- Cover of Norwegian Wood
The Guardian reports Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood will be scoring a film based on the novel by Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood, which was inspired by The Beatles’ song of the same name.
Now this is all fine, and full of contemporary art goodness, but what I find most interesting is the pop art collision with high art. We tend to think of Japanese novelists and Vietnamese-French art film directors as creating “high art” and The Beatles’ and Radiohead’s music as “pop art.”
Though I know more than one professional musicologist who would argue vehemently against my last statement (and I would not put up a fight) – the reality is – The Beatles and Radiohead are stunning popular and commercial success stories and household names, whereas the same cannot be said for novelist Haruki Murakami and film director Tran Anh Hung.
So does it follow that Greenwood’s forays into the high art world of film scoring has proven that a pop artist can successfully transition to the high arts and perhaps do even a little something to generate interest among Radiohead fans (let’s arbitrarily group them into the pop art fan category for the sake of argument) in new, high art forms (film scores, novels, and art films)? Greenwood won critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination for his scoring of There Will Be Blood, which seems to me to be evidence of more blurring.
Or perhaps this isn’t so much a “blurring” of pop and high art – but just another iteration of what successful high art and artist have always done – find ways to remain accessible to wide audiences. Even Mozart’s father urged him to write beautiful, simple pieces the layperson could play at home, “If you write anything for publication, make it popular and easy for amateurs.” Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier does something similar for a more proficient player, exhibiting a wide range of musical styles.
Arts advocates are constantly lamenting how high art is not reaching modern man – and lists among the causes a lack of public funding, to the commodification/commercialization of the arts, to lack of classical educational models, to plain old bad taste. Whatever the reason – I think it is important to recognize that examples of high art’s ability to reach the masses without watering down technique and artistry are still out there – and perhaps those of us that find them should try to do more to promote them.
Hat tip: Opera Chic
*Just curious: where were you when you first heard OK Computer? I was in high school, having been dragged to a house party full of under-age drinking by my then-boyfriend, having escaped to the basement to find the album playing and I sat and listened to the whole thing by myself.
Tags: Arts, Haruki Murakami, Jonny Greenwood, Music, Norwegian Wood, Pop art, There Will Be Blood, Tran Anh Hung, Visual Arts
