PHILIP GLASS CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF
EXISTENTIALISM AND HUMAN NATURE IN
KOYAANISQATSI
Taking the lead in a non-narrative film that offers an up-close perspective on the human experience, the score for Koyaanisqatsi highlights Philip Glass’s minimalist composing style. Ultimately, Glass’s score illustrates humanity’s complexity, while giving audiences a chance to deeply reflect on the faces and places of modern society.
Written by Mar Carmona
Image courtesy of Atlas of Places
Philip Glass’s score for the 1982 experimental film Koyaanisqatsi conveys the theme of slowing down the pace of modern American society, crying for a return to mindfulness and connection from a fast-paced modern world. As the film takes the viewer through a series of slow-motion shots of popular landscapes, natural occurrences, and intimate scenes displaying the glossed-over characters that make up urban city life, it depicts the evolution of humanity from its creation to modern society.
The score from the film contains several components in its composition that illustrate the movie’s existential nature and Reggio’s desire to capture the slow mindfulness of the natural world in contrast to the speedy passiveness of American capitalistic society. From the dynamic use of choral vocals and chanting to the repetitive melodic sequences and abrupt changes in tempo, Glass’s critically acclaimed composing style shines through in this film to create a dark, somber, and ominous sound to spark moments of meaningful reflection.
The film title “Koyaanisqatsi” translates to “Life out of Balance” in the Hopi language and suggests a need for humanity’s reconnection to nature. Glass’s score for the film involves six songs that vary in length but reflect the slow, observant nature of the nearly two-hour film, notably referencing the track “The Grid,” which stands at nearly 15 minutes in duration. The film and the score represent the theme of a return to mindfulness through the film’s title and the vocal elements that Glass uses in the tracks.
The motif represented in this track and the score, in general, takes the viewer through the journey of the human experience from the perspective of an observer. Glass echoes this theme throughout the tracks of the score by using deep, echoing, repetitive vocals reminiscent of the traditional chanting performed by monks at Buddhist monasteries. Including these vocal elements referencing the native civilizations and cultures whose values inherently contrast the values of modern American society, Glass expresses the need for American society to return to balance and its connection with the Earth.
Image courtesy of Koyaanisqatsi
Musically, the score is written in Glass’s notable composing style, involving the consistent use of repetitive harmonic and melodic sequences. The score provides a dark and ominous, nearly gothic tone during the track's slower sections, as the tracks incorporate deep bellowing male voices over repeating melodies using instruments such as organs, the keyboard, and brass instruments. Overall, when the score is slow, it evokes a dark tone, and during the higher tempo sections, the tone is entrancingly chaotic. This contrast, created by changes in tempo, duration, and use of vocal elements, emphasizes the mesmerizing nature of the film, putting the viewer in a “trance” as they are brought through scenes and landscapes that illustrate the human experience.
“Ominous, yet suspenseful” is a style typical of Glass’, who also composed the score for the horror movie Candyman and the 1998 film The Truman Show. Throughout the film, the slower, more threatening songs are played over scenes depicting natural disasters and famous landscapes, along with shots focusing on the faces of the city citizens walking, observing, smoking cigarettes, etc. Meanwhile, the faster-paced songs accompany scenes depicting fast-motion clips of commuters walking through a busy train station and cars driving on a highway. Glass emphasizes the importance of tempo in his score to highlight the contrasts between the mindfulness of nature and the transient passiveness of modern life. He uses the natural polyphony inherent within classical music and isolates, combines, and repeats these melodies and harmonies in combination with crescendos (increase in volume) and accelerandos (increase in pace of tempo) to create a dynamic score that emphasizes repetition, changes of pace, and musical complexity.
The film’s composition and non-narrative scenes magnify what could have been seen as the previously mundane and allow the listener to enter a state of pure awareness and observation of the world around them. The score no longer acts as merely a supplement for the film's tone but ultimately drives the emotions invoked by the film. Through the lack of narration or any sort of highlighting of the music, Glass allows the viewer to create their own fascination with the world around them without being guided by a plot consisting of character development that leads to one objective thematic goal.
Image courtesy of Koyaanisqatsi
In combination with the non-narrative, existential, close-up look at the intimacy of human nature, Glass's composing style creates an experimental film that has been watched, studied, and loved by throngs of movie buffs since its release. The essence of Philip Glass's work allows us, the listener, to observe the details, pay attention to society around us, and observe the natural chaos and calm along with nature's never-ending struggle to preserve itself, as well as its ability to maintain a connection even amid modernity. With this, the listener ultimately is given a somewhat out-of-body, bird's eye view of the individual lives and unseen phenomena resulting from a world experiencing the effects of a "life out of balance."