Have you ever watched a purely silent movie? One where the sound was never recorded and subtitles are not present? Its boring. Just a flicker of images on the screen trying its best to expand upon a plot line for your entertainment. Its trying its best but it needs something more to be full. It needs a soundtrack to help elicit emotional responses.
All the great moments in cinema are made better through the use of stirring music that literally rips into your soul and makes you feel for what you are watching. Just try to imagine Superman flying through the air; racing against time to save Louis Lane without the iconic themes of John William's score. Or the feather floating around Forrest Gump's bus station bench without that hauntingly beautiful piano melody. It just is impossible to see their worlds without the use of music to enhance it.
Lately I have been thinking about the soundtrack to the most important movie I have seen. The one that plays through my own camera lens I call eyes. Yes, I am talking about life itself.
I see the world through a movie camera. Its an undeniable byproduct to all those years spent in front of the silver screen in my formative and current years. And because I see the world in this manner it only is an obvious extension that I too would hear the world as it would be in a movie; with a fully orchestrated soundtrack.
If one looked at my iPod song lists they would find a schizophrenic, hyper-actively diverse selection of music that I subject my ears to. During a shuffle session my playlist can jump between hard rock, show tunes, big band, classical, celtic harp, country, and Neil Diamond. Yet each and every song has its purpose for being in such an amalgamation. I tend to purchase songs (no Napster for me) that remind me of certain times and memories in my life. When some moment deeply affects me and stays with me I am always more in tune with the music playing in the background then ever before. So in a sense these songs make up the underlying soundtrack to my own movie.
Most of the songs bring back memories of happier days and times spent hanging out with friends or family or, most importantly to me, falling in love. And every song in my soundtrack tells its own story as to how it fits. But there are a great deal of songs that bring about remembrances of the pain, lose, and sorrow of my life's journey as well. Yet that is perfectly fine with me. You see, you have to have a bit of a downer second act or else the third and final act will not be so uplifting.
This idea of creating my own movie's soundtrack has followed me around since long before I can remember. Its a wonderful mental reminder when I listen to my music of where life has taken me and all its lessons that it has brought forth. Some tribulations I have learned from and others the message is a little harder to comprehend, but that's life in all its mystical glory.
Life is not a movie, no matter how much we wish it to be. But that doesn't mean we can't hope for the fulfillment that a great story can bring. I think there are worst ways to view this world than through the lens of your eye camera and with the sounds of your own life album. So while you are wading through your existence start making a note on how music interacts and elicits its own emotional response from you. Compile them into a playlist and really listen to it. Let it take you back to all the memories of times past both good and painful. Its fun and you get one hell of an album; unique to your own movie.
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