THOMAS NEWMAN

Okay, then.

With getting irritated? No, be my guest! We all have our "things"...

Between this project, The Good Dinosaur, and Spectre, this could finally be Newman's year. He might even get double-nominated, like Desplat for last year.

I think it can be irritating and even insulting to an artist and by lesser extension fans of their work, when works which are not intended or recognized by the artist to be pastiche, are labeled as such by critics. If the work is intended as an original creation and it gets labelled as pastiche, it's basically the critic saying the artist isn't original or clever or creative enough to have their own spin on things. Whether or not it's true in any particular case, and I'm not going to keep going there because I'm not musically educated enough, if the artist and/or their fans believe a work (or body of works) to be an original creation that is worthy of standing on its own, then it's really not very nice to call it a pastiche. It's a little demeaning. I don't believe McKenzie is intending to pastiche anything in particular, and that was why I originally interpreted Thor's statement as a clever jab in response to my equally overgeneralized statements about Elfman. I didn't think anyone would actually think McKenzie's music is pastiche, it's probably as absurd to me as the comments I made about Elfman probably sound to an Elfman fan. Still, the jokes on me 'cause I over-reacted more

For the purposes of this thread I consider Thor to be a critic. Especially since he's an IFMCA member if I remember correctly.

I'm not sure it's fully either one of those, since he was instructed to score the film as 100% serious as if it were live-action. So if anything, I would say pastiche, but I have issues with that word in this context too

I'd say that's an Elmer Bernstein case (in spirit, obviously not in style!) of playing the comedy dead straight.

Yeah, but isn't that a parody in and of itself? I'd say it is.

How is that parody? I find that to be very much pastiche. Even Seth MacFarlane says it was crucial for his film that McNeely approached the music seriously, tapping into the classic western sound of Bernstein, Copland etc. Except for the song(s), there is no parody in the score in and of itself.

Sorry.

I'm not kidding. Thor's gonna have a bloody lip if he says pastiche again!

And your right, Thor. I meant McNeely's song... Not the score, which has one of the worse cases of temptrackitis I've head in a while.

-Erik-

People using a word incorrectly or misunderstanding its meaning does not lead me to hate the word.
Those people on the other hand...


"Ske-jual"?
Not in THIS neck of the wood, my dear potayto potahto!

I do, however, throw my full weight behind the hatred for the use of the word "bro", or indeed in a similar vein- the loathsome, but luckily over time ever less employed "douche". Good GOD! If one is truly inclined towards hurling abusive vernecular turning to bathroom appliances surely must be the bottom of the barrel!

And, gathering steam going off on a tangent, do not get me started on those who "could care less". I deeply wish at times I could care less about it. But alas, I am galled, my plumage is ruffled, bees are inhabiting my bonnet. It's "I couldN'T care less". Could NOT. If you "could care less" you would be able to CARE LESS! Which you DON'T. That is the whole damn POINT.

Argh!

Humanity!
I swear.
A reboot is in order.

Indeed. The PASTICHE (sorry, I just had to annoy Erik) of classic western sound is very much intended in this case.

Oh who cares. I'd rather hear McNeely conjure up a derivative-but-enthusiastic reworking of "Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra" for an action scene than have some RC assistant put an off-the-shelf drumloop over the same scene for three minutes...even if the latter is technically more original.