"Blinded by the Light" An exhilarating 80's youth movie where Bruce Springsteen's lyrics update a boy's world.

The production intention behind the songs played in the play

The technique of playing established rock and pop songs in a movie and letting the lyrics express the feelings of the characters is already familiar in youth films, but its origins lie in the American New Cinema of the 1960s.

At that time, it was common for film music to be composed by a composer to suit the image of the film, and then performed and recorded by an orchestra to match the screen. Young filmmakers at the time, unsatisfied with the conventional way movies were made, took on the challenge of having the protagonist's feelings expressed through song by playing the latest pop music in the movie.

Simon and Garfunkel 's `` The Sound of Silence ,'' which became famous in 1967 with `` The Graduate '' starring Dustin Hoffman, was announced a year before the film was made. Director Mike Nichols found lyrics in this song that resonated with the feelings of the main character, and used them in the movie (in the end, only the song " Mrs. Robinson " was written for "The Graduate", and the rest were pre-made songs). song).

The method of entrusting the meaning of the scene and the feelings of the characters to pop music became even more popular as songs such as ``Let 's Go Wild '' (Steppenwolf) from ``Easy Easy Rider '' (1969) gave off a strong image. , up to the present.

“Blinded by the Light” (c) BIF Bruce Limited 2019

This method is simply music that the filmmaker plays to the audience as part of the production, and can be said to be a substitute for an orchestral accompaniment.

However, a major feature of ``Blinded by the Light'' is that the main character listens to almost all Springsteen songs played on his Walkman. In other words, the protagonist and the audience are always listening to the same music at the same time.

In recent years, Edgar Wright's ` `Baby Driver '' (2017) has taken the same approach, so this film is not unique. However, I can't think of any other example in which the lyrics themselves are given so much importance than the music.

In the play, the lyrics are visualized and presented to the audience in various ways. Words literally fly around the protagonist's head, projecting them onto the wall like lightning, accelerating his life.

The answer to why he is so particular about the lyrics is obvious. The theme is ``Words can change the world.'' And the historical background of this work is closely tied to this theme.

The power of words to overcome hate and family discord