In Francis Ford Coppola’s 1973 film titled “American Graffiti”, Walter Murch–the movie’s sound mixer–creates depth in the film by transitioning songs between sources of sound like car radios, speakers, and bands. Murch also toys with diegetic and non diegetic sounds, sometimes even transitioning between the two in the midst of a song. One specific example of this is towards the beginning of the film when John Milner first picks up Carol Morrison. The shot begins with a medium close-up, following John’s iconic souped-up yellow Coupe from a handheld camera while the song “Surfin’ Safari” by The Beach Boys plays, from no known source in the film. The shot then cuts to inside the car, where Milner is mocking Carol for being so young. “Surfin’ Safari” continues to play inside the car, now from the car radio. The song seamlessly transitions from non-diegetic to diegetic sound and turns into an arguing point for Carol and John.
Carol tries to turn up the song on the car radio, and John then immediately turns the song off, remarking “I don’t like that surfing shit… rock has been going downhill since Buddy Holly died”. In this scene, Coppola could be hinting at the initial disapproval people had when rock music took a turn in the 60s. With the help of Murch’s soundtrack, Coppola is able to weave in context about the early 60s, which is timeless in its effect on portraying society during that decade. Milner, being the drag racer and tough guy he is, disapproves of the surfer, hippie lifestyle that was associated with the late 1960s, just shortly after this story takes place. “Surfin Safari” is a light-hearted and happy song that bothers John, revealing his stubbornness and bitterness as a character, especially towards Carol whom he cannot seem to understand. It is in a way contradictory that Murch would chose a song so happy and lighthearted in this scene, because of the hostile environment that John creates with Carol, yet by doing so, John’s bad attitude is further exaggerated.
