Hello, Dolly !: Music Analysis

The immediate nostalgia of the classic 1969 musical, Hello, Dolly!, is combined unexpectedly with extensive beauty of space as WALL-E begins descending into an even more unexpected image of life on Earth.

The film could almost be classified as a modern silent film, excepting the small moments of dialogue that become more frequent when the humans are introduced, and this silence focuses the audience visually on the film before them: details aren't pointed out, Wall-E's purpose isn't defined by voice-over narration, and Eve doesn't explain the jump from humanity today to the humanity of the film. Instead, the audience must pay attention to the actions and elements of each scene to understand what has happened, what is happening, and, in some

juxtaposes the true past with this version of the future. The 60s era is referenced often, even in the jingle for Buy N Large superstore: "Buy n Large is your super store, we've got all you need, and so much more". The jingle is reminiscent of the bouncy and catchy jingles from commercials in the fifties and sixties, combing friendliness and the perfection of barbershop quartet harmonies. Aside from the automatic playing of the jingle as Wall-E passes it on his way, the soundtrack of Wall-E's journey is Thomas Newman's iconic score. Working hand-in-hand creatively with director Andrew Stanton, Newman creates a score with themes motivated less by character and more by events as they happen on the screen. The only character theme repeated more than twice is Eve's theme, featuring feminine high strings, which is repeated the third time in the end credits. Peter Gabriel's song "Down to Earth" uses the bass and drum figures from Eve's theme in an attempt to maintain the pattern created by Newman throughout the film and to blend the song with the score. "Down to Earth" features the return of humanity to Earth in various styles of animation, based on art styles from the history of mankind, such as cave drawings, Van Gogh, and even 8-bit video games.

Outside of film's amazing score, effective minimization of dialogue, and the beautifully rendered animation, Wall-E is a film that presents many common Pixar themes while supporting some new ones along the