Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Author is a Ms. Linda Maria Koldau (Frankfurt/Main) with the university of Kiel/Germany, supposedly a very thoughtful young and good looking lady

httm/www.filmusik.uni-kiel.de/beitraege

I'll spare the footnotes and let you run their German parts through a translating computer; so keep the German version at hand.

Hello, Ken Dunn, I wouldn't mind as a matter of fact appreciating you checking “my” English and correct where necessary.

Please note I know as much about music as Hugh Heffner knows about celebacy.

TRANSLATION.

U-Boats, their sound, their language and their music

Interaction of auditive film and cultural-historic background

Whoever wants to buy a u-boat may check the internet-site of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (Ltd) Kiel as to current offers. A.o. there you`ll note about the new boats of 214-class: “ The net result was and is an air-independent but non-nuclear submarine with exceptional technical and operational capabilities, featuring extraordinarily developed stealth characteristics and an impressive weapon and sensor payload.” (Inter site HDW 2007) Also the German Navy notes proudly, their boats – eight boats of class 206 A and four of class 212A – are “extremely difficult to locate”, and the signature-silhouette of the new 212-boats been once more minimized, compared to other conventional boats. (Die Flotte, 21 and 23). the former Chief of Navy, vice-admiral retir. Lutz Feldt actually explained in a telephone-call the new developed 212-boats were so quiet, that they are kind of a black whole against the general sound-background of the ocean, if somebody tried to locative them – thus fatally be located after all (Lutz Feldt, Telefonat 03/16/2007). Be that statement a little bit exaggerated – it is not to be denied, during a NATO-exercise several German u-boats managed silently to stalk up to an American carrier thus proving a faulty acoustic baffle causing mayor consternation on the NATO-partner.

U boats are treacherous creatures – silently they stalk, without mercy they hit hard and disappear as silently as they approached. This characterization as “ ocean-beast U boat” led to mayor successes of U boats in WWI and WWII

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thus generating the myth, which became engraved as “U-Boat-Myth” in the awareness of the people participating in theses wars (see Hadley 2000). The ongoing popularity of the movie Das Boot as well as the consistent interest of the public on the U boats of the German Navy demonstrate this myth still being active today.

However, because of their soundlessness, they pose a problem for filmmakers – how are the sound engineers are suppose to deal with a subject, emitting less and lesser sounds – due to the common efforts by high tech and navy? The directors of the first U-Boat-movies didn't have to worry, these were silent pictures, the only sound, accompanying the notorious submarine vehicles, was the music of the movie-pianist . (footnote 3, author claims to have found 150 uboat-movies). Later the nazi- propaganda movies – for instance Morgenrot (…) and U-Boat Westwards (…) in contrast inserted characteristic sounds (e.g. the rushing of the sea and the breaking of the waves against the hull of the boat, but also locating-sounds and torpedo explosions), added by the snarl orders of German officers. The third element of the acoustic film, the music, is represented mainly by self-assured marches and cutting fanfares. These three elements, sounds, language and music were further more refined and diversified in additional contributions within the genre U-Boat-Film ( the last one of them, known to me, being In Enemy Hands (…). Next to the soundlessness of this “secret” (because operating in absolute silence) weapon sounds play a mayor in the daily routine of the uboat and even more so in a uboat-war in order to survive, exactly the fact more and more recognized and implemented by directors.

It is a mark of highest quality for a u boat to produce as less sound as possible, at the same time though the life of the crew depends on the differentiating acoustic perception of all sounds coming from outboard. Sounds substitute in many variations the lacking of sight – in many U-Boat-films this instance is allegorized through the part of the eavesdropper, who (historical correct) checks the sound environs in order to identify ships to assess course and distance.

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This eavesdropping of maritime environs of course is completely outdated compared to todays sonar techniques: Sounds are detected by electronic means, processed digital wise and – remarkable concerning the ratio as to auditive and visual proportions of a movie – are translated into the visual on the sonar screen. Some movies like HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (…) or CRIMSON TIDE (…) deliberately translate in order to play for the gallery the acoustic phenomenons into optical imagines. The gambling between audio and visual comprehension turns out to be a means of dramaturgy.

