Music, Movies, and The Brain

Yesenia Maldonado

Contributing Editor

For a moment, think about the movie Jaws: A shark fin appears in the water and slowly inches closer. Then, you hear music slowly creep in, ‘da dum … da dum.’ Suddenly, the shark is now swimming alongside the boat, and three men stare down at it in fear. Now, think of the movie Rocky: as the iconic theme song plays, the training montage begins. He is running across the streets of Philadelphia and triumphantly makes it up those steps. Now, imagine both of those scenes without any music. It’s not quite the same.

Music’s effects on the human brain have been studied for centuries, and it’s an essential part of the way we experience movies. As music enters the brain, it increases our dopamine levels, which are connected to senses of pleasure and trigger our emotional responses. Essentially, your body is immediately aroused. And according to studies from Harvard Health, music activates areas of the brain associated with things like memory, reasoning, and emotion.

It’s why hearing music in movies like Jaws can alert us and further be why we draw emotional connections with the situation we are presented with. As we are alerted by that low, eerie sound, we additionally become aware of it signaling the presence and predatory nature of the shark,

“It had the effect of grinding away, coming at you, just as a shark would do,”

John Williams, the composer for Jaws, stated, “instinctual, relentless, unstoppable.”

Jaws also incorporates a musical motif, which is the recurring music and feeling that arrives during specific scenes, or in its case, the foreshadowing of the shark, making scenes more intense throughout the movie.

The role of music in movies both apply to the meaning of the story and manipulate our emotions. Whether the goal is to make us feel hopeful, sad, or scared, the music choices in a film further tell how capable a film is of conveying a specific theme, feeling, or connection with a character. It’s a way of further communicating with the audience. For instance, we see this in many people’s interests in horror films. Why are we drawn to them? It is our interest in the uncanny.

The purpose of viewing horror films is to feed the fears, desires, and urges within our subconscious. And for the film to further impact us, the music plays a crucial role. Music can enhance the storytelling aspect. It guides the audience and enriches their experience emotionally,

“Music can work in powerful ways to evoke memories and ideas and thereby engage our thoughts and feelings,” Nanette Nielson, a researcher in musicology, states, “Music can quite contribute to shaping the stories of our lives.”

And that is not to mention the fanservice with the inclusion of the penguin army. Regardless of whether or not the film will be good, I have a strong feeling it will be better than the liveaction Super Mario Bros. from the 90s.

With this new track record, Hollywood adaptations of video games are entering a new era. Plenty more films are planned for the future, based on games such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, Portal, Space Channel 5, and Borderlands. Time will ultimately tell if these films will be any good, but this trend of video game movies getting better shows plenty of promise.

Movies must use music to their advantage as we are entranced and led to specific moods. It makes the situation, setting, and what the characters are experiencing and feeling all that more real. It further shapes the narrative, immersing us in other lives and stories.

Ultimately, films and their music truly impact us. Its visuals tie in with sound, enhancing the emotion and immersion into a movie. We are engaged through the medium and its message. We must consider the movie’s purpose and music to fully obtain an experience and a feeling when watching a film. If anything, it feeds something already a part of us psychologically.