Media and Music: The Devastating Use of Zeppelin in "Sharp Objects"
When an addict searches for a murderer in an isolated Midwestern town, the only logical soundtrack is the haunting honesty of Led Zeppelin.
In Media and Music, our writers take a deep dive into how movies use scores and songs to engage viewers, give new meaning and tone to some of our favorite scenes, and establish themes. It almost goes without saying, but there are spoilers abound.
Written by Olivia Abercrombie
Illustrated by Angela Mikaela Mendiola
In a town where you can hear the silence, a ruthless murder will shake the community to its core. The 2018 HBO limited series, "Sharp Objects," based on Gillian Flynn's novel of the same name, follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), a journalist who returns to her small hometown of Windgap to investigate the murder of two teen girls. While the show is a whodunit, the underlying dynamic between Camille, her mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson), her dead sister Marian, and her much younger sister Amma (Eliza Scanlen) is the thread that pulls Camille’s troubled past to the surface as she searches for the murderer.
Music is a defining aspect of any show, but "Sharp Objects" is unique because it is packed with genres ranging from ‘70s rock to ‘90s hip-hop, all with two themes in common: love and the word mama. Adora is central to not only her family but also the town, so this theme of motherhood is important in all aspects of the show and is a common thread that defines the issues of the town. Although the show covers lots of musical ground, the musical motif is four Led Zeppelin songs that discreetly point to the killer throughout the series. The director of the series, the late Jean-Marc Vallée, is notorious for using music to hint at plot points or add deeper meaning to scenes. This series holds true to that pattern.
In the first episode, “Vanish," with shooters clanking in her bag, Camille stares intently at a cracked iPhone as she swallows her fear about returning to her hometown. She turns the key in her car, and the engine revs as Robert Plant cries out, "Oh, I can't quit you, babe." "I Can't Quit You Baby" sets the scene for her dive back into the madness of Windgap.
Chopped up with two other Zeppelin songs ("Thank You" and "What Is and What Should Never Be") that will become integral later, "I Can't Quit You Baby" gives viewers a glance into Camille and Adora's relationship with the lyrics "Said you messed up my happy home / Made me mistreat my only child." Throughout the series, we learn that Adora does not love Camille because she didn’t buckle to Adora’s wishes. Her mother saw Marian as her "only child," a cue that points Adora as a possible suspect in Marian's mysterious death.
An older local woman finds the second victim Natalie Keene's body in the middle of town towards the end of the first episode. The second episode, “Dirt,” opens with Camille and her family getting ready to attend her funeral. This moment defines the relationship between Camille and her family because even though the focus should be on Natalie's family, Adora believes everyone will be looking at her family. So Adora makes sure everyone looks perfect, giving Camille a dress that fully covers her and dressing Amma up in doll-like attire that is much more modest than what the 13-year-old wears around her friends. After the ceremony, Camille heads to the Keene house as "In The Evening" plays. Camille added Natalie's brother John Keene to her suspect list at the church after his over-emotional reaction to the funeral, so when those first few droning notes of distorted guitar play at the Keene house, we know he's suspicious. Additionally, we see Bob Nash, the father of the first victim, Ann Nash, leaving the Keene home during this scene. Bob Nash was the first name Camille had written on her “possible suspects” list.
Episode three,”Fix,” reveals the history behind Camille’s Led Zeppelin obsession in flashbacks to her time in rehab. "Oh, that's not really my thing, music," Camille admits to Alice (Sydney Sweeney), her roommate in rehab. Although music is such an integral part of the show, Vallee knew that Camille wouldn't necessarily be a music person, so Alice’s adolescent love of rock-n-roll was the avenue to create Camille's connection to music. When they begin to bond, Alice shows Camille her music on the phone Camille has been clutching throughout the series, and Alice plays her "Thank You." As Camille remembers this moment with the one person she has truly loved in her life, the soft, soothing song rings out:
If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
When mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me
Kind a woman, I give you my all
Later in episode three, as Camille remembers the moments after Alice tragically dies by suicide, the ghost of "In The Evening" floats into the scene. Then jolted back into the present-day as she speeds in her car, a vision of her dead sister and Alice appears on the road in a hallucination as the strained opening notes of the song leak out. This is the first time we see Camille’s alcohol-induced visions slip into the “real world.” In parallel with the music, the vision is a manifestation of Camille’s guilt colliding with her present hunt for the killer, which is slowly making her lose grip on reality.
Camille’s strained relationship with her family extends to her sister Amma, contributing to her degrading mental state. Amma is a picture-perfect example of a good daughter in the house, which is why Adora dotes on her, but outside the house, she is the quintessential mean girl. Amma’s rebellious nature, not unlike her older sister’s, leads them to butt heads at the start of the series, but Camille soon sees the similarities between herself and her younger sister when Amma comes home drunk and Camille has to take care of her, making her realize how young and naive Amma really is.
Episode four, “Ripe,” jumps right back into those same haunting riffs as if on a loop as Camille flashes through all the dead girls in her past and present and her half-sister Amma drunkenly tells her, "You love dead girls." This scene is the pinnacle of Camille’s breakdown: the pressure of being back in the town that caused her so much pain combined with the desperate search for the murder sends Camille on a spiral. A Zeppelin song playing in this scene with Amma, who is the only girl alive in this flashback, hints toward either our final suspect or the next victim of the killer.
As things spin further out of control with Camille's mother after we discover what actually happened to Marian, Camille’s younger sister who tragically passed from a mysterious illness when Camille was a young girl. After the fourth episode, “Ripe,” the Led Zeppelin music disappears from the soundtrack until the final episode. As Camille discovers the gritty details of a picture-perfect dollhouse, "Sharp Objects" closes out the series with those same warped, haunting chords of "In The Evening" ringing out over the reveal of the killer.
Led Zeppelin is the perfect artist to encapsulate the stillness hiding the atrocities of Windgap. With evocative chords and mesmerizing (and often apt) lyrics, the tracks capture stormy openings, perfect for the mystery of the eerie small town.