It becomes clear by theses introduction lines, just the analysis of the acoustic proportion of a film (especially u boat-movies) want suffice – it must correlate constantly with the visual proportion, in order to appreciate the dramaturgical function and means of the elements sound, language and music. That is nothing new from the viewpoint of film music aesthetics - but actually the introducing quotes, cross references to the U-Boat-Myth, experiences of combatants and movies for propaganda means go to show, that an inward-filmic analyses is not sufficient, even if the acoustic and visual proportions are accounted for in he same way as are additional factors of movie productions (the tale itself, the integration of single sequence into the respective strand, technical means such as cut, sound mixing etc). U-Boat-movies are a different source having coined as well the U-Boat-myth and fixed it in the conciseness of the populace till today – much more efficient as any other sources of this myth. Effectualness of this myth is displayed however by no means just because of tricky presentation of the tale within the auditive and visual framework. In any of theses movies, each in its own mode, the general historic and cultural heritage as background of the u boat plays a role – and without those backgrounds the suggestive power of these filmic parameters don´t make sense.

This article tries to point out the historical, cultural heritage as a means of context and its effectualness in the movie on the basis of some examples from u Boat-movies. Special attention is devoted to the important prominence of sound and language, which are closer associated to the u-Boat-myth as the third element of the auditive proportion, the music. Hence one has to ask, if even there is something like a “typical U-Boat-music” - or if the music in the genre of U Boat-movies has to be alloted to the “realistic” sound elements of the weaponry, but nevertheless assumes important dramaturgical functions just as well.

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1.Das Boot: The historical context and its impact of designing the auditive proportion

Hardly any other fiction caused so much furor in the 70ties than Lothar-Günther Bucheims`s DAS BOOT (…). The war corresponded Buchheim lucked out, or maybe it was calculus – he published his fiction just at the right time thus becoming a very wealthy author of a world bestseller. At a less opportune timeframe Wolfgang Otts navy fiction HAIE UND KLEINE FISCHE (1956) was published, indeed praised by critics as “the probable most vigorous war-book of the second German postwar time”, as “the one German sear-war ficition from WWII” being praised (…), but which less fellow man relatively speaking - just eleven years after WWII the time wasn't ripe for an unsparing report. Buchheim, as war correspondent actually on board of U 96, a VIIc-boat, benefited from the greater interval – and presumingly from Ott`s fiction also. Former u boat crews don`t like Buchheim that much, him merely taking part in two rather harmless patrols with no trace of any dramatic events like in DAS BOOT – if one reads HAIE UND KLEINE FISCHE, you`ll recon, from where this highly talented journalist and writer took the substrate for his bestseller, even to the point of some dictum's from the commander.

Be that original or not – it was Buchheim who retrieved to the surface the U-Boat-Myth, the dream of this silver bullet knowingly taking a dive for a couple of decades afterwards, and only nourished by the veterans. Buchheim`s book stirred the public in such a way like hardly any other book had done after the war. The obscenities, not be taken as part of the otherwise over realistic telling, but had to conform a very different function, played a minor role in this connection. In fact the point was, a myth was to become socially acceptable, after being the hope of the Germans through two wars having fallen into perdition after 1945. It broke the silence of the veterans, connected generations, as such leading to unintended confessions in some ways by the still convinced stalwarts of the “good old times” - the letters, reviews and comments, published by Michael Salewski (1985) in his book about reception of DAS BOOT, gave way to a profound insight of the German society in the early 70ties.

An even larger success was held in store as to the making of the movie of this fiction by Wolfgang Petersen (Directing and script) – the genesis of the film (including the fights with LGB, who had drafted a different script), the sumptuous shooting will be found and described in the exhibition catalog Das Boot.Looking for the Crew of U 96,

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published on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the first release. In tis catalog you`ll find an article by the Navy – historian Michael Salewski – one will not comprehend the movie in its complexity unless taking into account the historical context, the history and impact of the u-boat-arm in WWII . The perditions especially by German film reviews, the movie being “war glorifying”, and the “good boys”, praised by the captain for their superhuman efforts to repair the boat, were nothing else than aboulic tools of a criminal regime (…), don't get it in reference to the U-Boat-Myth – because the Boat implies a symbolic and factual dissociation from home, family and fatherland, something the very thought of memories/pictures and longings of the crew can't change. The U-Boat-Myth draws his energy exactly out of the fact, a virgin crew is completely on its own:

“The report about the U-Boat-war of the years 1943 – 45 is report out of the realm of thedead. Tey were young: 22, 21 years the commandants, the “Alten”, 20, 19 the watch officers. Their lie expectations amounted to just a few month, statistically speaking within a year all were dead. When the boats left La Rochelle or Brest, La Pallice or Bordeaux, war and history were condensed into a scope- and timeless Fight for survival, being lost most of the time. Not any more the Großdeutsche Reich” fought the seapowers but forty to fifty youngsters against the unfailing potency of half of the globe.”(...)

