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Potter vs Hook preferences - JWFan demographics


Fabulin

Potter vs Hook preferences - JWFan demographics  

78 members have voted

  1. 1. When did you become a fan of John Williams and which score do you prefer?

    • Fan since before 1995, prefer Hook score
    • Fan since between 1995 and 2001, prefer Hook
    • Fan since between 2001 and 2005, prefer Hook
    • Fan since after 2005, prefer Hook
    • Fan since before 1995, prefer Potter 1 score
    • Fan since between 1995 and 2001, prefer Potter 1
    • Fan since between 2001 and 2005, prefer Potter 1
    • Fan since after 2005, prefer Potter 1


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I was born in 1993 and started listening to film scores when I was 16/17. But Williams wasn't my "first love", I started to listen to film music thanks to the trio Zimmer, Horner and JNH. Only after a few months I started listening to Williams.

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First option. Born in 1977, 'discovered' soundtracks ca. 1990-ish and Williams shortly thereafter (although I had some form of conscious relationship to film music in the late 80s). I remember seeing HOOK in the cinema when it came out, although I didn't get the soundtrack untill a couple of years later.

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Pre-1995, Hook.

 

Williams awareness with Star Wars in ‘77 (though I had seen Midway earlier and knew of Jaws - but too young to see it), fandom solidified in ‘78-‘82 with Superman/Superman IIRotLA and ET. Began purchasing film music in late 80s.

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I think the film that might have made me a score fan out of me might be Titanic followed by Lord of the rings 1.

 

but I Think hp1 definitely Keyed me into my appreciation of full symphonic music. I had a moment of what they call aesthetic surprise.

 

 You cannot watch hp1 without likening it to a concert. It is 2.5 hrs of wall to wall loud dense orchestral music. So watching hp1 might be kids first large scale exposure to orchestral music. And they too might have that aesthetic surprise - of discovering at a young age something they liked.

 

but yes hp1 sealed the deal for me. It led me to discover other Williams work and I preferred hook for the longest time.

 

 Then say post 2010 I discovered bootlegs and stuff and my pick shifted to hp1. The ost does not do it justice whereas hook ost is good.

 

also I hadn’t seen hp1 since it first came out, so rewatching the film helped in my estimation.

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JWfan did a top score survey in 2003 and boy, the results are frightening. Jurassic Park somehow is all the way down in 7th place. BLASPHEMY.

 

Also, Hook then was worth almost twice as much as The Philosopher's Stone. But now seems like a better time to judge these scores.

 

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Thanks, Fabulin! This poll is turning out to be so much more interesting to me than the original one. I've never been a fan of polls for polls' sake, as it often feels like comparing apples to oranges, and it tends to get really subjective. Looking at those results, I guess it's beginning to show just how biased we tend to be when assigning value to a work of art. Not that it's any news, but a reminder is welcome every now and then.

 

Hook vs HP? Who knows! Two exemplary masterpieces of the art of scoring IMHO. Both have strong and weak points.

I voted for Hook. Born in '84, been a fan of Williams ever since I started noticing his name kept appearing in the credits for films which had music that I loved, or felt a strong emotional connection to. That was in the early 90's, and it led me to a deep love for film music in general, and later classical. I always thought of John Williams as my "gateway drug" into the universe of orchestral music, in a sense. No wonder I have a biased love for that score, as objective as I often strive to be.

 

 

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Theoretically if we give each group 50% weight (those who musically grew up first with Hook get 50% say, and then those who musically grew up with Hook and HP get 50% say), then it would produce a different type of poll.

 

However since apparently we have almost equal amounts of both groups on this forum... the result is exactly the same. (HP currently in the lead but there's still time.)

 

So, one of these groups is stupid. We have to figure out which one.

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I became a fan of JW after 2005. Interestingly, Hook is the score I have been listening to the most during the last few weeks. I still voted for PS, as the Potter and Star Wars films defined my childhood and were the ones that made me become a fan of film music. So nostalgia may be a strong factor for me.

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

I think what this polls shows is that there is a definite generation gap on this forum, if nothing else.

 

Proud member of the "old guard" here!!  Now get off my lawn with your Potter 1!! ;)

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So far after 48 votes, we have:

 

20 fans since before 1995
16 fans since somewhere during 1995-2005
12 fans since after 2005

 

And

 

22 fans preferring Hook
26 fans preferring HP1

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On 6/17/2020 at 1:57 AM, thx99 said:

Pre-1995, Hook.

 

Pre-1995, Hook.

 

Born in NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

 

Williams fandom with Star Wars in ‘77, Superman in '78, Empire in '80, Raiders in '81 and E.T. in '82.

