compare and contrast essay - musical films

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: YEO DOR EEN
STUDENT ID NO: 0316224
FILMS SELECTED: MUSICAL-BASED FILMS
WORD COUNT: 944
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

2. Les Miserables
Mamma Mia
Romantic historical film.
Musical genre Romantic comedy film.
In 19th-century France
It provides a detailed vision of
nineteenth-century French
politics and society. The film is
based around the turning point
in French history, and it
explores the nature of this
change in terms of society, and
uses this as a basis for
explaining the revolution.
Background In 20th-century. Set on a
colorful Greek island called
Kalokairi, the plot serves as
a background for a wealth
of ABBA songs. The story
takes place in resort hotel,
church, beach, night club,
harbor, yacht and New York
city.
Musical lines throughout the
film. All the characters’
dialogues are singing out by the
actors. Soundtracks in the film
are mostly sad songs.
Musical style Normal verbal lines mixes
with musical lines.
Soundtracks in the film are
mostly happy songs.
Between Marius Pontmercy, a
student revolutionary and
Cossete, illegitimate daughter
of Fantine, who raised up by
Jean Valjean. Marius catches a
glimpse of Cosette and instantly
falls in love with her.
Love story of
characters
Donna Carmichael, Sophie's
mother and three men.
When Donna sees her
former three lovers
together in her hotel, she
gets stressed and confused
with the situation while Sky
is upset with Sophie's
attitude. Going through the
whole mess, Donna had
found her true love.

3. Compare and contrast essay
b) Musical-based films
Music is one of the beautiful element of life. It is a form of expression.
Nowadays, music has been added as a part of some films and is getting popular since
it enhances the overall impression of a story to the audience. Musical film is a film
genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative,
sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop
the film's characters. Among those musical films in the market, there are two
musical movies that are outstanding and leave a lasting impression in my mind which
is ‘’Les Miserables’’ and ‘’Mamma Mia’’. Although these two films are both musical,
the differences between them are remarkable.
‘’Les Miserables’’ was released in the year 2012 while ‘’Mamma Mia’’ was
released at 2008, which are four years apart. The biggest difference between
these two films is the type of musical genre. Despite of their musical base, ‘’Les
Miserables’’ is a romantic historical film which emphasize the old times history of
some certain places. The main character, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been
hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a
factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever. The film tells
the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832. On the
other hand, ‘’Mamma Mia’’ is a romantic comedy film. The storyline is about a young
woman, Sophie Sheridan, who is going to be married discovers that any one of three
men could be her father. She invites all three to the wedding without telling her
mother. A lot of funny and unexpected things happened throughout the story.
Apart from that, the second point that made these two movies opposite to
each other is the movie’s background. ‘’Les Miserables’’ takes place in 19th-century
of France. It provides a detailed vision of nineteenth-century French politics and
society. The film is based around the turning point in French history, and it

4. explores the nature of this change in terms of society, and uses this as a basis for
explaining the revolution. It explains how the ‘miserables’, or ‘victims’, damned into a
life of thievery and being the scum of the Earth aren’t inherently bad. The society
which has not given them a chance forces them to be bad, or do bad things. Instead
of understanding their inner goodness and their plight to change their ways, or
giving them some kindness or hope, they are further punished by a justice and law
system which hence does the opposite of the intention. However, ‘’Mamma Mia’’ was
set in 20th-century, on a colorful Greek island called Kalokairi, the plot serves as a
background for a wealth of pop group, ABBA songs. The story takes place in resort
hotel, church, beach, night club, harbor, yacht and New York city. The movie tells
the story of some ordinary people on a beautiful island in an interesting and relaxed
way.
Furthermore, the musical style and pattern of the films show some
differences. In ‘’Les Miserables’’, that are all musical lines throughout the film. All
the characters’ dialogues are singing out by the actors. Soundtracks in the film are
mostly emotional sad songs which are miserable as the title of the film. The film's
vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through
earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production,
rather than the traditional method where the film's musical
soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync.
In contrast, for ‘’Mamma Mia’’, it is usual verbal lines mix with musical lines.
The characters talk most of the time and sing out in some certain situation.
Soundtracks in the film are mostly happy songs which include a strong element of
humor as well as the usual music and dancing. That creates lively and cheerfully
scenes like the whole story is full of sunshine. Unlike ‘’Les Miserables’’, the film's
musical soundtracks are pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync.

5. In addition, the love story of the films will be another difference. In ‘’Les
Miserables’’, the love story happens between two young people, Marius Pontmercy
and Cossete. Marius is a student revolutionary and Cosette is the illegitimate
daughter of Fantine. She was raised up by Jean Valjean. Marius catches a glimpse
of Cosette and instantly falls in love with her. Éponine, who fell deeply in love with
Marius but was merely considered his best friend. On the other hand, in ‘’Mamma
Mia’’, the love story is about Donna Carmichael, Sophie's mother and three men
besides the love story of Sophie and her fiancée, Sky. When Donna sees her former
three lovers together in her hotel, she gets stressed and confused with the
situation. Going through the whole mess, Donna had found her true love. Sophie and
Sky postpone their wedding and travel around the world as they have wanted.
In conclusion, ‘’Les Miserables’’ and “Mamma Mia’’ can be considered as two
totally different musical films since their genre, background, musical style and love
story are not similar. Although the films are different, we cannot deny that both of
them are great musical movies and successfully catch media’s attention for being
blockbuster. The storyline of both films are interesting and memorable. The films
received generally positive reviews from film critics. We realized that soundtracks
are really important in a movie. It excites or makes the audience curious about what
is going to happen. The music in both movies are used brilliantly and everything
fitted perfectly. Both films are absolutely worth a watch.
(944 words)

6. Reference:
Les Miserable, 2012. [Film] Directed by Tom Hooper. USA: Relativity Media
Working Title Films Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.
Mamma Mia, 2008. [Film] Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. USA: Littlestar Playtone.
MilwSymphorch. Music is life (2012). Retrieved September 16 from
http://milwsymphorch.tumblr.com/post/21715389016/music-is-life-student-essay
Wilden How. Musical movie (2013). Retrieved September 16 from
http://www.slideshare.net/Welltan/musical-movie?related=1
Carey Bryson. Musical film (2009). Retrieved September 16 from
https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Musical_film.html
Itachiabhilash. Music essay (2010). Retrieved September 16 from
http://www.slideshare.net/itachiabhilash/music-essay-3452319