Goodfellas and Rock Music in Movies

One of the major themes of this film that I personally saw and connected with was the passage of time and the feeling of nostalgia.  Starting in the 1950's and going to the 1980's I found myself missing the glorified early days of the 1950's, the comradery, laughter, and general feeling of fun portrayed by the characters.

This passage of time is portrayed by the change in music.  It follows the course of the story perfectly, mirroring not only the characters but also the times and the culture at the time.  As Henry becomes more and more absorbed into the drug trade and drugs himself, the music reflects this.  This adds a depth to the film that a regular score couldn't do.  I don't think it was mentioned in class or in readings, but I think that the use of rock as the score in these sections connects the film to the real world, it breaks the film wall.  We, the audience, are no longer just viewing the film as voyeurs but we are now a part of it.  The songs talk about what is going on the film from different points of views, it isn't just a story, it is real life, it's things that happened.  It's incredible really, it is a film but it is also history and it is because it uses rock as its music. It is hard to describe it exactly...if there was a musical (orchestral) score, the motifs, themes and meaning wouldn't be as deep, they wouldn't connect so well to the real world and wouldn't have as profound an impact.

I wrote this past paragraph before doing reading about this film.  Upon opening the case study on Goodfellas, the first paragraph makes a point that I may have missed somewhat, "diegetic music also has an effect on the characters."  I have trouble recalling exactly in which points of the film we hear diegetic music, however, we can assume, that these characters have heard the music as they are in the time period.  The music used in this film affects not only the audience but the characters, this adds to the breaking of the film wall that I discussed earlier.  In the readings, it also talks about how "Scorsese...wants to take advantage of the emotional impact of the music" (50).  More than anything, the music in this film serves to create an emotional impact, which it truly does. It works as an indication of time period, but that is almost a byproduct, a side effect rather than the sole purpose.