Favorite JW Score (aside from Star Wars)

[E_Hcutie 0]

Hi! I'm working on a project for college on leitmotifs in film scores. If you could help me out, I would greatly appreciate it! I tried to make a poll and couldn't get it to work:)

 

Which of these John Williams film scores makes you feel the most engaged with the characters? (Your favorite outside of Star Wars)

1. E.T. (The Flying Theme)

2. Jaws (main theme)

3.  Indiana Jones ("Raider's March")

4. Home Alone ("Somewhere in My Memory" 

5.  Harry Potter ("Hedwig's Theme")

6. Superman ("Superman March")

7. Other (please let me know)
 

Thank you! Any input or comments would also be greatly appreciated!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Stepmom

[Thor 7,508]

JANE EYRE.

 

(although asking for favourite non-SW score, and which score I feel engages the most with the character are two very different questions; as it happens, I think JANE EYRE works for both).

[JTN 2,030]

My favorite non-SW Williams score is RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

I don't get it. Is the question about the whole scores or just about the mentioned themes?

[JTN 2,030]

The thread title is about the scores, but the poll is about themes, so yeah, it's a bit confusing. Anyway, what's your favorite non-SW Williams score, Ger?

[GerateWohl 4,370]

Difficult question. But luckily we have this thread:

According to that it was E.T. at August last year. 

And I think, it still is.  

 

[bollemanneke 3,349]

I never said SW music made me engaged. I went for Home Alone on a whim. HP1 came close though.

[E_Hcutie 0]

Thank you for your input! And sorry for the confusion. I am actually studying about the leitmotifs present in the film scores (other than Star Wars), but I felt the theme would be a much easier topic to answer for most people. And then I am tasked to figure out how the leitmotif relates to character engagement (for an English class though I am a music major). And thank you for the thread above! Very helpful!

[Thor 7,508]

KimH, we've had some bad experiences here with people asking the membership to basically "solve" a study task for them, but your angle was better, I think. However, you need to be specific. You asked a lot of questions at the same time in your query. What people's non-SW JW favourites are, is a completely different question from what theme one feels captures the character the best. And, as others have pointed out, there's also a big difference between evaluting this based on a theme or the score as a whole.

 

Safe to say, however, Williams is a master at capturing characters in his music, whatever score one chooses. You would need to see the films in question, and make notes for yourself how the theme is introduced, developped etc. through the course of the story. Or consult liner notes, they are also a good source of information.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

Voted Jaws.

[JTN 2,030]

19 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Voted Jaws.

Great choice.
 

Which theme? 

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

That wasn't part of the poll.

[Tom 4,661]

We have an annual top ten soundtrack list.  Do we have a top ten theme list?  That would be an interesting one.  

[Sandor 797]

If bots start using AI to post on this board (for whatever reason), THIS is the kind of thread I expect we're going to see. 

[cuartosur 12]

Flight to neverland

[Brando 1,864]

Hook is my all time favorite JW score, because it is loaded with themes and the score works so brilliantly with the film, and in particular, the Childhood theme used in a specific sequence comes to mind. You use the word 'engaged' and what comes to mind is the scene where Peter breaks down and finally remembers his childhood, and the music drops and IMO so crucial (and Robin Williams monologue) to this scene because you feel him, you understand what it's like to feel abandoned, or 'they forgot about me', as Peter says to Tink. Everyone experiences that and they know what that pain feels like and when I watch this scene, the music makes me feel these same emotions that Peter is feeling, and it works so well in regards to the film. 

 

And then, a few minutes later, JW uses the same theme to launch Peter into the sky as he remembers why he came to Neverland: his kids were his happy thought, and he remembers how to fly and he becomes Peter Pan, and the music takes a complete 180 and goes from heartbreakingly sad to a huge, triumphant, heroically return of Peter Pan: