Comments on: In defense of Mickey Mousing

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By: Benoit Racine

Benoit Racine — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:10:43 +0000

You’re welcome, Peet. If you can just tolerate a bit of “esprit de l’escalier”, I would like to add: There are very few French symphonies just as there are very few German ballets (the idea of which almost boggles the mind). The Russians of course were influenced by both traditions and picked and chose as they went along, whereas the French pillaged merrily in the Italian heritage. Some even go so far as to say the French stole everything from the Italians, except ballet. I mention this because “mickey-mousing” is closely related to the idea of ballet music (musical accompaniment to silent action scenes). The whole subject should also be correlated to what Michael Powell called the perfectly “composed film”: a film where the action and the musical accompaniment are perfectly planned and choreographed to create the ultimate operatic poignancy. Ironic that Hitchcock’s famous musical theme comes from Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette”, isn’t it?

By: Peet

Peet — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:47:47 +0000

Excellent comments, Benoit! Thanks for sharing this information with us.

By: Benoit Racine

Benoit Racine — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:11:56 +0000

Hey! I like every use of the buzzword “torture porn” … if it can push Tarantino and Cronenberg out of business, but I digress.

Excellent article. My feelings exactly. One little-studied source of the mickey-mousing vs. underscoring debate is the natural antagonism between French and German music (of which “serious” British music is a subset). Composers like Herrmann were naturally attracted by British and German intellectual, profound and dour composers while others (like Viennese Max Steiner) also incorporated freely the French influence of verve, sprightliness, immediacy, frankness, sentimentality, invention, grotesquerie and melody for melody’s sake. Herrmann wasn’t a brilliant melodist, but he was very good at setting moods with the smallest number of elements possible (verging on minimalism). Mickey-mousing, on the other hand, requires a lot more hard work (and notes!) than underscoring, as well as a perfect mastery of counterpoint, fugal and melodic development (sometimes ad absurdum) and rythmic complexities. In other words, it embraces the whole artisan tradition of the XIXth Century and is shameless in its paraphrasing, pastiche and referencing of an “old-fashioned” tradition. (What tradition isn’t?) There wouldn’t be any mickey-mousing without Meyerbeer, Massenet, Chabrier, Bizet, Offenbach, Dukas, Saint-Saëns et al. And there wouldn’t be any underscoring without Wagner, Mahler et al. Even if Wagner’s use of leitmotiv is just the intellectual, upmarket, “snooty” use of good ol’ mickey-mousing. I personnally enjoy the recent restorations of great Disney scores like “Snow White”, “Pinocchio” and “Bambi” which are little miracles of mickey-mousing – and complexity – and a great tribute to the legacy and spirit of French music (pre-Stravinski) in general.

By: the music of sound » Film Music rant#1

the music of sound » Film Music rant#1 — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:00:50 +0000

[...] Now moment by moment I fully appeciate the ADSR approach with sound, but how does it apply to the score? Well I sure dont have any universal answers but I am a permanent student of such things & as a starting point would like to suggest you read this excellent article: In defense of Mickey Mousing [...]

By: Nobody

Nobody — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:05:32 +0000

I recognise this is a very late comment, but I only just discovered this post. Though Spider-Man 3 wasn't great, the moment it was really ruined for me was at the end when someone says "I forgive you". In a split second I thought, this could be a poignant moment if the score doesn't inturrept, but no sooner did I think it than the emotions-dictating music intruded right on cue. What do you call the opposite of Mickey-Mousing, that is, when the film is edited to match the music, as Leone did in Once Upon a Time in the West? In the final showdown, for example, Harmonica appears on screen, and Frank drops his coat, are both accompanied by new significant developments in the score. Yet at the same time, the "operatic" score, complete with choir, reflects the emotion of the scene but does not match the lack of displayed emotion by the characters. I think that's another favorite device of Hermann, for example the ferry ride in De Palma's Obsession: visually a mundane scene but the rousing score reflects Cliff Robertson's hidden anxiety.

By: YR

YR — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:01:40 +0000

Actually, *all* music scoring is called “underscoring.” That’s why the Emmy for musical scoring in a TV series is given for best “Dramatic Underscore.”

By: Phillip

Phillip — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:33:56 +0000

I would say there’s nothing wrong with Mickey Mousing, so long as it’s used sparingly. The problem with Hans Zimmer is that most often these days his score compliments every scene in the movie. I love “Batman Begins”, but the music is constant, hardly leaving a moment for silence. But then sometimes Zimmer’s score works, like in Pirates or Gladiator, it can be quite rousing.

Kurosawa talks about music that contradicts what’s happening on screen. The best example that comes to mind probably isn’t the best, but if you recall “Face/Off”, when one of the big shootouts occurs, the young girl is listening to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. That would be Mousing in reverse…perhaps my example is a little blatant, but it gets the point across.

Thomas Newman happens to be one of my current favorites. You overlook Michael Kamen (dead now) but brilliant while he was around.

Thank you for talking about scoring in the first place. It’s something many reviewers over look when they write because most often a great movie will have an appropriately great score, but it’s never mentioned. I try my best to bring it into the light every chance I get.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:55:48 +0000

Just call me “Boob.”