 

Gerhardt CE3K/ SW was my first Williams album purchase (well, gift, as my mother bought it for me).

 

RSO Star Wars my first CD soundtrack in '88.

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5 hours ago, Thor said:

 

A few comments here and there from 1998 onwards, but first 'systematical' criticism in the summer of 2000, I believe, in this thread:

 

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=1121&forumID=1&archive=0

 

We're coming up on the 20th anniversary!

 

 

 

We can always depend on you. :) Hey, I've got a challenge for you: write a book about your top 100 OSTs.

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5 hours ago, Thor said:

 

A few comments here and there from 1998 onwards, but first 'systematical' criticism in the summer of 2000, I believe, in this thread:

 

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=1121&forumID=1&archive=0

 

We're coming up on the 20th anniversary!

 

 

I say this calls for an expanded Black Friday release of Thor by Patrick Doyle!

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I never watched Hook until this day. It seems to be one of those films where you either watch as a kid and then have fond memories of it, or you don't watch it at all because it's a very silly movie for people above 13 years old.

 

The same goes for the first Harry Potter, I believe, which I watched (in theaters) when I was 8. So, I have strong memories of Philosopher's Stone, and no memory at all of Hook.

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I did not think much of the Harry Potter score at first, and I had preferred Hook for years. 

 

I had also come to realize quite quickly that Jurassic Park is a masterpiece score. My overall ratings go Star Wars > Empire Strikes Back, and tied for 3rd place, E.T./Jurassic Park. Part of the reason E.T. doesn't beat JP anymore for me is because of how well JP fits into the film itself. It makes E.T. sound more like a backtrack in comparison. And also because I think Journey to the Island is the greatest adventure theme ever written.

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10 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I never watched Hook until this day. It seems to be one of those films where you either watch as a kid and then have fond memories of it, or you don't watch it at all because it's a very silly movie for people above 13 years old.

 

The same goes for the first Harry Potter, I believe, which I watched (in theaters) when I was 8. So, I have strong memories of Philosopher's Stone, and no memory at all of Hook.

Yeah, I watched Hook for the first time at the age of 23. The banquet scene was a really embarassing experience.

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2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Why is the Hook clan attributing the popularity of Harry Potter to nostalgia exclusively?

 

I don't think anyone is exclusively attributing the popularity to nostalgia - but I think nostalgia plays a big part in most child-themed things that adults enjoy!  I have no doubt that my predilection for Hook, a movie that I saw in theaters when I was 7 (even though I never rewatched it or heard the score until adulthood, give or take some concert recordings on that John Williams Greatest Hits compilation from the late 1990s), has something to do with why  I prefer it over Harry Potter 1, my first exposure being seeing it in theaters as an adult and not caring much for it.

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Nostalgia plays a relatively small role in my appreciation of HOOK. JURASSIC PARK, yes absolutely, but not so much HOOK (I was about 14 years old when I saw it in the cinema). I mean, I think the film is much better than its reputation, especially the production design, but it's really the music in and of itself that I love. It plays no particular role in my nostalgia of 90s movies.

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Hook was always considered one of Spielberg's worst movies. 

 

There was nothing remarkable about the Harry Potter movies. Awkward cringey child performances that became increasingly boring as they went through puberty while all the great actors were relegated to minor side roles. Production design was good, I guess. It made for cool theme park districts.

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After 71 votes, 

 

38 prefer Hook, 33 prefer HP1

 

30 have been fans since before 1995, 41 have been fans since after 1995

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More important metric is perhaps the order of exposure to Williams.

 

If say you had listened to Hook before HP and internalized it, you were less likely to find more merit in HP.

 

But if the order was flipped, say you became fans because of HP first and first internalized that score, you only discovered Hook later on in your research to find other JW scores.

 

So 45 people were JW Fans before 2001. 26 people were JW Fans since 2001.

 

How did they split up?

 

The 45 JW fans from before 2001 split up 34 to 11 preferring Hook to HP.

The 26 JW fans since 2001 split up 22 to 4 preferring HP to Hook.

 

So overall you might even call HP the more persuasive score. Not only did it persuade almost all post 2001 fans but also persuaded nearly a quarter of pre HP fans.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Dicovered Johnny Williams in 1964. Saw his name on the credits of Gilligan's Island. I was in love from Lost in Space. 

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18 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Dicovered Johnny Williams in 1964. Saw his name on the credits of Gilligan's Island. I was in love from Lost in Space. 

 

I think that pretty much beats everyone here (although not so much FSM).

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I knew that Ricard, Richard, and KM were the oldies. I WILL turn 60 in a month so this boomer is proud of his JW heritage. 

 

We saw all the good stuff from the beginning.

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