How Genres Work and Why The Horror Musical | Page 5

THE MUSICAL FILM

The musical film started as
a way to bring theatre productions
to the silver screen. They follow a
typical dramatic storyline, while
the characters expose expository
details through song and lyrics.

The Jazz Singer (1927) was
the first to inlcude both diagetic
and non-diagetic sound. This led
to the golden age of musical films
which lasted up until the 1960s.
60s - West Side Story (), My Fair Lady,

Mary Poppins and Sound of Music are
released. Many other theatrical works
are remade during this decade. The
emergence of rock and roll effected
popular music tastes and caused many
of the classic musicals to flop, leading
to the closure of many major studios.

70s - This decade saw an empha-

sis on realism, due to new audience’s
finding classic musical cinema as old
fashioned. Most of the musical films
released were not initailly successful,
such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
and Rock Horror Picture Show (1975),
but later become cult classics. Grease
(1978) is released to major success in
box offices.

80s-90s - Financiers become confi-

dent with the genre, leading to big budget films like Monty Python’s Meaning
of Life () and Little Shop of Horrors.
The 90s saw a revival of animated musicals, most notably the Disney films of
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.

2000s - Western musical genre was revived by Bollywood cinema, with films
like Moulin Rouge (2001).