What does Sci-Fi bring into your mind? Lightsabers and blasters? Exploration and space? The worlds that the sci-fi genre created have lasted and expanded over the decades they have existed. The lore behind them grows and becomes more elaborate with each installment in a series. Even so, sci-fi has grown over the years from a fantasy galaxy or society to a very realistic concept in which we have taken technology from and now use normally in today's world, such as old razor cell phones looking like the Star Trek communicator. So seeing that this genre has moved into the space of Interstellar and its portrayal of the aspects of Sci-Fi really interested me.
The music of this genre can be categorized in many different ways, but stick very closely to a few themes: mystery, awe, excitement, and, at some times, fear. The music from older movies, such as Star Wars, always worked to captivate the viewer through its complex sounds and exciting movements within the music. Even so, the soundtrack of such movies knew that space is a very mysterious thing and would lower the volume of the soundtrack in comparison to other audio to show that space is just that. Over time, movies like Interstellar have begun to flip from the loud, complex pieces to the mysterious and have started creating quieter musical pieces that flourish in the scenery of space and show a deep appreciation of its horrifying beauty.
Here is an example of a song from the well-known Star Wars saga:
Here is an example of a song from Interstellar:
Notice the differences and similarities between the two? Each has an air of mystery, yet fulfills a sort of excitement as well. Not every song in these two soundtracks are like these, but they accurately portray a large portion of each of these respective soundtracks.
The Interstellar soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer and works very greatly with the actors and cinematography of the entire movie to give the viewer the goosebumps whenever an important scene is occurring. It has, like many movies in today's world, taken a more synthetic sound in its soundtrack, though it does use some instruments like pianos and organs to give it the older authentic effect. It still focuses on the older themes that have stood throughout the life of sci-fi soundtracks through the use of unsettling chords and mysterious, almost unexplained, bits of sound.
"Afraid of Time" is a perfect song for this movie and explains the main idea that the movie has. It just makes sense that this song would be in this movie, since it focuses on mystery and exploration. The song is very quiet and timid just as many other songs present in the soundtrack. Relying only on a piano as the main input for sound with a looped background sound for the first half of the piece, it seems very lonely. It is like the two instruments are having a conversation, but one cannot hear the other. In the vastness of space, you are very much alone compared to the population that Earth has and the music portrays this beautifully. The title even suggests another trait that can be found in this song: fear. Fear of the unknown (such as time and space)? Or is it simply referencing the fear that the father, Mann, has of his daughter, Murph, being old or dead by the time that he returns. He has left his child alone on a world that is dying and fears that time will take her away from him in multiple ways.
Another aspect of the movie is the awe-inspiring view that space and its vast expanses have to give to the viewer. In the movie, many of the objects we see are things like black holes, planets, and, at one point, a wormhole. The track "The Wormhole" comes from that very point and its pulsating sounds, common in sci-fi soundtracks, and strange chord arrangement give a very intense and scary feeling in the viewers mind and cause the viewer to feel slightly stressed, yet it twists when the song begins to crescendo at the end and the tone changes for a slight moment and the light background noise behind the pulsating sounds pulls forward into the light and gives the reader a sense of amazement at the place through which the characters have just transported through. "Mountains" works towards this sense of awe as well as the characters have landed on a planet completely covered with water, with mountains in the distance, the view of the planet shows the variety of the galaxy and what there is out there past the Milky Way.
Though it is shrouded in mystery and has very subtle sounds to keep the viewer in a sense of awe at the beautiful visuals of black holes and wormholes, it has some points where songs like "Cornfield Chase" come in. "Cornfield Chase" is not a mysterious track that tries to hide itself, it expands itself in excitement at what could be next. In the scene, the characters are following a drone through the cornfield outside their house and watch it in awe as they look at it moving around so smoothly and naturally. The song starts very subtly, but picks up as it plays on and on. At 32 seconds the song picks up and the tone of excitement is beginning to set in. Then at 40 some string instruments move in to further continue the growing array of sounds. Finally, at 52 seconds the organ moves in to take it even further lifting me off the ground as if I were the drone flying away, just as the characters feel in those moments. Though the excitement has to end at some point and it ends abruptly as all the instruments just break off and leave the room in silence as the drone disappears over a cliff. Take a moment to listen to the excitement of this piece:
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