“The Melting Point of Wax”(below) is a song by Thrice concerning the famous Greek myth about Icarus, the son of Daedalus, who flies too close to the sun despite his father’s warnings. Dustin Kensrue, the frontman of Thrice, looks at this myth from Icarus’s standpoint, and delivers a completely different theme from the myth. In this song, Icarus is following irrational aspirations, "But how will I know limits from lies if I never try?" He's following his dreams despite others telling him he can't do it.
Okay, I'm going to stop there before I go into full-blown song-analysis mode, and instead explain its relevance. If I were playing to my strengths, as one is usually advised to do, I would be majoring in computer science, math, or engineering. The majority of my creativity lies within these kinds of disciplines. You wouldn't usually associate creativity with math, however the ability to look at a problem from new angles could be necessary to solve it, which is essentially creative thinking. Despite how dauntingly far behind my peers I feel, and everyone encouraging me to do something in the hard sciences, I feel compelled to work in a media field. This is why I find that song's title to be ideal for this blog. I would also like to note that, fittingly enough, Icarus is traveling to Athens.
As is emphasized from the fact I turned to music to aid me in finding a title for this blog, I love music, so it therefore makes a huge impact on my creativity. What great music encompasses is Tension and Release. As Daniel J. Levitin said in his book This is Your Brain on Music, "Composers imbue music with emotion by knowing what our expectations are and then very deliberately controlling when those expectations will be met, and when they won't." Every time a song builds up through rhythm, dynamics, tempo and note progressions there is a rise in tension, and then when the build-up is done, and the song continues on and fulfills our expectations, there is release in the listener. Here I give you two examples that exhibit this fairly well. The first being "One Summer's Day" (from Spirited Away) performed by Joe Hisaishi. The second is a live performance of "Here's to Life" by Streetlight Manifesto.
Both songs have completely different styles and moods, but they both employ the delayed release to give the song more energy and momentum. This shows the importance of tension and release regardless of what emotion you're conveying.
Now it's certainly not just music that affects my creativity. Films also play a major role. My favorite scene of all time appears in Peter Jackson's amazing film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. In this scene Jackson employs Contrast and Affinity brilliantly. Beauty arises from the stark contrast of Pippin's fragile melodious voice and the image of Faramir bravely leading his men to certain death upon his father's will. The unnerving affinity between the two simultaneous scenes lies metaphorically in how Denethor, Faramir's father, is eating in a very gruesome manner all the while keeping an apathetic facial expression. The chomping on the food, breaking of the chicken leg, and a cut to a dribble of tomato juice, that looks uncannily like blood, preceded by the orcs firing their arrows, gives the viewer a haunting visual of how Denethor uncaringly sent Faramir off to his death. This scene is so powerful that even when I first saw it at the young and oblivious age of 12, I was chilled to the core. I believe that this scene (along with the rest of the trilogy since it had an amazing musical score) jump started my fascination and appreciation of music in film, and video games as well. I full-heartedly agree with Quentin Tarantino when he said, "If you put the right piece of music with the right scene and the right sequence, then I actually truly think it's maybe the most cinematic thing you can do. It's the most magical cinema can be."
Although I could continue going on about music in film for forever and a year, no list of my influences is complete without JK Rowling. As with all good authors, the genius of Rowling's novels lie in the subtext of her writing. The actual text of the Harry Potter is simple and straight-forward enough for a child to understand, but the themes, symbols, motifs, and other literary devices that exist in the subtext allow people of all ages to appreciate and enjoy the series. Although some of the themes in Harry Potter are delivered didactically in the text: "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." as said by Sirius in The Goblet of Fire, other themes require the readers to be more active in reception of them. Throughout the series, "mudbloods" and house elves are persecuted, and the wrongful nature of this is always emphasized. In the real world, there's obviously no "mudbloods" or house elves, but the reader surmisses that this is related to the persecution of people based on their race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, gender etc.
Okay, I'm going to stop there before I go into full-blown song-analysis mode, and instead explain its relevance. If I were playing to my strengths, as one is usually advised to do, I would be majoring in computer science, math, or engineering. The majority of my creativity lies within these kinds of disciplines. You wouldn't usually associate creativity with math, however the ability to look at a problem from new angles could be necessary to solve it, which is essentially creative thinking. Despite how dauntingly far behind my peers I feel, and everyone encouraging me to do something in the hard sciences, I feel compelled to work in a media field. This is why I find that song's title to be ideal for this blog. I would also like to note that, fittingly enough, Icarus is traveling to Athens.
As is emphasized from the fact I turned to music to aid me in finding a title for this blog, I love music, so it therefore makes a huge impact on my creativity. What great music encompasses is Tension and Release. As Daniel J. Levitin said in his book This is Your Brain on Music, "Composers imbue music with emotion by knowing what our expectations are and then very deliberately controlling when those expectations will be met, and when they won't." Every time a song builds up through rhythm, dynamics, tempo and note progressions there is a rise in tension, and then when the build-up is done, and the song continues on and fulfills our expectations, there is release in the listener. Here I give you two examples that exhibit this fairly well. The first being "One Summer's Day" (from Spirited Away) performed by Joe Hisaishi. The second is a live performance of "Here's to Life" by Streetlight Manifesto.
Both songs have completely different styles and moods, but they both employ the delayed release to give the song more energy and momentum. This shows the importance of tension and release regardless of what emotion you're conveying.
Now it's certainly not just music that affects my creativity. Films also play a major role. My favorite scene of all time appears in Peter Jackson's amazing film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. In this scene Jackson employs Contrast and Affinity brilliantly. Beauty arises from the stark contrast of Pippin's fragile melodious voice and the image of Faramir bravely leading his men to certain death upon his father's will. The unnerving affinity between the two simultaneous scenes lies metaphorically in how Denethor, Faramir's father, is eating in a very gruesome manner all the while keeping an apathetic facial expression. The chomping on the food, breaking of the chicken leg, and a cut to a dribble of tomato juice, that looks uncannily like blood, preceded by the orcs firing their arrows, gives the viewer a haunting visual of how Denethor uncaringly sent Faramir off to his death. This scene is so powerful that even when I first saw it at the young and oblivious age of 12, I was chilled to the core. I believe that this scene (along with the rest of the trilogy since it had an amazing musical score) jump started my fascination and appreciation of music in film, and video games as well. I full-heartedly agree with Quentin Tarantino when he said, "If you put the right piece of music with the right scene and the right sequence, then I actually truly think it's maybe the most cinematic thing you can do. It's the most magical cinema can be."
Although I could continue going on about music in film for forever and a year, no list of my influences is complete without JK Rowling. As with all good authors, the genius of Rowling's novels lie in the subtext of her writing. The actual text of the Harry Potter is simple and straight-forward enough for a child to understand, but the themes, symbols, motifs, and other literary devices that exist in the subtext allow people of all ages to appreciate and enjoy the series. Although some of the themes in Harry Potter are delivered didactically in the text: "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." as said by Sirius in The Goblet of Fire, other themes require the readers to be more active in reception of them. Throughout the series, "mudbloods" and house elves are persecuted, and the wrongful nature of this is always emphasized. In the real world, there's obviously no "mudbloods" or house elves, but the reader surmisses that this is related to the persecution of people based on their race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, gender etc.
Very well thought out - I especially like your mini song analysis, Amanda
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