I just came from a video by a classical music/film score fan on Youtube about the use of pop songs in the Shrek movies.
You could write a book, a big one and a deep one, analyzing the classic first two Shrek movies. That duology is one of the great cinematic highlights of our time.
And what this person pointed out is that, while some movies make very superficial use of preexisting pop songs, for example, playing a song about a prison like 'House of the Rising Sun' when we see a prison, or playing 'Changes' by David Bowie when characters have just undergone changes, the use of pop songs in the first two Shrek movies is much more than that- even though the 'Changes' David Bowie example actually comes from Shrek 2 itself.
And that's because the pop songs mean something in the Shrek movies. They represent something.
The pop songs exist alongside a traditional instrumental score, and the pop songs represent the character's public life, and the instrumental score represents their inner life, in a movie where so many of the central characters have to hide who they truly are inside.
Pop songs like 'All Star' by Smashmouth represent the public life of characters like Shrek, while the instrumental score represents their inner life, how they really feel inside.
Which is why it's okay to use a pop song where the reference is obvious and even in the title. Because they represent the character's outer, public life.
Which pop music, being a popular, public thing, is supremely suited to represent in a world like Shrek's.
And when Donkey sings a pop song from his heart, actually in the movie, it means that he is the one character who is happy with his public life in the depths of his heart.
The pop songs represent something more than just 'here's a prison, let's play a prison song'.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but the Shrek movies are not nice little movies for fun.
The Shrek movies are complex, subtle literary masterpieces, and the pop songs in the movies represent something.
Which is why it is so moving when 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac plays at the climax of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Because the classic rock songs in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are not just some public pop songs.
They are all that Star Lord, the central character, has of his mother and her world.
They are something that means so, so much to Star Lord in such a deep, personal way.
And that is why it really means something when one of these songs is played in an appropriate moment in the movie.
Because these songs mean something deep and powerful to Star Lord.
And these songs are the best of the best.
The classic rock of the 60s and 70s.
Which is just what someone of Star Lord's age would be listening to on the classic rock radio with his mom when he was a child back in the 80s or early 90s.
And these songs, the best of the best, are what comes up in Star Lord's head when something significant happens.
And they are the best of the best. Deep, sophistocated, and very well-chosen for the really big moments.
And when 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac plays at the climax?
I'll let you watch the movie yourself, so that you can discover for yourself why a song like 'The Chain' that is, along with other such songs, all Star Lord has of his beloved mother, playing in that climax is so powerful and so appropriate.
No spoilers here.
Go see for yourself.
It's a great movie.
That's all I wanted to say!
God loves you! Enjoy your movies and your pop songs!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. I can personally testify that the kind of pop songs in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are the kind of pop songs that someone who was a child in the 80s or early 90s would be listening to with their mom on the classic rock radio. Because they are the songs that I listened to on the classic rock radio with my dad when I was young in the 80s and early 90s!