THAT PLACE WHERE I POST THINGS

Why is there very little utility to women’s clothing? Why don’t we get pockets which actually open? Why do we have to put up with the ‘false pockets’ that are frequently sewn onto women’s jackets and pants to give visual interest without ruining the ‘line’ of the garment? Why, when pockets are actually present, are they so rarely large, stable, or loose enough to accommodate a phone or a wallet? And why, given this is the case, do women go on to cop so much flack for carrying handbags around with them?

Oh wait. Is this one of those double standards which we feminists are always going on about; one of those innocuous little things which everybody just accepts because it is the norm?

Women carry handbags. It is known.

But why? I have watched my male friends get ready to go out. They slip their wallet into one pocket, their keys into another, their phone into a third pocket, and some of them even still have spare pockets large enough to carry a novel for the journey. Those of my friends who wear women’s clothes, though, face an entirely different situation. If they are wearing the right jeans or jacket, they may have up to two usable pockets (not at all guaranteed). However, in most cases they won’t have any pockets at all. Utility and style rarely meet in women’s fashion, so they grab a bag.

Contrary to all the jokes, most women don’t ‘have’ to leave the house with everything they pack in their day-to-day handbag. Most of the items in a woman’s everyday handbag are in there because, if she’s going to have to carry it anyway, she might as well make it worth her while. Excuse us for making use of the one useful item we find in our wardrobes.

“I still believe in heroes.” Nick Fury said that… well, he said it in the trailer. It’s not from the film. But making a trailer means boiling down the essence of a film’s meaning, and that’s mine, with this. Heroes. Flawed, textured, uncertain and often unworthy, but come the main event, ready to give everything. For us, for each other, for the greater good. That’s what superhero stories were about before they were too cool to be about that any more, and it’s part of why we’ve been drawn to them since they were on our newsstands, twenty-two pages printed in four colors and stapled together. The Avengers movie was my chance to talk about the need for heroes, And the best statement isn’t made with words. It’s made with music.

Music tells us, “This matters.” Defines these extraordinary people: look how sad they are. Look how tall they are! Look: they’re all together, standing back to back, enemies (and a circular dolly track) all around them, a team at last. That’s a moment that trilled me twice: once, when I thought of a good enough reason to put it in the movie (because it had to be good enough), and once, much more strongly, when I sat in the room while Alan Silvestri conducted an 80-piece orchestra, playing his Avengers theme over that shot. That’s the moment I turned to Kevin and Jeremy, my producers and friends, and said “I’m experiencing joy. I’m feeling it right now, as it’s happening. That’s rare for me, so make note.”

To say that Alan elevated this film would be to undersell his achievement. He understood it, he subverted it, he influenced it, he smoothed some of its rougher passages and bettered its best… he gave the team its identity. For all my attempts to make such disparate characters into a cohesive entity, it was Alan who made it seem as though I’d pulled it off. He crafted (with hilariously little time) a score both unobtrusive and indelible, that walked beside the story like a parent by its child on their first real bike ride: letting them do the work, but always ready to catch them if they tip, and to sound the cheer when they speed off alone. Considering how wobbly I felt on that bike, I’m pretty grateful.

There is a list of composers who have made a true mark on American film, one that changes and advances it. That’s a short list. There are composers who do that, and then do it again, and then still live for the thrill of finding a new way to do it once more. That list is in the single digits. There’s guys with all that who are delightful, excited, positive, collaborative, unflappable, who make a guy on his sophomore effort feel as though they had come up together, who don’t have a superior or jaded bone in their bodies. That list is called Alan.

But if you’re reading this, it’s not because you want to know if Mr. Silvestri is a stand-up guy. It’s because his music got to you. Maybe because it evokes the film. Maybe you hated the film, but couldn’t get the sound out of your head. Maybe you just wanted to see what he’d do next. If you listen carefully, you’ll see how much he was doing. And the answer is much. In an era of what I call room-tone scores, that just repeat the same heightened sense of there-ness (it’s too distinct to call emotion), Alan has provided a score that is so specific, so narrative-based, but still has the undeniable power and fluidity of those more diffuse accompaniments. You can hear the themes, the moments, but you can spin this disc (what? I’m old) and just bathe in the greatness. But on the subject of themes…

It was Alan’s startling work on Captain America that brought him into Marvel’s clutches, and reminded me of his capacity for non-Zemekis-based-greatness. (Zemekis! Share the wealth, Silvestri-hog!) The theme he built for Cap is in here— exactly when it should be— but I was clear up front that I wasn’t going to ask for themes for every hero. That was absurd. And yet…

If I have one favorite element to this tapestry, it’s the Black Widow. I decided (late in the game) that she did need a theme, a calling card, especially because she’s Russian, and we first see her in Russia, and I hate establishing shots. I told Alan he needed to evoke her background and identity in her first cue. Which he did. A lonely, plucked, soviet scent to define our girl. I heard it. Then I heard it again, battling against Loki’s theme, as they battled for verbal supremacy on the helicarrier. And again, rich with doleful strings, as she revealed to her best friend that Loki had touched her more than she’d shown… And then, as she battles onto an alien chariot, the same minor refrain blossoms into heroic glory, as galvanizing as they team theme itself.

I only asked for the one.

I think you get the picture. (Alan certainly did.) Here’s a piece of trivia to make this all special and put you in the know. “The Avengers”, which you may notice threading through a couple of times before, was an early pitch that Alan threw out, that we all felt was more SHIELD spy movie than Avengers heroic epic (I referred to it as “James Bond meets Zeppelin’s Kashmir”)… but that none of us could shake. (Because Bond should meet Zeppelin, and they should battle! Until they settle their differences and begin a violent, martini-fueled jam session!) We temped it over the end credits for fun— and then had to ask him to establish it earlier, because it was so damn cool. That’s Alan on an off day.

I still believe in heroes. Because, every now and then, I get to work with one of mine.