Soundtracks?

It's commonly known in the movie world that music can make or break a movie. A low-key, artsy film will not benefit from a flashy Top 40 soundtrack. But, a movie that could come off as too ploying can be changed into a quaint and loveable film with the perfect soundtrack.

For the majority of my life, I never even knew there was such a thing as a soundtrack in movies. Raised on a diet of movie musicals and Lifetime movies, my perception of music in movies was that it was either background music, or the star. Now, I've come to realize that a great song can be more than just filler, it can be a supporting character that pushes the scene to greatness.

My favorite popular examples of a great soundtrack are Juno and (500) Days of Summer. Juno, with her laid-back attitude and carefully-constructed vocabulary, could easily come off as a character with the wrong elements in place. But, the homemade feel of the soundtrack, largely due to Kimya Dawson's great songs, give an air of credibility and depth to Juno's character. In (500), the soundtrack is integral to the plot, with the main characters bonding over The Smiths and karaoke nights. Carla Bruni is played from car stereos, and a fantasy song-and dance routine takes place mid-movie.

It's easy to ruin a movie. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that a movie will have some strange flaw in it. But, sometimes, all that's needed is the perfect song to fix the moment.