wars is just so powerful and has something to it that once you hear it you will never forget it.

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"It's game over man, it's game over!!!"

[–] jentro7507 8 years ago

He tends to use leitmotifs, or short musical pieces associated with particular people, places, or events, in his scores for most of his movies. And because many of us have already come to love these movies, we start forming emotional connections with the music that comes with the scenes in those movies. We soon remember those themes, and when John Williams uses some of those themes again in other movies, we go back to that first emotional connection we made with the music.

So whenever we hear the Force theme in any Star Wars movie, we will always think of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi.

Whenever we hear the Flying theme from E.T., we will always remember E.T. and those kids riding their flying bikes across a moonlit night.

Whenever we hear Hedwig's Theme in any Harry Potter movie, we will always remember owls flying across the sky and the magic of the Wizarding World.

There's more examples of other themes (including some from Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park), but it would take a while for me to list them here.

I'm not saying John Williams is the only modern film composer that does this, but he is famously known for using leitmotifs regardless. And that's how we come to love, cherish, and remember most of his scores. 

[–] mkohary 8 years ago

I'm a long time musician and I think Williams' sense of melodicism is astonishing. He just has an intangible knack for crafting serious earworms, and it's hard to put a finger on exactly why that is. He keeps it simple for his main themes, and then expands on those themes with more complex variations. Many composers repeat phrases with only minor variations, which just becomes boring and forgettable, but Williams takes them in all sorts of directions, and I think the interesting and varied repetition makes those phrases stick. Think of all the different ways you can hum The Imperial March. And, he attaches motifs - short musical phrases - to characters and objects that we the audience are emotionally invested in. This is another source of repetition as the music accompanies the characters throughout a movie, and it creates indelible connections in your mind.

[–] ThatGuy25 7 years ago

His score generally dominates movies. I mean, it's as much a part of a scene as dialogue or action.
Look at some scenes from Star wars or Indiana Jones. It's his music blaring beautifully with punch sound effects thrown in. You can't remember a scene in detail without his music because it's a big part of it.