MovieChat Forums > The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Discussion > Same Music as Harry Potter?

Same Music as Harry Potter?

posted 16 years ago by mangatang
27 replies | jump to latest

My wife and I disagree about the music in this movie. I watched Witches of Eastwick for the first time in many years (since Harry Potter movies came out). When I watched it today, I was shocked to hear the soundtrack music to be the same as the music used in the Harry Potter series.

My wife (a big Harry Potter fan) doesn't think that the music is the same. I don't understand how you can't find them the same. I know that John Williams composed the soundtrack for both movies, but does anyone else agree that it's the same tune?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Studman_Productions 16 years ago

it's similar.

[–] kmk727 16 years ago

Not true. Listen to Beetlejuice and a few other "Halloweeny" movies (can't remember which one at this moment) - the music is identical.

Kiera

[–] Munstrum_Ridcully 16 years ago

I think Williams ran out of original musical ideas after Jaws, the music in Harry Potter sounds to me like it is a mix of the Witches themes and the Hook themes

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] justkit 15 years ago

I think Williams ran out of original musical ideas after Jaws

Well, since he wrote the music for Star Wars, Close Encounters, Superman, Raiders, and E.T - all made between Jaws and Eastwick - it seems pretty clear that your argument is idiotic!

Each of the titles I listed has a unique theme (several actually), by which they are immediately identifiable. No one could confuse the Superman theme with the Indiana Jones theme for example.

And since Eastwick, there have been so many other examples of unique and distinguished film scores by Williams that I can't even be bothered to list them all!

Here's an idea: look up his filmography here on IMDB and check out all the films he's composed. I bet there are loads that you didn't even know he wrote!

And even if you find his music similar from one film to the next, that doesn't mean he's run out of ideas. It means that his musical expression of certain emotions is occasionally recognisable - just like an actor's face. You don't criticise a famous actor for looking pretty much the same in all his films. The greatest actors in the world have the same face that they use for anger, or sadness, etc. Composers work in a similar way musically, using their own personalised 'happy sounds' or 'scary sounds'. All composers express emotion in the way that makes sense to them musically. Those individual choices are why their music gets 'cast' in the role; because their choice of expression fits with what the Director has in mind. Just like casting an actor.

Those films listed in previous posts which have a similar feel to their musical themes (Eastwick, Hook, Potter, Home Alone etc) also share lots of common thematic themes too. They are all somewhat magical, for example. I suggest that perhaps you are recognising John Williams 'magical' face. However, despite being similar in feel, the music is actually completely different for each film. I would find it very hard to get confused. To me, they are all uniquely identifiable.

It always amazes me when people come on these boards and complain about composers re-using themes. They may do it very occasionally by accident, but it's far more common to see actors re-using their faces!

Also, I should point out that when an Actor or Director re-uses ideas, it gets listed here as a 'trademark'. Very rarely do they get accused of running out of ideas.

Just my tuppence-worth.

[–] groshua 12 years ago

If I had written the music to Harry Potter, John Williams would have sued me for using his melodic theme. Musicians sue other musicians all the time for stealing their basic chord pattern. Listen to the main chorus in witches: bum bum bum.....bumdebumbumbum. Now Harry: Bum Bum bum Bumdembumbumbum. Perhaps since twenty years elapsed between movies, John forgot? Or, more likely the producers realized he was repeating himself, thats why THEY REPLACED HIM FOR THE LAST MOVIE!!!

[–] richandold8876 16 years ago

I absolutely agree! My wife was watching it on tv the other day, and I heard it from the other room thinking it was Harry Potter.. when I walked in I was surprised to see it was Witches of Eastwick.

[–] drxcreatures 16 years ago

You are so right. I guess he DID run out of ideas. I want to get this on dvd.

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[–] Darknessviking 16 years ago

the logical thing is that he has a certain sound/way to make music like most muscicians..

and because of that..things sound similar..

just think the crappy band ac/dc..everything sounds the same

[–] FrenchCelt 15 years ago

AC/DC only sounds the same if you don't know the songs very well. As a huge AC/DC fan, I can hear general similarities from song to song over time, but each song has its own flavor that I can pick out. And you definitely can't say the Bon Scott era sounds anything like the Brian Johnson era. The band changed their sound completely between Highway to Hell and Back in Black, becoming less of a rhythm and blues/rock and roll band and more of a hard rock band (I never agreed with those who classified them as metal).

[–] chinababe92 16 years ago

even if the music was similar, technically it'd be that harry potter music is similar to the witches of eastwick music, because "witches" was made first.

[–] Jesensky 14 years ago

And guess what? Much like AC/DC, Williams' music wouldn't sound the same if you knew it. Try listening to his stuff for a while and learning about it. It will start to sound just as different to you as AC/DC.

[–] Ahm_Shere 14 years ago

Exactly what I was about to say. John Williams probably liked the Witches of Eastwick theme so much, he decided to reuse it for Harry Potter.........if they even sounded the same...which to be fair, they really don't. I'm a sad, little geek with loads of theme tunes on my iPod...( I know, I know :( ) and I happen to have both themes. And they're totally different. :)

'What I calls, enterprise. Popping pussies into pies!'

[–] gabyta_preci_osa 14 years ago

I dont know why ppl keep hiring this composer over and over again.
He is always recycling his own music.
Just watch Superman and Star wars...the tune is very similar, and even think they start the same.
And if you still dont believe me, watch Indiana Jones......

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] madmegdigital 14 years ago

I always get a kick out these criticism about film composers "running out of ideas." There's this misconception that they're autonomous in the creative process…that the director doesn't direct them to "give me something like 'Witches of Eastwick.'" In the day and age of endless sequels and reboots, do you really think that the suits in charge of cranking out Harry Potter™ product are going to want something revolutionary for a score? I'm sure he'd probably love to do something more imaginative, but we're talking about mainstream Hollywood prepackaged "entertainment," not art for crying out loud!

[–] andreifuf 14 years ago

HP has that main theme Ludwig's Theme which is quite dramatic and dark.

Witches has a distinctive main theme which reoccurs a lot and is dunno more playful than HP and less dark.

Overall, Witches is more playful although sometimes seems more serious, but not much. HP has a lot of dark moments and remains dark for most of the time except for quiddich games or isolated comic moments.

They are different imo. The only thing that is very similar is the set of instruments JW uses. He prefers a limited number of instruments. But that doesn't make the two soundtracks similar.

And to the guy that sais Williams is repeating himself, try comparing Home Alone to Schindler's list... I love Schindler's list violin song. That shows just how versatile JW can be.

If anything, Witches sounds a little more like Home Alone when all is fine and similar to HP when anything bad happens.

[–] argentinedave 13 years ago

justkit is the only one who got it right...

As a film composer myself I can say that the two main themes are not the same, they are nothing alike.

What really is happening is that there is a short phrase about 2m35 into the main theme (as played in the end credits on the film) that has the same set of notes as another short phrase in Harry Potter's main theme, and subconsciously we learned to associate that particular set of notes with Harry Potter, so we just get the impression that the whole score sounds the same, which is completely absurd.

There are also a few other similarities to do with the intervals and instruments John Williams uses for his 'magical' face, as justkit very nicely put it, that sound very similar, but again, the music itself, the main theme, and most of the instrumental choices are completely different, and quite original to this particular film, and I've heard about 40 of his scores.

This happens a lot, there are small details that subconsciously remind us of another film and so we automatically think 'hey, this is the music from...' blah blah blah

There are however cases where composers actually take the main notes or chord progressions from a main theme from one film, and use it almost exactly on another main theme, but it's rare, and as far as I know John Williams has never done this.