[Movie] How a Woman Pioneered Electronic Music in 1978: ”The Shock of the Future”(Marc Collin)

I wrote this article in Japanese and translated it into English using ChatGPT. I also used ChatGPT to create the English article title. I did my best to correct any translation mistakes, but please let me know if you find any errors. By the way, I did not use ChatGPT when writing the Japanese article. The entire article was written from scratch by me, Saikawa Goto.

Introduction

Movies and books covered in this article

I will write an article about this movie/book

Three takeaways from this article

This movie has a great overall atmosphere, and even though nothing special happens in the story, it still manages to draw us in.

Self-introduction article

Please refer to the self-introduction article above to learn about the person writing this article. Be sure to check out the Kindle book linked below as well.

The quotes used in this article are based on notes taken at the movie theater from movies in Japanese and are not direct quotes from the foreign language original movies, even if they exist.

Experience the Moment of Creating Something New through the Struggles of Women Aiming for “Future Music”

We Cannot Go Back to “Not Knowing It”

This movie portrays “future music”. However, it is also music that we are familiar with in our daily lives. That is because the “future music” depicted in this movie is “electronic music”.

“Electronic music”, or “music without instruments”, is overflowing in our daily lives. I don’t have any musical experience so I don’t know the details, I think that there are people who do not use instruments when composing, even if they ultimately perform with instruments. The way music is made has fundamentally changed.

We already know about “electronic music”. Therefore, we cannot experience the impact that “electronic music” has had on people. This is because we live in a world where “electronic music” is commonplace.

I recall watching the movie “Seven Samurai” in the past.

I only had knowledge of “film director Kurosawa Akira, starring Mifune Toshiro” when I watched the movie in the theater, so I was surprised the fact that there was an intermission in the middle. I didn’t even know it was such a long movie.

After I watched “Seven Samurai”, I wondered what was so great about this movie. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why it was highly evaluated. But later, I heard the story that “Seven Samurai” created what we know as “commonplace in movies” and I understood. We are living in the world that followed the revolution caused by “Seven Samurai”. “Seven Samurai” flattened the “normal movie”. That’s why I realized that I didn’t understand the greatness of “Seven Samurai”.

In the movie “The Shock of the Future,” there’s a scene where the protagonist Ana argues with a producer about “music without instruments,” which was very impressive.

Ana insists that “Electronic music will change the world” and that rock music is declining. She believes that in the future, rock will become a music for the wealthy, like jazz, listened to on sofas, so rock musicians should place their equipment in nature and create a more immersive acoustic experience. She passionately confronts an older male producer with these ideas.

However, the producer sneers, “Who would come to a concert where robots play music in the great outdoors?” Even though robots are not actually involved in making electronic music, he fails to grasp that concept.

However, it’s probably true that times of great change are like that. “YouTubers,” “VOCALOID,” “Utaite,” and “Esports” now have a certain level of status in society, but it wasn’t that way a decade ago. Despite being told things like “What’s that?”, “What’s good about it?”, and “I don’t understand at all” by many people, a new era was opened up by believing in the future that one thinks is “good” and pushing forward.

And when I think about it, what we are feeling now as “What’s that?” “What’s good about it?” “I don’t understand at all” may be what creates the next era.

It is a movie that depicts “a certain day” in the daily lives of “female pioneers” who believed in the potential of “electronic music” and pushed forward, in an era where change was even slower than it is now, and prejudice and gender discrimination were severe.

Content Introduction

The stage is set in Paris in 1978. Ana is trying to create “new music” by facing a giant device alone.

Ana, who has been borrowing a room of her friend Michel, who has not returned from his trip to India for a long time, is making music with a huge synthesizer in the room. The synthesizer is so large that the producer calls it a “cockpit” and fills the entire wall. She has been working on a commercial song requested by the producer who is Michel’s friend for several months, but she can’t seem to create anything satisfactory. The deadline has long passed, and the producer orders her to “deliver it tomorrow without fail.” This is the story of that day.

Ana has been smoking marijuana all morning, trying to come up with ideas while rewiring the massive synthesizer, but nothing seems to be going right. Eventually, the synthesizer breaks down, leaving her unable to compose. She calls in a technician for repairs, and luck is on her side: the technician has a Roland CompuRhythm CR-78, a rare and expensive Japanese machine that costs 500 francs and is one of only three in Paris. Ana immediately falls in love with it and begs the technician to let her borrow it for a little while.

Today, a big shot from the music industry is scheduled to attend a party that Ana is hosting. Originally, she planned to play the commercial music she had created at the party as a way of advertising, but now that we have this wonderful thing, it’s not the time to make commercial songs anymore. Ana tells the producer that she can’t make a commercial track and tries to use the rhythm machine to come up with something that represents “future music” in her mind…

Impression

I really liked the movie. I think it is a film that is made in such a way that even in scenes where nothing in particular is happening, there is a pictorial charm, something that is not a story that keeps the viewer from getting bored.

By the way, there’s no specific model for Ana in the movie. At the end of the film, the names of female composers who supported the dawn of electronic music are displayed. So I think this movie is depicting “a day that they might have spent.”

The reason why there were many women pioneers in electronic music is probably because most of the existing music was dominated by men. There were also female artists, but from Ana’s conversations with the producer, I can somehow feel the atmosphere of “music is for men,” and Ana is even told, “You’re pretty, so why don’t you become a singer?” Ana became fed up with being told “because you’re a woman” and when she asked, “If you were a man, wouldn’t you be late for the deadline?” he confidently answered, “Yes.”

And that’s why I think men who try to stay comfortable in the existing world criticize electronic music, while women who try to get involved in music jump into the world of electronic music. In this way, this film can also be seen from a gender perspective.

Overall, Ana’s presence in the film was very good. She had an exquisite “geeky” quality. I think she’s very beautiful, and when she put on makeup to attend a party, she looked like a completely different person, but her usual “wearing glasses and headphones” look strongly conveyed the atmosphere of “only interested in composing.” She’s more interested in how to create music than in dressing up or behaving socially. That atmosphere was very fitting for the story of this film.

The movie starts with Ana wearing only underwear and a t-shirt, smoking marijuana, lounging around, and doing stretches to the music. For a while, nothing much happens. However, I felt that Ana’s character, including her appearance, kept the audience interested. Maybe it’s just my perception, but there is something about Ana that draws your attention even when she is not doing anything.

Also, it’s interesting that almost 90% of the story takes place in Ana’s room. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I feel that Ana’s presence in the room would suggest that she is “recognized for her talent later, but still trapped in the times now ” and that she is in a time just before the new door of “electronic music” opens. Although Ana is not really “trapped,” there is a sense of confinement that symbolizes the atmosphere of the times.

There were also interesting aspects visually. The imagery has a rough texture like old films shot on film. By giving a sense of “age” in the image quality, it also suggests the transitional period from the era of record and cassette tape dominance to the electronic music era. Additionally, I think this rough texture enhances Ana’s appeal.

Anyway, I felt that by combining various elements, it became a very atmospheric work.

Conclusion

Although it can be said that nothing happens in the movie, it was a work with some attractive parts. Although it is a story from a world far from me who do not have the habit of listening to music and have never composed, I think it is a fascinating movie as it conveys the excitement just before something new is created.