“Talking to BFI a few years ago, Martin Scorsese said (and this is worth quoting at length): “It’s very easy for the music to become a kind of security blanket, for the filmmakers and then for the audience. It’s bad enough when it’s used for nostalgic purposes, or when it’s used to place a scene in time, but there’s nothing worse than when music is used to tell the audience what they should be feeling. Unfortunately, it happens all the time.” Music in movies can be great, but not when the songs become punch lines beaten into a tasteless pulp through years of overuse. It’s not that the songs on this list are bad — many of them are still very good — but they’ve long since ceased being funny or serious or in any way meaningful in movies. Classical music’s no exception, either. These melodies have become crutches, and they’ve turned into a kind of easy shorthand for filmmakers. It’s time to retire them.” w/ photos
