How Opera Music Helped Driving Miss Daisy

Opera music can be very emotional and moving. It can also be very helpful in getting people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. In the movie Driving Miss Daisy, the opera music helped to drive the story forward and keep the characters moving.

The Relationship of Opera and Driving Miss Daisy

In the movie Driving Miss Daisy, an unlikely relationship is formed between an elderly white woman and her black chauffeur. A large part of their interactions take place in the car, and Miss Daisy frequently requests that Hoke play opera music on the radio. To an outside observer, it may seem that Miss Daisy is simply using Hoke as a means of transportation and nothing more. However, a closer look at their relationship reveals that the opera music playing in the car is actually a key element in their bond.

How music is used in the film

The music in the film helps to set the tone and mood of the film. In particular, the use of opera music helps to create a feeling of elegance, sophistication, and refinement. The use of opera also helps to highlight the differences between the two main characters, Daisy and Miss Daisy. While Daisy is more down-to-earth and practical, Miss Daisy is much more refined and cultured. The use of opera music helps to emphasize these differences.

What kind of opera is used in the film

The opera that is used in the film is called “Madame Butterfly.” It is a tragic love story about a young Japanese woman who falls in love with an American sailor. She is forced to give him up when he returns to America, and she eventually kills herself.

The Significance of Opera in Driving Miss Daisy

The film Driving Miss Daisy is set in the South in the late 1940s to early 1970s, a time when racial tension was high. The film follows the relationship between an elderly white woman, Daisy, and her African American chauffeur, Hoke. Throughout the film, opera music is used as a way to connect Daisy and Hoke, in spite of their differences.

How opera music helped to shape the film’s story

While some may view opera as stodgy and outdated, its use in driving Miss Daisy was rooted in the film’s central themes of family, aging, and memory.

In one key scene, Daisy’s son Boolie takes her to see the opera La Traviata. As they watch, Daisy is transported back to a time when she was young and in love. The music stirs up powerful emotions in her, and she is moved to tears.

This scene perfectly captures the film’s examination of the role that art can play in our lives. Just as the music of La Traviata brings back memories for Daisy, so too does opera provide a connection to our past for many people. It can be a source of comfort and solace, reminding us of happier times.

In another scene, we see Daisy attending an opera performance with her friends. Although she initially appears to be out of place among the wealthy patrons, she quickly comes to enjoy the music. This demonstrates how opera can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life, regardless of their background or circumstances.

The use of opera in driving Miss Daisy is significant not only for its thematic importance but also for its historical context. The film is set in Atlanta during the late 1940s and early 1950s, a time when segregation was still practiced throughout much of the United States.

The fact that an African American woman like Daisy would be able to attend an opera performance at all was quite unusual for the time period. It speaks to her status as a well-educated member of society, and it also highlights the progress that had been made in race relations since the end of World War II.

What the film’s use of opera music says about the characters

When Daisy Werthan, a wealthy, elderly Jewish widow living in Atlanta, is ordered by her son Boolie to stop driving after she gets into an accident, she hires Hoke Colburn, an African American man, to be her chauffeur.

The film focuses on the unlikely friendship that develops between Daisy and Hoke as they share Miss Daisy’s car rides around Atlanta during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

During these years, the city of Atlanta was undergoing great changes. The Civil Rights movement had desegregated public places, but racial tension was still high. White flight was transforming the demographics of the city, as whites were moving to the suburbs in droves.

Into this charged atmosphere comes Miss Daisy’s opera music. Whenever Hoke is driving Miss Daisy around Atlanta, she will often put on an opera record and sing along with it.

The film’s use of opera music says a lot about the characters of Daisy and Hoke. For Daisy, opera represents a world of beauty and refinement that she yearns for but can never really experience because she is shut off from it by her race and social status. It is also a reminder of her youth and a time when she was more carefree.

For Hoke, opera is something that he initially has no patience for but eventually comes to appreciate because it brings happiness to Miss Daisy. It also represents his slow but steady acceptance into Miss Daisy’s world and her ultimately accepting him as part of her family.

The Impact of Opera on Driving Miss Daisy

How opera music helped to make the film more emotionally powerful

The film “Driving Miss Daisy” would not be half as powerful without the use of opera music. The use of music in general is integral to the film’s emotional impact, but the opera scenes are particularly moving.

For example, when Daisy is forced to give up her car and move into an assisted living facility, the opera music swells as she sadly reflects on her life. The music adds an extra layer of emotion to the scene, making it more poignant and memorable.

Likewise, when Daisy finally reconciles with her former maid Hoke, the opera music underscores the moment with a feeling of hope and reconciliation.

In both cases, the opera music helped to make the film more emotionally powerful. It is one of the many elements that makes “Driving Miss Daisy” a truly great film.

What the film’s use of opera music says about the film’s overall message

Some argue that the use of opera music in Driving Miss Daisy is an important factor in conveying the film’s overall message. The film tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a elderly white woman and her black chauffeur, set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement in the American South. The use of opera music, which is often associated with high society and sophistication, is said to contrast sharply with the racism and bigotry that Daisy and her chauffeur experience. This contrast is said to emphasize the film’s message of hope and reconciliation.