GENRE Emer Rooney MUSICAL THEATRE In the following

GENRE Emer Rooney

MUSICAL THEATRE • In the following presentation I am going to analyze and explore the musical theatre genre that we see within the film industry. • From the long time line that consumes musical theatre as a genre we have experienced many greats such as Grease, Les miserables and The Rocky Horror Picture show. • I am going to talk about these films in the next few slides.

MUSICAL THEATRE FROM THE BEGINNING • • • Musical films really hit their peak of popularity in the 1940’s. This was the period after the war where we saw six of the top box office films being produced as musicals. This period of time was quite hard for audiences and seeing something happy and joyful on screen allowed them to escape these times and lose themselves in the magic of cinema The earliest film musical film known to date would be the four horsemen of the apocalypse, This Film was written for Screen by Rex ingram and based on the novel by Vincente Blasco Ibanez. It tells a story of a patriarch a rich family who has two daughters one wed to a French man and the other wed to a German man. The patriarch favors the French man which sparks a jealousy within the family. The film continues with many twists and turns and comes with an underlying musical theme In regards to the beginning of the musical film genre it began around the time that the warner bros began playing around with sound in their film the films that came from this period then came to be known as talkies. A popular film from this time would've been the jazz singer produced by the warner bros. The introduction to sound within films allowed for the audience to get a better feel for what was going on in the film allowing them to receive a better understanding of the context of the film.

DIRECTORS WHO MADE GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS IN MUSICAL FILM MAKING • The secret behind making any good film is its director and within regards to the musical genre there are many greats that have soared in making wonderful films. • One of the most well thought of musical directors would have to be Tom Hooper who directed the 2012 version of Les Miserables. He created a beautiful take on the French revolution themed romantic musical. • Phylidda Lloyd who directed Mamma Mia which led the star Meryl Streep to winning an Oscar is another wonderful director that we have seen within the industry. • The best and most successful director within the musical genre would have to be Randal Kliesers first feature was grease and this film went on to be one of the most successful musical films ever created.

GREASE • Grease as I said before is one of the greater films that we have had within the musical film industry. • This film tells a story of a young man and woman who meet at school and spend their summer together. The Romeo and juliet theme can be seen clearly here as Danny is quite a rebellious character and sandy is quite quiet and reserved leading to concerns from others about their relationship. • The musical quality throughout this film is amazing and probably the best execution of a musical film I have ever seen. • The Romeo and Juliet theme that I mentioned before refers to a theme that is seen very regularly in musicals. The meaning of this is that in musical films we see the idea of forbidden love being played with in these films. This can be played with in any way from family feud's and often gangs.

GREASE CONTINUED • The main themes that are shown throughout grease are identity, sexuality, Masculinity and Love. • These are themes that allow the audience to easily identify with the film which means that the film could be called a coming of age film as the characters within it are all at school leaving age. • Grease executes these themes perfectly and this allows the film to be relatable. • Although grease recieved some controversial complaints because of the over sexualisation of some of the characters the film is still an amazing watch.

LES MISERABLES • Les miserables tells a story of several different characters through the French revolution. The communication of meaning to the viewer in this film is fantastic. This is quite a long film but if the viewer was tuned in the whole way through the film it would be a fantatsic. • The Romeo and Juliet appears again with the characters marius and cosette. These two characters again come to falling n love with each other but conditions with the culture keep them apart for some time. • This film also focuses on the character jean valjean building himself after being imprisoned for many years. The film begins with him as a prisoner and ends with him being a higher and well respected member of the community.

LES MISERABLES CONTINUED • The themes that are clear within Les Miserables are Love and redemption, Mecry Vs Judgment, Justice and injustice and History • The Mercy vs judgment theme is explored clearly jean valjean as we see him reform himself from convict to a better person. • The justice and injustice can be seen clearly in many different types of imagery throughout the film for example beggars and homeless people being shown all over the streets. • History is seen clearly throughout also as the battles that take place are similar to those recorded in history. • Love is seen in many ways throughout also because we can see many loving relationships between characters be in romantic love or love for family.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW • The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released in 1975 and directed by the very talented Jim Sharman. • This film tells a story of two lovers who find themselves In a castle full of weird and wonderful people. The main plot of the film Is DR Frank N Furter and his weird and wonderful creations. • Rocky Horror appeals to the LGBTQ audience also as it explores characters who are transgendered and even features an amazing song from the soundtrack called sweet transvestite.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW CONTINUED • There are many themes explored within this show and just like grease it did receive some back lash from audiences. This was because of its risque themes and the mention of transgendered people which at the time was not spoke often about among our audiences and society. • The themes are very clear within this show and the main themes are Madness, Sexuality and sexual identity, Love and foreignness. • These themes are made clear throughout through scene changes and imagery.

CONCLUSION • In conclusion I would say that the Musical Theatre genre is a fantastic and very entertaining genre of film that has become very popular over the last few years. • A lot of similar themes appear in this genre but directors seem to take not of this a change things around a bit allowing for different meanings to come across to the viewer.

REFERENCING • • • http: //www. tamswitmark. com/blog_items/a-brief-history-of-musicalson-film/ http: //www. filmsite. org/musicalfilms. html https: //www. fandango. com/movie-photos/famous-directors-who-didone-musical-871 https: //www. shmoop. com/grease/themes. html http: //www. nytimes. com/2006/02/11/us/in-small-town-grease-ignites-a -culture-war. html http: //www. imdb. com/title/tt 1707386/ https: //www. litcharts. com/lit/les-miserables/themes http: //www. imdb. com/title/tt 0073629/ https: //www. shmoop. com/rocky-horror-picture-show/themes. html https: //www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/09/16/rocky-horror-pictureshow_n_966717. html