The few, all to placative allusions, that the “Alte” and his officers (except the national socialistic IWO) were opposing the Nazi-regime, play a minor role, they might have been omitted - this movie is not about political convictions, not about the brass, but about life or better vegetating on board of a VIIc boat on patrol.

What have all those historical-cultural heritable backgrounds – which could be augmented, a must – to do with the auditive proportion of the film? As explained above sounds play a crucial to survival role in the daily routine on board. This comes downright as key note in Buchheim`s fiction: about 40 different kind of sounds are described shaping the daily routine on board and provide information about the invisible environs.

(footnote 7 where the author separates all the sounds into different categories, which you guys can translated by yourself)

And last not least that silence – in movies occasionally used for extra special dramaturgical effects-
carries an important psychological means in fiction and the film.

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Buchheim performs virtuously with theses sounds: the generate the living environment of the crew, next to the forbidding smell in the boat they only sensory indention, which penetrates the men ubiquitously and overwhelmingly. Adding the language: The script written by Buchheim for the film emphasizes several times how important the “Orderlitanies” as an acoustic key notes during he daily routine on board were for diving and surfacing as well as during attacks. (…) In peace as well as in war times daily diving procedures were conducted, every grip had to be down cold, every day anew it had to be checked, even the boat was able to dive (…). The chain of command, every single order had to be repeated always by the officer in charge for safety reasons, by their always same discharge and repetitions maintain a quasi musical character – not for nothing Buchheim talks about “Orderlitanies”. The script of Wolfgang Petersen party restricts this linguistic – melodious aspect, being so necessary for Buchheim – only during the attack on the convoy the linguistic mechanizing cycles resound. Just as diegetic music always performs functions, which exceed the strand/plot, in which the alleged “film-real” music resounds, so the tension tight chain of command provides at same time for a dramatic purpose: Together with the rapid change of perspectives, illumination and
premises, together with the dramatic actions (the first complete attack after two and third hours of film, taking the TV-version), together with the rest of the sounds and finally taking also into consideration the stinging/inflaming music, these orders present such an urgency, elevating immensely the overall suspense. At the same time however this measured sequences communicate to the audience that the attack despite all the daring of the commander stays within militarily regulated concepts – an analogy with the subsequent enemy attack before the shores of Gibraltar, next to which the same music is played and the perspectives and the illuminations change just as rapidly, makes clear, that this first attack on the boat is in itself dangerous, but the commander is firmly in control of the situation.

It would lead to far in this paper to consider all the elements of auditive proportion in its reasonable width. Sounds play a central role in DAS BOOT, Mike Le-Mare and Milan Bor took all of their phantasy's to copy them and have them sound as real as possible. But unmistakable this “Ping” of sonar has left a permanent impression in the worldwide audience and became the sound-symbol of the u boat-arm. Although this special sound, being created for DAS BOOT through a complex mixing, partly by decelerated sounds, is anything but new: In quite bit of older movies this sonar sound can be found, sometimes very similar, sometimes in other variations. That the “Ping” in Petersen`s movie is very close to being real, is confirmed emphatically by contemporary witnesses - an 88 old crew member instantly got scared, when I played Doldinger`s music, in which this “Ping” is integrated: Yes, that's exactly like it sounded

