Assignment 1-3

Jackie Johnston
HUMN 341 F2WW
Assignment 1-3

“Say Goodbye to Hollywood”: Popular Music and Mythic Deconstruction in Shampoo


The main points of the article are the idea that most movies are made with the intention of giving people what they want and that it is very typical in Hollywood films. One of the points made is that most Hollywood films give people what they want for entertainment value, rather than the movie being historically accurate. The article also discusses the use of music soundtracks in movies and how they can play a big part in giving the reader a more detailed look at what a specific time period was really like. The author describes several scenes in the movie Shampoo and how the accompanying soundtrack signifies what’s going on during the 1960’s. Some of the main themes of the sixties were: free love, loose sexual morals, civil rights, and rock and roll, the author is trying to express that some movies like Shampoo express the truth in these themes very well through their soundtracks
The author’s key idea throughout the article is that the soundtrack of a movie can provide a better look at what a certain time period was actually like. The author expressed that most times a movie’s soundtrack romanticizes or re-configures the way things actually happened or were at that time. The author uses the 1960’s and the movie Shampoo as the example used throughout the article. In particular, a scene and a song from the movie are used to illustrate that point. There’s a scene in Shampoo where the two main characters are cheating on their significant others and the song “Wouldn’t it be nice” is playing in the background. It was used in this combo to show the irony in the lack of domestic bliss going on in the country in the 60’s.
I think that the author does effectively support the point that a movie’s music soundtrack can ultimately enhance the viewer’s idea of what the time portrayed was actually like. There were many examples in the article about how Shampoo’s soundtrack influenced many of the movie’s scenes.
Initially, I chose this article because I thought the title looked interesting and that’s what caught my attention. The article was different than what I expected. I think this is because I had a harder time with the article because I wasn’t familiar at all with the movie or soundtrack. The degree that I agree with the author was hard to decide. I’ve never seen the movie Shampoo to fully understand or experience how the soundtrack does add to explaining the experiences of the 1960’s; however, based on the article itself, I think that the author does support his points very well by using specific examples of scenes and the music used and how it represents the times.


Tayyar, Paul. (2005). “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”: Popular Music and Mythic Deconstruction in Shampoo. Americana: The Journal of American Pop Culture (1900-present), Volume 4, (Issue 2). Retrieved on September 30, 2007, from http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/fall_2005/tayyar.htm