The use of music in the Jaws scene exemplifies some of the musical narra-tive functions suggested initially, such as the emotive, informative, descriptive, guiding and temporal narrative functions. These functions are simultaneous, but their relative salience will continuously and dynamically shift in interplay with the other narrative modes involved. The different expressional resources offer a wide range of potential meanings that can turn more or less specific according to the listeners’/viewers’ interests, and situational and socio-cultural contexts. Meanings will also dynamically transform according to the multi-modal processes described. Replacing the music in this scene or even shifting the same music by just a few frames in relation …show more content…
Fox) is about to be seduced by his boss’s wife, Vera Prescott (Margaret Whitton). They are in her luxurious garden, and the scene starts as Brantley, dressed in shorts, jumps into the swimming pool. He appears a little uneasy about the situation. Vera, in a sexy bikini, follows with an elegant dive. The musical underscore starts playing. It is a two-note motif played by low strings. As the couple starts playing around in the water, the music develops. It’s the Jaws’ leitmotif. Brantley is slightly bewildered when Vera pulls off his shorts. The musical downbeats get heavily accented. Brantley vainly tries to get his trunks back, as Vera mischievously teases him and starts to remove her bikini top. The water sprays and splashes as they vigorously tumble around. In the music a dramatic crescendo culminates with a low note ‘stinger’, synchronized with a shot of the wet bikini hanging from a small cherub statue by the pool.
The music in this scene is virtually the same as the music in the Jaws’ scene described before, but its meaning is totally different. One possible read-ing of the scene is that the contrast between the playfulness of the situation and the serious and dramatic music creates a humorous effect. The use of the Jaws leitmotif here relies on the assumption that the audience knows the movie