note: interim featured image

Introduction

Paul Thomas Anderson’s signature filmmaking style is characterized by many aspects such as thematic reoccurrence, camera technique, his undeniably engaging sense of humor, and, most importantly here, his musical choices. There is a throughline of musical intentionality and significance to the unfolding of his narratives, both sprawling and intimate. As part of his auteurist approach to filmmaking, he has a long history of consistent musical collaborators, most notably Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead-guitarist fame. Prior to the genesis of this particular partnership, he also worked with Jon Brion and Michael Penn a few times on his three 90s projects and 2002 rom-com Punch-Drunk Love. The scores produced for his films are every bit as committed to masterful storytelling as are the scripts, actors, and production designs. And while an in-depth exploration of Greenwood, Brion, and Penns’ musical contributions to the world of PTA would surely deliver engaging analysis and conversation, that is not my focus here. Instead, I was drawn to the less consistently utilized but equally as engaging soundtracks of licensed, pre-existing songs in a few of his films. This interest was sparked after first watching Boogie Nights and recognizing that the mesmerizing effect the story had on me was due in part to the near-consuming amount of (incredible) songs featured. Then came Licorice Pizza and Inherent Vice in my PTA education, whose soundtracks solidified a pattern of intense engagement with music history in his filmography. This feature project aims to approach the songs of these films—Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza, and Inherent Vice—both with great distance and great proximity. Approaching the films via the music offers a distinctly different lens than that of the screenshotting process; therefore, new observations, themes, and points of interest arose in the analysis. This diversification of perspective hopefully sheds new light on his films and his decisions as a filmmaker. The data visualizations are a primary tool for the broader viewpoint—a means of seeing how these films’ soundtracks differ in their genre usage, movement in and out of the diegesis, etc. The written analysis then functions as a looking glass into the specifics of each film, both bridging off of the patterns displayed in the visualizations and moving beyond. From the glitz of disco to the blood of political violence, the music of these films holds history, meaning, and mood in its grasp.

Data Visualizations: Across the Films

Broader Genre Categories Across Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza, and Inherent Vice

A More Granular Breakdown of Rock Sub-Genres

Movement In and Out of the Diegesis

A Closer Look at the Films

Mixtape #6A: Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights might be the first thing one thinks of when considering the significance of music to Paul Thomas Anderson’s filmmaking. The entire film is steeped in music, both in its near ceaseless soundtracking and the thematic importance of disco to the world of the characters. The title even comes from a 1976 disco track of the same name by the band Heatwave; this song was originally intended to feature in the film, however the devoutly Christian lead singer, Johnnie Wilder Jr, didn’t want his music to be used in a film about the porn industry¹. Beyond solely the genre of disco, though, the significance of music in Boogie Nights centers around the sociality of the film: the workplace culture intertwined with partying (boogie-ing!) and, ultimately, the formation of an alternative family unit.

Mixtape #6B: Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza, same as Boogie Nights, is star-studded with fantastic needledrops. It distinguishes itself alongside its partner in PTA’s filmography as using primarily non-original music, cementing the period aspect of the film. Besides its function of capturing the 70s, the soundtrack is deftly used to match—and define, at times—the mood of both the romance and the business in the plot.

Mixtape #6C: Inherent Vice

While maybe not as immediately obvious as with Boogie Nights and its disco-club locale, Inherent Vice is similarly engaging with a period of music history from which its narrative is informed. I’d even argue that the music history being referenced in this trippy neo-noir is uncomplicated—more staunchly at the thematic forefront—in comparison, as Boogie Nights’ focus on the adult film industry ultimately obscures the theoretical “takeaways” one could make on the film’s alignment with disco. With Inherent Vice, the very heart of the film’s narrative is in direct and undisturbed conversation with music history; that is, a story about the 60s being over is a story contained within and chronicled by music.

interim image here as well

Bibliography

1. Golsen, Tyler. “How Paul Thomas Anderson Got Jeff Lynne on ‘Boogie Nights.’” Far Out Magazine, 2023. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/paul-thomas-anderson-jeff-lynne-boogie-nights/.