OST similarites - Avatar/Troy/Enemy at the Gates

[Croyles]

I watched Avatar about a week and a half ago and heard a trumpet riff in one of the soundtrack passages that really reminded me of another movie. After trying to rack my brain for ages and searching around I finally remembered the soundtrack of Troy, I then read that they were both composed by James Horner and from that I remember Enemy at the Gates which also had a similar riff.

Apparently im not the first to have discovered this though as theres already a video showcasing the similarities. Seems to be a signature move by Horner.

YouTube - Avatar, Enemy At the Gates, Troy, Willow Soundtrack Similarity

Probably already taken by a much older composition.

[krissy]

wow he really likes those notes!

YouTube - Rachmaninov Symphony No. 1 - I Grave - Allegro ma non troppo

[NorthernChaosGod]

Lol, as soon as I heard the first Avatar track I knew exactly what you meant.

[Kossage]

Yeah, Horner is widely known in film music circles for "borrowing" themes from romantic composers. He's used stuff from Brucknet, Dvorak etc. and nowadays he's taking constructs from his own scores too. One of the most famous ones is probably the four note motif of evil which pops up in almost all of his scores. Avatar does indeed contain examples from Troy, Enemy at the Gates and Willow but also Glory (just compare the choral Na'vi culture theme in "Climbing Up Iknimaya" track to most tracks from the Glory score). But yeah, he's been doing this as long as anyone can remember.

I've kind of numbed to this reuse of themes and have begun to think, like music critic Jonathan Broxton once said, that Horner isn't working with themes and such per se but is actually tonally "painting" a scene with whatever music he feels is appropriate. Thus we get the danger motif and various reuse of other themes because those sound like basic danger/love/adventure etc. themes for Horner who then utilizes them.

This kind of attitude isn't limited to Horner. Hans Zimmer and his students in Remote Control Studios, among others, have also "borrowed" stuff from their own works. One of the themes from Pirates of the Caribbean is almost note for note from the Rock and other instances show bits of Zimmer's Peacemaker score.

It's unfortunate to see this kind of stuff happening but such is the case in film music world. Luckily we do get original works coming in at a regular pace such as James Peterson's wonderful score for The Red Canvas or Christopher Young's score for Creation.

[Croyles]

I don't really mind tbh, because I think it works. Movie scores are supposed to accompany and enrichen the scene, not necessarily stand up by artistic merit.
I also know that a lot of movie composers borrow off Dvorak, especially New World Symphony.