I was watching an old 80's movie last night called "Ruthless People"
and one thing I noticed was the elusive montage. I think the 80s was
the decade of the montage. It brought me closer to realizing exactly
what the montage is and its purpose. There seems to be 3 types of
montages. The first is just music playing while the characters are doing
stuff over time. The second is when a character presses play on a tape
recorder and then the montage begins -- making it seem like they have
been listening to the same song for hours --- because it can end when
the character presses stop on the tape recorder. The third is all of
the second montage plus dancing and sometimes singing along. Take
"Footloose" for example. That barn montage scene made it look like
they had been listening to the song "I need a hero" and dancing to it
for over 2 hours. The one in Ruthless People had a montage which
included 80's keyboard and a bunch of homeless people in the alleys -
which had absolutely nothing to do with the movie. I really can't
picture them listening to that type of music, which I guess is what
really makes it funny. For instance, if I had a montage done of me
while working I definitely would not want "Boot Scoot Boogie" as the
theme song. "Summer Rental" had a montage in which they paint a boat
listening to the same song in enough time it takes to paint a boat.
The 80's had tons of montages. Even in TV shows whenever someone had
to do a lot of work, there was a montage. "Breakfast Club" had a
montage where they were all high and dancing and Emilio Estevez does a
bunch of flips and climbs on the stairs. And yet I think to myself, in
real life if we were to suddenly hear music while we were working or
playing we would not be dancing and maybe not even working. We'd just
be listening. I just need some theme music and then I can get a
montage of me working. I'll make a video and show it to my boss. See
I'm working, there's music...

Thought of the Day
Freddy Shoop: I remember you. Where ya been?
Student: Bathroom.
Freddy Shoop: Six weeks?
Student: My zipper got stuck.
-- Summer School