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But this scaring is part of a psychological effect of this movie, the sound effects are an essential dramaturgical factor. And that independently from the fear distorted faces of the crew, helplessly exposed to the positioning findings. This autonomous effect of this sound becomes clear already in the leader. Basically the beginning of Das Boot doesn`t vary from other war – movies: Through a few words the situation is described, u-boat war in the Atlantic in 1941. But thereunto the sound of this sonar – only the connection with the cultural context, the audience gets know in course of the movie, this unique sound – effect gains its psychological effect: That “Ping” of sonar might be transmitted from the u boat itself in order gauging the range of a ship or any other object in the waters. Still the hunters became the hunted/prey: Also the enemy used sonar to find the boat, so this sound-effect becomes an unnerving sound leading making the crew suffering mortal fear. This effect is applied goal-oriented, and once you know the effect of this ping, the massive threat is reckoned, emanating just from this sound and music alone during the prefix/leader. The viewer just sitting there naively reading the dry lines as to the bearing of the U-Boat-War – and there it tiptoes: Ping. At first muted in the background, almost casually, then it becomes a melodious bridge – the black writings in stone convert into a dark, threatening green, the depth of oceans. Just now the music assembles, the dense tenseness of the violin, in addition a subtle swoosh, profound strings advance, felxuous, blatantly threatening. To this end again and again that Ping – harbinger of dark patterns from the depth of sea. Always closer, always larger the eerie is getting, the undefined whoosh becomes a threatening sound of moving, the strings seem to entangle the viewers, and again and again that Ping, the pattern becomes the dark giant out of the depth – cold, insensitive, merciless it hovers over the audience, the music explodes. Left behind are the shambled letters: DAS BOOT.

The movie composer Klaus Doldinger took upon very consciously the (assumed) sounds of daily u boat routine. The Ping of sonar just as the threatening driving noise became a constitutive element in his music. Similar like the sound effect of the Ping, Doldinger`s famous guiding theme is the key note leading through the whole movie and on any one event the manning and tonality varies ,
connected very closely with feeling of being threatened: “ Like a giant beast sneaking towards you and then submerges”, with those words in 1981 director Petersen introduced to his friend Klaus Doldinger the central theme of the million mark – project. And out of this conception – very spontaneously said Doldinger – the main theme of this film was created. (…) But in the course of this movie the theme is transformed: Whereas it comes across in the prefix as a threat in the movie itself it becomes the sound signum of the boat on high sea – a music of temporizing, of reclusion, of craving; variegated into aggressive fanfares, a stinging/inflaming attack-music, but also an exhalation of endless joy and relief.

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Theses musical adjustments – for reasons of space they will not be explained in detail nor on the music sheet – presuppose each other out of the alternating scenes, nowhere as hauntingly turned into sound as starting the diesel engines. This variation of theme goes to show in a formidable way, how much Doldinger was inspired by the technical events – but also, how the original composed music was limited when embedded into the film. After the boat, heavily damaged, sank to 280m the crew managed to correct many technical defects. The submerging succeeds – the next existential problem, will the diesels activate. A U-Boat type VIIc has two diesels, one starboard, one port. The starting of theses engines ist a moment of highest tension, because the life of the crew hangs in the balance. Doldinger virtually masterminds in a genius fashion this moment as to his composing: technique connects with music, sound of the engine with sound of bugles and violins, the internal tension of the crew is translated into music. So, first the stutter resounds of one diesel descending to a chugging of drums – the other diesel, less strikingly epitomized through injections via bugles and peaked violins, likewise kicks in, and extreme tension is building up finally being discharged into the main theme, this time not as being threatening and cryptic but beaming and racy: The Boat escaped and heads toward home. In this case Doldinger has composed via a classic instruments - orchestra and drums-beat what happens within the boat. However the original soundtrack, completely recorded on CD, is partly sacrificed to serve the priorities of the movie, and just thereby mutating into film-music: So, that the acoustic and visual events do not interfere with each other tautologically, the sound mix of the movie cut out of all things the high strung composed starting of the diesel, because in the movie it can just be seen and (in form of engine sound) to be heard.
The real sound composed by Doldinger can only be heard on the basis of the CD-soundtrack – but in the movie, this special music-effect, the musical starting of the engine, has to be sacrificed for the visual part of the film. So the soundtrack-CD of DAS BOOT offers a peculiar certification by having the original composition recorded as to how film-music in close basis of the cultural background of content – here: the U boat-arm of WWII – originates and therefore in itself becomes a sound bearer of the cultural phenomenon.

The combination of the three elements, sound, language and music plus the coaction with the visual proportion effectuate a strong emotional impression. How much sounds interconnect with emotions is expressed on the diegetic platform – again in turn the U Boat-movie proves to be an ideal illustrative material: The sounds of the hitting torpedoes has the crew triumphantly cheering up, the ever denser getting Pings scares the leaving daylights out of them.

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On the non-diegetic platform the effects are amplified by the music from Klaus Doldinger: Next to the leading theme, which depending on instrumentation and flow may sound threatening, aggressive and jubilant, Doldinger capitalizes especially the music parameters of excitement ( attack-music: continuous drums-beat, tough beats on timbal/kettledrum, shots by synthesizer, aggressive brass-fanfare), the tension and threatening (Expecting an attack, lieing on the bottom of sea: persistent high violin tones) and the love (remembrance, love of the ensign: sentimental melody play by classic guitar, occasionally added by string – carpet, the latter whereupon he tends most likely to laps in to film musical stereotypes. To get more specific just on this headline like named principles of composition, which constitute such clichés and are alloted considerably as to emotional effects, would lead to far. It might be recorded by means of said examples, that in the film DAS BOOT the three elements of auditive portions are in a close interdependency as to each other but also as to the visual portion. This complex relationship between the different elements of the film unfolds such a intensive emotional effect is due last but not least to the sweeping cultural historical context of the U Boat Myth, without the film can be comprehended conditionally only.

2. Film musical analysis in cultural historical context: K 19 – The Widowmaker and Crimson Tide

DAS BOOT belongs to one of most famous films to pick out episodes of WWII; numerous U Boat movies from the recent past are also dedicated to the Sea war of 1939-1945. In contrast the arms race of the cold war gave movie makers new chances to fascinate the audience, especially via U-Boat-Films: The first nuclear powered u boat, the American USS Nautilus, was launched in January 1954. Nuclear powered u boats fulfilled the as pressing reputed requirement to achieve extreme long submerges and faster traveling under water; finally in 1961 the Soviet boat K-19 was assigned to duty, not only being nuclear powered but also armed with rockets thus signifying an existential threat to the enemy. Already the conventional u-boat renders as to ideal stuff movies are made of (…) so nuclear boats offer additional moments of tension: fascination of nuclear reactor handling, the global operating distance; as well as the global destruction power of the rockets thus providing for a much higher threatening emanating from just one boat; the (compared to conventional boats) enormous size; the far higher number of crew (meaning higher potential stuff of conflict and tragic);
far more sophisticated technology, leading to much intenser perception of the environs. Directors like John McTierman (Hunt for Red October) and Tony Scott (crimson Tide) have taken advantage gleefully of the new dramaturgical factors – highlights of their films are the underwater duels between two enemy boats, locating well each other and perfectionate the fight due to their technical means.

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Subject matter of another study will be how theses dramatical highlights are to be intensified via sounds, language and music.

Of all things the first rocket armed U-boat of the Soviet Union belonged to the boats, which despite strong military security finally became to attract the interest of the public – in case of K – 19 that happened even by a motion picture supported by research and mostly financed as well as initiated by National Geographic. The stereotype insurance by American U-Boat-movies, that the reality took place just as depicted in the movie (see for example Hunt for Red October), the motion picture K-19 – The Widowmaker (…) contains more than a grain of truth: Actually in July 1961 on her first patrol of the atom-u-boat K-19 a severe reactor accident happened, being followed up closely in the movie sequence. On behave of National Geographic the director Kathryn Bigelow with some colleagues for years conducted researches in Russian archives and original settings of Navy base Polyarny(...); this became possible via the political developments since 1989, which allowed for disclosure of the accident so far having kept secret, and led finally for a readiness of the Russian navy and other authorities to cooperate with an American team.

The Cold War as a context within the movie will be noticed only secondarily on first glance – center stage took the “human interest”-story, which was mayor intend of the producer and the director, human interest that is of a crew of virgin man, faced with the gruesome choice either to let the meltdown happen or to sacrifice some members of crew, who will forfeit their lives due to repairment of the reactor. In this main strand of the action the conflict is interlaced between the commander Mikhail Polenin (..), blamelessly stripped off plus demoted to first officer, and the new authoritative commander Alexej Vostrikov(...) as well as the inner changes of the high-flying young reactor-officer Vladim Radtschenko (…). The Cold War provides a tension boosting framework for these strands. Fatally it, the COLD WAR, already acts as a prerequisite: The newly developed Atom-U boat had to leave port although during preparations for patrol insufficiently equipped and with numerous malfunctions occurring,

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in order to demonstrate to the Americans as soon as possible, the Soviets now command over mobile rocket launch base being able to be stationed undetected outside American shores. In the later course of the movie the conflict between the superpowers adds a bitter note and raises the tension at the same time: The submerged and contaminated boat is discovered by a destroyer; the deeply desperate crew burst into frenetic exultation in face of the oncoming rescue – but the exultation turns into bitter disappointment, when the young Russian recognize the truth their “saviors” are the enemy. This scene belongs to the best of the film, and is hauntingly elevated by musical means, here however not be elaborated any further.

The context of the Cold War is essential to appreciate the emergency situation facing the crew of K-19. Is this context also essential to appreciate the auditive proportion? The film – music by Klaus Badelt underlies in a sense of Underscoring as to the entire movie; the movie, length of time two hours, is almost all over lined by a musical fabric, essentially consisting of two interblended, cognitional themes. Badelt instigates here a Mood technique in a very sweeping sense: The two soulful main themes, fully orchestrated in late romanticism, freeze from the very beginning the mood of the film. There is no doubt from the very beginning: A boat, such music being allocate, is condemned being sunk. The only musical contrast – except the reactor-”requiem”, not being composed by Badelt – establishes a two times appearing theme, that in the K-19-Suite, created by Badelt out of this music, marked as title War, - yield to aggressive beats, a feeling for, ever more skeltering of a small portioned rotating melodic twist, highlighted by nervous staccato-interjections sounding like anguished morse.

(yease peasy, I mean jurist come up with weird sentences, but this lady-musician is taking the cake)

This theme resounds during the exercise for the first time, which catapults the viewer into the movie; just before the climax, the firing of the nuclear rocket , it becomes obvious, this is just an exercise at the navy base and not about a real scenario in the Cold War. At its second incidence this war-theme is much more skillfully composed – and this time the real thing happens, namely the very seriously meant high sea exercise, peaking in firing a test rocket thus demonstrating to the Americans, now the Soviets command a equipollent deadly weapon. This highly dramatic sequence follows a no less dramatic episode: The commander taking the hardly tested boat to her upper limits prior firing the test-rocket, first taking the boat far more beyond the approve maximum diving depth and then submerging with maximum speed, breaking trough a 1m thick ice layer. The music accompanies this event as well as the subsequent firing of the test rocket using the war theme; but this time the choreographic arranged succession of the firing procedures is embellished by massive musical means - a gradually blooming of a highly threatening

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process, letting the war theme grow step by step slowly, but irresistible leading to a gigantic juggernaut, checklessly gaining power of motion, more forward pressing and aggressively resounding the morse of the strings and the wind section, skirlly trills mark as a highest potential of tension, intervals, rhythm, dynamic, tempo, instrumentation, all of his helps to get the viewer very close to realize the fulminate threat of the firing procedures/preparations. This musical process runs in two waves- and theses waves depend on the action. After the musical evathian has gained agitation, a sudden deferment appears leading to formidable cymbal beat – the rocket is being positioned (…). From this explosion an anewed, this time a short escalation emerges, finally leading to the second main theme: The test – rocket has been fired, mission accomplished. However the highlight, clearly marked by music, was the positioning of this rocket accentuated by Russian characters.

Almost to exceeding the music seems as to be associated to a simple exercise – merely it was not just a simple exercise but the first and successful test of an annihilating, first time to be deployed weapon system, which at the same time revived the balance of power in the Cold War in favor of the Soviet Union. As to this background this music has to be viewed, also as to this background the highly dramatized staging by some critics said to be excessive. Klaus Badelt`s music as well as the other elements of the auditive portion are quite to be apprehended without this background of the Cold War. However taking also into consideration this political and cultural historic background so the auditive portion and the entire movie unclose a deeper dimension.

Also the asychrone and contra spotting input of music excite effects in U boat movies, which - interlocking with the historical or fictive context of the story – leads to a deeper understanding of the action. Music will be used not only as paraphrasing and aggravating in U Boat movies like it being the case in K-19 The Widowmaker – like any other film music it realizes other functions as well, crossing over the visual so to provide for a new, maybe an even more different denotation. This function was used on purpose by director Tony Scott in 1995 when shooting the Hollywood -production Crimson Tide – thus metabolizing a visual and linguistic parody of militarism into a very American commitment full of patriotism and willingness to sacrifice. Visual effects take an important part in the process of metabolizing - but foremost the film music absolving from potential ridicule the muster – scene in the first part of the film thus transferring it into the realm of great moments.

The background of Crimson Tide is fictive ( although claiming to portray real events): The movie takes place in a not otherwise specified present,

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in which the the East – West conflict has turned into a careful partnership between Americans and Russians ( just six years after the key-year of 1989). The threat doesn't originate from the (former) Soviet Union this time, in fact a asymmetric threat is caused by nationalistic rebells to try to enforce their challenges, otherwise to fire atom-rockets at the USA. This scenario can be taken downright as prophetic under present conditions: The terrorist attacks of 9/11 2001 lead to a fundamental reinvention of threatening war scenarios, center stage take today the asymmetric threats by terrorist thus challenging the Alliance – Forces in a way not seen in the past. Especially the navies are affected, after all it is their job to provide a fast and secure approach to coastal areas of conflict as well as being in charge of surveillance of intersections within the worldwide maritime traffic – as such the duties of submarines have changed fundamentally. Indeed it is an U Boat, USS Alabama, which has been ordered to the forefront in Crimson Tide, to prevent the rebells from firing their atom-missiles. Interlaced with it is the conflict between the commander Frank Ramsey (…), a white man of the old Garde and the young black skinned Ron Hunter(...), becoming first officer because of substitution. The pattern of The Caine Mutiny(...) is distinctive.

(footnote 16 is kind of interesting the author draws some comparison to The Caine Mutiny but concludes that actually Wolfgang Petersen's idea that the crew after leaving port is on tis own)

The authoritative and prolific patriotic character of the experienced commander comes nowhere better into his own as in the muster scene before getting on board of the boat – a classical military scene where the petty officer first class repeats with stentorian voice the patriotic verbiage of the commander. This scene hinges between ritual and parody – on the one hand obviously it shows a fight-ritual, the crew of USS Alabama is very familiar with and to serve as an infusion of braveness and fighting spirit. On the other the scene contains unmistakably some pariodistic elements: the discrepancy between embossment and torrential rain (including the umbrella of the commandant); this matchless small dog Ramsey; the fat petty officer repeating excessively the verbiage (…); the multiple flashing of Hunter's face with flimsy smirks – as newcomer the ritual is alien to him obviously, so that his smirk divulges the exaggeration of the whole scene.

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However theses pariodistic elements are being transformed, in fact by the music. Muted, initially inconspicuously the theme begins, a cantilena evocative of Wagner, played by heroic bulges. The muster continuous, for the outer viewer becoming more absurd – but the theme gets more intense, the perspective closes in on the militarily – square-edged face of the petty officer just then to offer a splendid total view of the boat emitting sparks: the last bastion of freedom, the last hope of the Western world. Without the music this effect would be missed: Just the bulges award an unimagined grandeur to the muster, let the duty of the soldiers appear as a heroic last resort -and then the theme blossoms up, the fully voiced use of the bugle-theme opens up the vastness of the ocean and ennobles this military order to a mission of global significance. Off all things the music does not
become affirmative but asynchronous in the muster-scene – meaning it does not corroborate in the visual portion with predomination sentiment. In earnest some possibilities are on offer: Based on the double entendre of the visual portion – serious ritual or parody – a music striving for one or the side in its expression might act as polarizing. The composer Hans Zimmer took on a third path, the very asynchronous version, though not establishing an explicit antipode as to the visual events but also not going along with them. Out of this conflicting ratio something new evolves between auditive and visual portion; a third – using musical parameters of heroism the denoted emptiness on military conformism is transcended, in lieu thereof by the music – in combination with the flashes of alternating perspective as well as transferring from “Attention” to a precise combat movement – a feeling of grandeur as to the events is created.

Far more further examples might be quoted as to the mutual integration of visual and auditive portion and their interlocking with the cultural and historical context of the U-Boat-Myth. Over a 150 u boat movies can be verified, ten of which I could so far take a closer look at – and each of theses ten offers its own solution, to capture the cultural and military-historical phenomena U Boat including is auditive concomitants. In addition each movie has its own music, more or less profiled, and this music enables us the perception to strengthen just s to differentiated the phenomenon U-Boat.

Film music – one of the most influential media of our times – is a very important aspect in cultural historical and social terms, to be research historically as well as systematically. Its analysis calls for
numerous filmic parameters to be taken into account, because film music can display its functions and effects only in interaction with other components

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of the complex artwork of film. Taking account of the cultural and historic context of the story itself in one further step – in this case the U Boat-Myth in history and present- , a multitude of denotations will be offered, which deserve the attention of music-, film- and media science as well as other fields.

End of translation

Literature:

please check German version

You all have a nice day.
Sincerely Yours
VEK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2009 01:36PM by Forum Moderator.