General Discussion

Before I begin let me point out that I'm only stating my opinions here about various things and they are to be taken with a grain of salt.

The other day (at the time of this posting) I got into a discussion with a co-worker of mine over a song he had linked me to. After listening to it I didn't really have much interest in it. I told him this and his reaction I would say would be something akin to telling Roger Ebert that you think The Godfather just isn't as good as he thinks it is. He argued that the song in question had a really good message to which I agreed. The long short of the song was about how greedy people suck and how the poor and poverty stricken are living in hell because of them. The message of the song seemed quite positive and a good reflection on society today, but I just wasn't that into the music as a whole. The way it sounded in particular.

He then goes on to point out how I have such high standards of movies and that I think every movie should be based on it's story and content and that I have a double standard because I don't happen to like the song in question because I don't particularly like it despite it's story and message. My response was to tell him that I don't believe you can honestly compare Music to Movies. My argument being that, a movie needs to have a good story, characters you care about, good writing, etc. But to me a song just simply has to have a good sound and that's it. That's just how I feel.

A lot of the music I listen to, I don't know what the artist intended ,what message they're trying to give, or even what the lyrics are even saying! But I listen to them because they just sound really good and they cater to my particular taste in music. His argument to my statement was "What if a movie just looks good and it doesn't have a good story or characters?" my response was that it would be in my opinion a bad movie because it takes far more than looks to make a good movie.

To sum this all up though, my argument is that you CAN'T compare movies to music because there are far more qualities that need to work right in order for a movie to be good and that music simply needs to sound good and that it doesn't always have to have meaning or a story of any kind. Also I don't mean to put down music in any way because I do realize that it still takes talent to make a song worth listening to.

Also as a small FYI, said Co-Worker likes to hassle me because of my strong opinions of movies but I just can't take the dude seriously when he just flat out dosen't belive in ANY critics opinion and will defend movies like Grown Ups and Jack and Jill... I'm not kidding the guy tried to tell me these movies weren't as bad as most people think... I strongly disagree.

But what are your arguments people?

I agree with you. To me music is not supposed to tell a story or give a moral. Rather, like music in a movie, it is the soundtrack to my life; it changes my mood but otherwise does not affect my activities; it is more something that adds to an experience. For example, if I'm doing work or riding the subway, I don't have time to care if I'm Justin Beiber's "baby,"(I did say it was an example) it's not the focus of my activity. Movies, on the other hand, require that I spend at least an hour or two sitting in a dark. It can't rely on visuals or sounds alone because it is the main attraction and is the focus of my activity, unlike music which is more supplementary.

@Acura_Max said:

To me music is not supposed to tell a story or give a moral...

Giuseppe Verdi, George Gershwin, and Bob Dylan would disagree with you just to name a few.

@PenguinDust: Yeah, I phrased that too strongly. I should have said music should not be limited to sending a moral message or telling a story.

Well it depends on what type of music we are talking about here... you know what? Actually, I disagree with this.

Both film and music can be watered down, generic, and lack any real story whatsoever. With that said both film AND music can change the way you think, feel and can even inspire on rare occasions. Both film and music are one of the same.

I agree with the OP.

Even when an artist has a strong message or tells a story in their music, it won't be that critically successful or popular if it just doesn't sound good, which is a trait that is dependent on ones own taste. Music can be successful by just being catchy.

Movies on the other hand, are usually rated by how good the story is. Sometimes movies can just look good, but either won't be critically successful (Michael Bay explosionfests), or are very divisive (The Tree of Life, which of course has more than pretty visuals but which are usually lost on the average moviegoer). People have to care about the characters and what happens to them, or else it's just a badly written movie.

I find it hard to compare most mediums to each other as they all have their own hurdles to overcome but music to film seems like such a stretch to compare unless you are using it as a substitute like the new Skillrex song is a lot like the new Transformers; lots of loud sounds and hugely successful but sort of shallow

Well, I do believe that both music and movies can touch you in a way because it reminded you of a previous experience, something from your life. Both can hold deeper meaning to an individual because each song and each movie is unique just like each person is, so in some form you can compare them but you can also compare almost all media in that way.

I agree with you. You can't and shouldn't compare two utterly different mediums, you can barely even compare certain types of movies besides the basics. Music is either expression of the soul, or a commercial product. It definitely started off as the former but was capitalized. Which is fine, because I have a choice.

Film is a storytelling medium. Music, while it can be, isn't necessarily. It's as simple as that.

@vonDread: That does make more Since. it's deep and short! that rocks!

It's apples and oranages.

That said, Apples are totally fucking better than Oranges, the same way that The Wire is better than Where is the Love.

You can compare anything to anything, but when it gets down to it: there's no point in doing so. Enjoy what you enjoy, when you feel like it, across all media.

The majority of the music on my iPod has no lyrics at all, so it's kind of hard to derive a complex meaning from it.