Monday, March 12, 2012 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Unlo
the seC(
Smusic's
Jf I could start my under-
graduate education all over
again, I would study the
brain.
The human brain is, as far
as I'm con-
cerned,
absolutely
hands-down
the single
coolest object
inthe entire
known uni-
verse. We can LAUREN
measure it, CASERTA
test it, fool it
and be fooled
by it. We can even operate on
it while its owner is awake (the
brain lacks pain receptors) - but
ittakes only a microscopic clot
to turn it off forever or erase
decades from its memories.
The brain is one of the most
fantastic puzzles yet to be fully
solved by the scientific commu-
nity. So what effect could some-
thing as artistic, emotional and
seemingly unscientific as music
have on arguably the most com-
plex machine in existence?
The effect of music on the
human mind seems like aopic
£completely unfi for quantitative
studyor qualitative research.
Have you ever tried to put into
words how music makes you
feel? How about the reason why
you get a knot in your chest
when someone superimposes
sad piano music over time lapses
of the night sky, or why you get
shivers and chills while listening
to a favorite song?
These emotions are not only
hard to place, they're also dif-
ficult to articulate - conditions
that provide exactly the sort of
challenge any eager scientist
could hope for. And asa former
biology major who enjoys the
smell of agar as much as the
sound of Arensky, a peek into the
science behind art would be a
dream come true.
Thankfully, for those who
refuse to believe that science and
art lie on two separate paths,
hope has emerged alive and well
in the cognitive neuroscience of
music.
The field is essentially a scien-
tific analysis of the brain's chem-
ical and neurological responses
to music. It may sound dry at
first, buta little light reading will
go along way for anyone even
remotely interested in why Bar-
ber's "Adagio for Strings" makes
them cry like a little girl.
Take Montreal Neurologi-
cal Institute researchers Anne
Blood and Robert Zatorre's 2001
study on the relation between
emotion and music. Right in
the first paragraph abstract,
* they announce their intentions
to tackle the mystery behind
the "shivers-down-the-spine"
and "chills" music-listeners
report feeling, which they group
together as "intensely pleasur-
able responses" - a feelingso
surprisingly universal and con-
crete, it required the creation of
a special term just to describe it.
Non-scientific? Not remotely.
The two end up confirming
a connection between these
responses and increased blood
flow in the brain to regions that
control rewards, emotion and
arousal. McGill University cog-
cking
rets of
appeal
nitive neuroscience researcher
Valorie Salimpoor and co. estab-
lished a relationship between
music and the brain's release of
the mood-chemical dopamine
in 2010. It turns out our enjoy-
ment of Bach or Bieber isn't all
in our head - it's a physiological
response to the sound of their
music based on preferences and
predispositions we're still strug-
glingto understand.
Understanding the meaning
behind our musical pleasures is
fascinating, but what does this
mean for the music-listener in
us all? Is science working to
systematically reduce the art of
music into a series of chemical
combos floating around in our
gray matter?
Actually, science is just giving
a serious high five to the human
brain. Music in and of itself is
an art form - ifa song plays in a
forest and there's no one there to
hear it, it's still beautiful - but
our ability to emotionally and
physically connect to a piece
is just one more awe-inspiring
facet of our minds.
Bach and Bieber
are what your
brain wants.
Even if this art-science mix
doesn't blow your own mind, you
can't argue against its effective-
ness.
Every person who has ever
tried to sell you a product, ser-
vice or idea is already well aware
of music's effect on consumers.
Music in commercials is tailored
to make products seem more
trustworthy or services more
friendly. Movies use music to
enhance even the worst plotline
or help you empathize with the
brooding antihero with the hid-
den soft side.
And think about this: Would
the viral KONY 2012 video that's
currently rocketing around the
Internet behalf as effective
without the melancholy violin
warbling in the background?
Would implicit trust tug at your
heartstrings if they'd piped
"Safety Dance" through your
speakers instead? Would you
have bought into their idea as
thoroughly if you'd listened to
the video on mute?
Science and art may not
immediately come to mind as
a pair, but our still-developing
understanding of our brains
is revealing more and more
each day about the connections
between the equally-inspiring
fields of aesthetics and science.
For those of you who love both,
there's still time to do some
research of your own in this
growing field.
And if you're still not con-
vinced that music can turn
something good into something
visceral, hop over to Vimeo and
search for "The Mountain."
You'll thank me (once you stop
crying).
Caserta is reading musicology
journals for fun. To stop her,
e-mail caserta@umich.edu.
Tired tropes in 'Carter'
Slick production,
little else in newest
Disney flick
By SEAN CZARNECKI
Daily Arts Writer
John Carter (Taylor Kitsch,
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine")
is a Confederate veteran who is
transported to
Mars, where
he turns from **
rogue to hero John Carter
and leads an
alien people to At Quality16
a bright future. and Rave
Depending on
who you are, Disney
that either
sounds like the most epic thing
since "World of Warcraft" - or
the stupidest thing since "World
of Warcraft."
