The Tar and feathering of culture

One of the most interesting film out of 2023, Todd Field's Tar adresses many contemporary topics: the place of culture, women and power within the artistic field, the "cancel culture", the meetoo earthquake, the fake-it-till-you-make-it cautionary tales, the art of storytelling... However, this tale ends on a biting commentary about the cultural establishment and its pop oriented offsprings.

FROM GUSTAV MAHLER TO MONSTER HUNTER

Some films end on a thought provoking note and Tar by Todd Field is one of this kind. Through abuse and lies, an internationally renowned conductor finds herself relegated to an audience of cosplay geeks.

Adding insult to the injury, the composer of the piece, the OST from the Capcom videogame Monster Hunter, has not bothered to come and meet her.

In 2024, one could think that the gap between pop culture and the establishment has been filled. For at least the past ten years, we have seen many orchestral venues dedicated to gaming and film scores. Yet, according to this film's conclusion, there's still a long and winding road ahead.

In her prime, Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett at her most stonecold finest) gave classes in an almost-empty Juilliard. In the final sequence, a side tracking shot shows us a packed auditorium. The full on gear audience has booked the venue on a videogame's name and probably doesn't know, or care, about the conductor of the day.

If we look at this dire conclusion through the lens of soft power, the globalisation of culture implies that the elitist world of classical music must learn to open up to social, cultural and technological trends.

As Tar herself says during a mastering session, in her usual condescending manner: "Don't forget the streaming files, the market is booming in China".

This vision is on point, given that Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer of the Final Fantasy saga, recently spoke out about the limits of "Hollywood style music" in today's videogames.

So, on one side, there's a form of cultural contempt, looking down on other emerging forms and on the other, an unfolding quest, right under ou very eyes and ears, for legitimacy.

THE PENANCE OF ART

If Lydia Tar's character seems to draw its inspiration in the life or Marin Alsop, her very name is a key to the film. For once, "Tar" is clearly and anagram for "Art". "Tar" can also refer to the punishment of "Tar and feathering". In essence, her name translates the themes of art and punishment, the glory and the fall from grace. Doing research for this article, I found out weapon items from the Monster Hunter: world video game bear the names of "Taroth Assault Tar", or "Taroth Hammer Tar".

From the elite crown to the geeks, from Berlin to an undisclosed "South Asian country", from Mahler to Monster Hunter, Tar tackles the relationship between elitist and mainstream culture. Recently, another film, The Menu, took a similar jab at gastronomy and junk food.

Highly recommended to classical music, videogame and film buffs alike.

French version is available here.

Sources and more

"Final Fantasy music legend Nobuo Uematsu thinks modern "movie-like" game music is uninteresting", Videogames chronicle, 13.03.2024: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/final-fantasy-music-legend-nobuo-uematsu-thinks-modern-movie-like-game-music-is-less-interesting/

This article sums up an interview with Newspicks Youtube channel in march 2024 (in Japanese): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2fobhbpdIc

Terras' Theme (Nobuo Uematsu) by Grissini project, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYCKOxMLv2k

Capture Mag, february 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzrz1u4UUX8

Jam Time's film recommendations for 2023: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/de-films-en-s%C3%A9ries-2023-sylvain-thuret-b2cve/

Sylvain Thuret, Content creator, Jam Time (2024).