Reeled In: Pre-existing Music in Narrative Film

How and why is pre-existing music used in films? What effects can its use have on films and audiences? And what lasting impact can appropriation have on the music? Reeled In is an exploration of these questions, considering the cinematic quotation of Beethoven symphonies, Beatles songs, and Herrmann scores alike, in every role from ‘main title theme’ to ‘music playing in bar’. Discussing factors like copyright and commerce alongside examination of texts and their effects, this significant contribution to the scholarship on music in screen media demonstrates that pre-existing music has unique attributes that can affect how filmmakers construct their works and how audiences receive them.

How and why is pre-existing music used in films? What effects can its use have on films and their audiences? And what lasting impact can appropriation have on the music? Reeled In is a comprehensive exploration of these questions, considering the cinematic quotation of Beethoven symphonies, Beatles songs, and Herrmann scores alike in films ranging from the early sound era to the present day, and in every role from ‘main title theme’ to ‘music playing in bar’. Incorporating a discussion of such factors as copyright and commerce alongside examination of texts and their effects, this broad study is a significant contribution to the scholarship on music in screen media, demonstrating that pre-existing music possesses unique attributes that can affect both how filmmakers construct their works and how audiences receive them, to an extent regardless of the music’s style, genre, and so on. This book also situates the reception of music by film, and by audiences experiencing that music through film, as significant processes within present-day culture, while more generally providing an illuminating case study of the kinds of borrowings, adaptations, and reinventions that characterize much of today’s art and entertainment.