When Professor Early explained in class and in his book that the movie Nothing But a Man had a soundtrack made up entirely of Motown songs, I imagined that it would be like any movie one would see today. I had imagined that the songs would be strategically used to convey some sort of message, perhaps about the Civil Rights Movement, and would simply be a fraction of the musical score of the film. However, I was surprised to discover that the Motown music we heard in the movie was the only music in the film, and that the songs were played as deliberate parts of each scene. Even though they were technically “in the background”, they were as much a part of the setting as the props and costumes. For this reason, I found it easier to pick up on the Motown songs that were used, as they were the only music heard in the film.
In class, we’ve talked about how Motown’s songs were a big part of the Civil Rights Movement (the soundtrack to the movement) as many of them have messages of hope and impending change. This has led me to reflect on something that Rose Mary posted earlier, about Nothing But a Man lacking any direct references to the movement. I too found that interesting, and wondered why the songs of Motown were chosen as the soundtrack to this film. Through the literature we’ve read, it seems like jazz was a musical genre that reflected the time in which it was made, maybe even more so than Motown did; whereas many Motown artists were in the process of (or in some cases were accused of) crossing over and performed for black and white audiences, several jazz musicians—like Miles Davis—were striving to reach a predominantly black audience. The filmmakers for Nothing But a Man were white, which may or may not offer a reason for the musical selections. Maybe they favored Motown over jazz personally. Or perhaps they believed it to be more realistic to have Motown playing in the diners, gas stations, etc., as opposed to jazz music. After all this reflecting, I have come to the conclusion that I have really not come to ANY conclusion about this, all I’ve done is speculate. Thoughts?
-- Ashleigh Lalley
