Listening to music is one of my favorite things to do in my free time. I love making playlists for different moods and vibes, and even for different locations I’ve traveled. Over the summer, however, I found a new favorite pastime of mine, which is creating different music playlists for my favorite T.V. characters. Though it was a bit weird at first, I really fell into the rabbit hole of creating multiple playlists not just for my favorite T.V. characters, but even for my own original characters, and I haven’t looked back since. Even if you only like a certain genre or character, I wanted to share today some of the benefits of creating playlists for characters in media:
- Getting to Know Your Character Better
This might seem obvious, but listening to music can help remind you of certain emotions tied to a character, so compiling a playlist can be a fun way to get into their headspace. I know I’ve written about playing D&D before, so for me, I like to create playlists to help with character-building when I’m first starting out. Especially with fictitious characters, making a playlist can provide another outlet to bring them to life. After all, we spend so much time watching them on screen, why can’t we connect with them musically?
- Getting to know the show better through the character’s emotions
This one I didn’t realize until recently, but in building playlists, I actually felt like I got to get into the world of the shows I was watching. A great example of this was when I was watching Moon Knight– I made and looked up other playlists for the main characters, it helped me feel more connected to the storyline of the show, and I would throw on various songs while rewatching the show (yes, I rewatched it a few times- I really enjoyed it). Sometimes the emotions from a particular song would match up with various episodes. Those moments were magical. I wholeheartedly recommend watching your next show with some background music!
Though these are just two of my favorite reasons for mixing music and tv shows, I think using music can be helpful for understanding characters more in shows, and enjoying shows even when you can’t watch them. Music helps us process our emotions as well, and it can even help comfort or calm you after a stressful movie or an action-packed episode. If you don’t feel up to making your own playlist (or honestly don’t have the time to make one through your busy semester), you can also find other playlists that people have created, which can be just as fun. Happy listening and I hope you have fun getting to know your favorite characters more.