Star Wars. Jaws. Raiders of the Lost Ark.
When you hear these titles, you can instantly hum the themes of these popular films.
And yet, despite the great success of the Marvel film franchise, why is it so difficult to remember the tune of any of their themes?
In a video essay written by Brian Satterwhite, Taylor Ramos, and Tony Zhou and posted to YouTube on their Every Frame A Painting channel, they attempt to answer this question. One reason they provide is that the music used in the Marvel films do not evoke an emotional response, and many times you can hardly even hear the music as other sounds are being played over it. In addition, the music is used predictably.
The video also explains that the use of temp music has also affected the scores in the films. Temp music is where the score from another movie is temporarily used as the score during the editing of a film. When the score is being created, composers are often told to imitate the score used in the editing process, resulting in very similar and unoriginal songs. Lately, many blockbuster films have been imitating each other’s scores. The video compares songs from Thor and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as Captain America and Mad Max: Fury Road to demonstrate.
In conclusion, they feel that Marvel has made safe and bland choices in regards to the score and subsequently, unmemorable film scores.
Watch the video essay below:
A supplemental video was also posted, showing the tracks they believe was used as temp music for other movies:
