Posted by Giovanna at a17-201-27-178.apple.com on August 24, 2001 at 23:26:34:
I just saw a post about Smith's taste in music,
and that reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend about why
I bought, without knowing a thing about the movie or many of the
artists, the Jay and Silent Bob soundtrack when it first came out.
It all has to do with my (perceived) Smith-Lee similarity.
Music is an expression of culture.
Both Smith (NJ Suburbia) and Lee (black culture - less specific than
Smith) masterfully use music to emphasize and distinguish the
culture in which we are emerged when the lights dim in the theater...
and masterfully so. Smith's scores and soundtracks are full of
offbeat alternative music... like the offbeat alternative lifestyles he
represents. Lee's scores and soundtracks are full of rich sounds
from black culture, from each era he chooses to represent. It helps
set the ethos (or tone) of each film, and keeps us enraptured in that
world.
Again - both are masters at this.
Pick up a Spike Lee soundtrack - any one, although I _highly_
recommend Malcom X soundtrack - and you find yourself with a rich
sampler of black music unsurpassed in any mainstream
compilation.
Similarly, pick up _any_ Kevin Smith soundtrack and you find a
masterful sampler of "wacky" or "ofbeat" tunes.
My favorite Smith soundtrack was "Mallrats", and Lee soundtrack
(again) was Malcolm X. You can't do wrong when you buy a
soundtrack from either film-maker... they always do an amazing job.
(and this is coming from an Italian woman who has serious issues
with Lee's portrayals of Italian-Americans in his films)
-The Original G