The director of this pulpy
adventure is Andrew Stanton,
best known for such films as
"Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo"
... wait, what? How does one go
from directing movies about
cutesy robots falling in love to
this? It's like Disney picked this
guy's name out of a hat. Regard-
less, this odd pairing between
Stanton and Edgar Rice Bur-
roughs's classic sci-fi novel "A
Princess of Mars" might be
appropriate. After all, strange
contrasts are a running theme
within "John Carter."
For example, Bryan Cranston
(TV's "Breaking Bad") makes a
brief appearance as a Union sol-
dier. His appearance is jarring
- the audience has only enough
time to wonder why the hell
Walter White has hair before
they're abruptly thrown into a
chase scene and John Carter dis-
covers some cave that transports
him to the Red Planet. Suddenly,
he's capable of jumping three
hundred feet into the air like
he's on some Spider-Man shit
before he's captured by an alien
race called the Thurns who want
him to fight for their cause, and
wait - there's also a conspiracy!
All that's fine. The exposi-
tion moves swiftly, and it's good
fun. The real problem is the plot
never drops that "jumpy" inco-
herence. It continually bounces
the audience around from scene
to scene. After only a half-hour,
it becomes obvious this film is
trapped in a conflict between
being faithful to the source
material and standing on its own
merits. As a result, "John Carter"
"Look, there go our careers!"
feels incomplete and crammed.
There's an immersive world
in "John Carter," but it's hidden
behind the convoluted plot. The
audience wants to learn more
about the different alien cul-
tures. They want to know why
the human races of Mars are
fighting each other and why the
Thurns hate them so much. Alas,
no such histories are revealed.
The story is too occupied with
plot twists - many of which are
trite and inconsequential - and
a childish love story.
Love story? Of course there's
one! And, of course, it involves
a sensual-but-independent prin-
cess (Lynn Collins, "X-Men Ori-
gins: Wolverine") who wants
to save her planet. Obviously,
Carter has to save her and earn
her respect and love, thus giving
our stock hero a reason to stay
on Mars and fight. It's an old
tale recounted many times. This
time around, it's told with little
vigor or believability. And it cer-
tainly doesn't help that poorly
supplemented by a lifeless script,
both Kitsch and Collins have the
emotional density of a feather.
That said, the visuals are
See JOHN CARTER, Page 6A
FILM REVIW
'Silent House' falters infinal minutes
By ARIELLE ACKERMAN in large part due to the film's
Daily Arts Writer atrocious ending.
"Silent House," in theory,
should be a phenomenal hor-
ror film. It has all the crucial
elements: It's
based on a *
true story,
has incred- Silent House
ibly sketchy
characters At Quality16
and features a and Rave
young heroine e
in a dark and Open Road
spooky house.
What's more, the movie is made
to look like it's unfolding in real
time through one continuous shot
- amplifying the creepiness as
the viewers experience the hor-
ror right alongside the heroine.
Unfortunately, "Silent House"
does not live up to expectations,
Can't touch 'La
Casa Muda'
A remake of the Uruguayan
film "La Casa Muda," the film
revolves around Sarah (Elizabeth
Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Mar-
lene"), who returns to the fam-
ily lakehouse to fix it up with her
father, John (Adam Trese, "40
Days and 40 Nights"), and her
uncle Pete (Eric Sheffer Stevens,
TV's "I Hate My Teenage Daugh-
ter"). The power doesn't work,
the house is old and creaky and,
of course, there's no cell recep-
tion. When Sarah starts hearing
OPEN ROAD
"And they said I wasn't good enough for'Fill House.'"
things go bump in the dark, she ing. Though much of the film's
begins to unravel a disturbing style derives from the orginal's,
past that still haunts the house. it's still just as impactful and hor-
The film has two strong attri- rifying when used by American
butes, the first being the direct- See SILENT HOUSE, Page 6A
Campus Mind Works
FREE drop-in education and support groups for any
U-M student with Depression, Bipolar, or Anxiety
The Food/Mood Connection:
How Nutrition Impacts Mental Health
When: Tuesday, March 13 from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Where: Chrysler Center, Room 165, North Campus
Visit www.campusmindworks.org
for more information.
Groups
o
Univ,,sityof Michigan
Depression Canter
Presented by the U-M Depression
Center in collaboration with
the College of Engineering and
Psychological Clinic.
DO YOU HAVE
ABOUT A BILLION
BLOGS YOU VISIT
* ERRYDAY?
YOU MAY BE PERFECT TO WRITE
FOR THE ARTS BLOG, THE FILTER.
* Request an application by e-mailing
kaylau@umich.edu.
I
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