Sound and Memory
I've been cruising Spotify a lot lately since I am working from home. I love the weekly suggestions based on your listening--although at times, they get repetitive because I get caught up in listening loops for weeks where I only cycle through the same two albums.
Last week, during Spring break, I happened upon two of my favorite movie soundtracks: Sense and Sensibility and Hamlet. Both are by the magnificent Patrick Doyle. I haven't listened to these albums in years and all of a sudden I was overcome with nostalgia and a pining to watch these films again. It's amazing how a soundtrack can evoke specific moods, scenes, even the color palette and aesthetic of a film. As soon as the first song on Doyle's Sense and Sensibility played, I could instantly see Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet in their Regency finery, confined to their life of poverty after the death of their father. With Hamlet, it's Kenneth Branagh's bleached blond hair in contrast with his suit of black as he endeavors to avenge his father, unwittingly bringing nothing but bloodshed and grief.
If you have not seen either of these films, I highly recommend. In the future, I know I will write about adaptations of Jane Austen novels and Shakespeare plays. But for now, just listen.
Photos found at Encyclopedia Brittanica and Pinterest, respectively.
I really enjoyed your post. I'm wondering if you might want to do a series just on the soundtracks of movies in different periods of British Lit. Maybe start with Romanticism, then onto Victorian period, maybe head back to early 18th century. Maybe cap it off with a project just on Shakespeare's stuff? I would love to read your uptempo, insightful writing on sound and music in Brit Lit movies. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete