Film + Opera = Happiness

It is truly fascinating to me how many of the operas we have watched in this class that were either movies, reminded me of movies, or I would love to see made into a movie. I think if done in the right way, and who knows what that way is, almost any opera can be made into a film version, but there seems to be something special about the operas we’ve studied that have been written since 1950. Especially the more recent ones we’ve watched and listened to; Willie Stark, The Aspern Papers, The Death of Klinghoffer and now William Bolcom’s A view from the Bridge.

Is it opera influencing film or film influencing opera? Opera has been criticized for being too dramatic and over the top, but the same thing can be said about movies of today. A great deal of the music from operas sounds very film-esque, or is it the other way around? Before Hollywood was popping out all of these big budget block busters, opera was really the only art form with over the top drama, plot driven music, text, costumes, sets, etc… I mean there are musicals, but where did musicals come from…Opera!

I think we have reached a point where opera and film are really beginning to intermingle. Many of the operas from class have a certain 1950’s classic film appeal to them which I absolutely adore and cherish. Then there are operas that would make fantastic big budget movies like Satyagraha and Cleopatra. Many of the operas that are performed on stage have a certain film quality to them in terms of the effects used, projection, and the way the action is being staged more realistically. It’s becoming increasingly easier to see the thumbprint of film on opera today and I think it’s great.

I don’t know that I would want to see the opera, A view from the Bridge made into a movie, I just think that there is something very special about the fact that as an opera, it has a very classic Hollywood feel, at least in my opinion. Although the subject matter is controversial, there is something extremely charming in the way the music was composed and the text was set. I feel like I have seen these characters a hundred times, but they’re the characters you don’t get sick of, you genuinely care about them or despise them, or cry with them. There is just something so different and so special about this era in American opera history.