Sing a Song of Significance: Keyword Definition Argument
Everybody loves music. Everybody loves the performance arts. Combining those two facts create an extremely popular genre of entertainment known as the musical. However, combining those two aspects might be more challenging than one might initially suspect, as the idea of a musical is surprisingly difficult to categorize, and the reasons for their existence must be analyzed in order to properly identify their role in modern entertainment. For the sake of clarity, the term "musical" will by used in place of both "musical theater" and "musical film", as this helps to leave the door open for future research on the topic. Also, the definition of musical argued for will be in a modern colloquial …show more content…
Music helps to identify a person as being genuinely human. The social contexts of music derive themselves from interpersonal interactions and relations, and one of the simplest ways for two humans to connect (be it in the past or present) is through song. No, this does not necessarily mean the first words to somebody must be sung, however, even today bonding over music is one of the most sincere expressions of humanity and one of the first stepping stones to connection and friendship. In the opening of her book, Ruth Leon wrote that "everybody sings. The first sounds made by a human baby more closely resemble music than speech... Dancing is natural. Without volition, the body moves to musical stimulus" (Leon 7). Within humanity, there is an automatic response to music and song; this is also true for storytelling and general conversation. People crave communication and bonding with others, they crave a sense of belonging. Performance pieces, like plays, only tap into a part of the human experience. "A play is a conversation between the actors, the director and, most importantly, the playwright. There are only the words and what they do with them" (Leon 10). A musical, however, taps into the innate desires of song, movement, interpersonal connection, and storytelling. A musical is "a way to combine the most basic of our human actions. Speech, music, song, dance, when organized, become a multi-faceted artistic …show more content…
Firstly,we should separate musicals that exist for the sake of activism and promotion from those that exist for entertainment and storytelling purposes. In Mary Jo Lodge's review article, she cites John Bush Jones by writing "his focus is on 'musicals that seem to have been consciously intended to have a contemporary social relevance'" as opposed to "the often more famous musicals that do not advance a particular social cause or idea, which are referred to in the text, a bit disparagingly, as 'diversionary'" (Lodge 196). This outlines our first step of categorization. I will label the first as "intentional musicals" (meaning they were crafted with an intention, be it activism, change, commentary, or other forms of social context) and take the second's name from Jones, being "diversionary". Can you think of musicals that are intentional? Those that are diversionary? Some examples that come to mind for intentional musicals are "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Hairspray" (dealing with religious and racial prejudices). Some diversionary examples that come to mind are "Cats" and "Chicago" (the first being just about Cats, the second - which could be argued for intentional, but I might disagree - is about a woman in jail for
Everybody loves music. Everybody loves the performance arts. Combining those two facts create an extremely popular genre of entertainment known as the musical. However, combining those two aspects might be more challenging than one might initially suspect, as the idea of a musical is surprisingly difficult to categorize, and the reasons for their existence must be analyzed in order to properly identify their role in modern entertainment. For the sake of clarity, the term "musical" will by used in place of both "musical theater" and "musical film", as this helps to leave the door open for future research on the topic. Also, the definition of musical argued for will be in a modern colloquial …show more content…
Music helps to identify a person as being genuinely human. The social contexts of music derive themselves from interpersonal interactions and relations, and one of the simplest ways for two humans to connect (be it in the past or present) is through song. No, this does not necessarily mean the first words to somebody must be sung, however, even today bonding over music is one of the most sincere expressions of humanity and one of the first stepping stones to connection and friendship. In the opening of her book, Ruth Leon wrote that "everybody sings. The first sounds made by a human baby more closely resemble music than speech... Dancing is natural. Without volition, the body moves to musical stimulus" (Leon 7). Within humanity, there is an automatic response to music and song; this is also true for storytelling and general conversation. People crave communication and bonding with others, they crave a sense of belonging. Performance pieces, like plays, only tap into a part of the human experience. "A play is a conversation between the actors, the director and, most importantly, the playwright. There are only the words and what they do with them" (Leon 10). A musical, however, taps into the innate desires of song, movement, interpersonal connection, and storytelling. A musical is "a way to combine the most basic of our human actions. Speech, music, song, dance, when organized, become a multi-faceted artistic …show more content…
Firstly,we should separate musicals that exist for the sake of activism and promotion from those that exist for entertainment and storytelling purposes. In Mary Jo Lodge's review article, she cites John Bush Jones by writing "his focus is on 'musicals that seem to have been consciously intended to have a contemporary social relevance'" as opposed to "the often more famous musicals that do not advance a particular social cause or idea, which are referred to in the text, a bit disparagingly, as 'diversionary'" (Lodge 196). This outlines our first step of categorization. I will label the first as "intentional musicals" (meaning they were crafted with an intention, be it activism, change, commentary, or other forms of social context) and take the second's name from Jones, being "diversionary". Can you think of musicals that are intentional? Those that are diversionary? Some examples that come to mind for intentional musicals are "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Hairspray" (dealing with religious and racial prejudices). Some diversionary examples that come to mind are "Cats" and "Chicago" (the first being just about Cats, the second - which could be argued for intentional, but I might disagree - is about a woman in jail for