The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer: China Girl

After watching the move The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, the song I chose to analyze is David Bowie’s China Girl. David Bowie was an artist and an innovator. He and his style of music defined the 80’s as a generation. This movie was centered on defining the 80’s and this was done mostly through the music played. Like the artist, this song is very well known. It represents the 80’s and its sound is a part of the pop culture of that time.
This song was played during the scene where Glen, Julia, Robbie, and Holly are in a night club on a double date. Where the song is played is important to the mood and is necessary for portraying it correctly. It not only adds to the mood but without it, the scene would not be portrayed as effectively.
The song plays and Julia says how much she loves David Bowie and the song. Robbie agrees. This shows that either Robbie is trying to show her that he likes the same things as her, or that he really does like the song as well or both. Julia and Holly sing along to it and Glen, who is Julia’s fiancé, tells her to stop singing. This not only shows how controlling he is, but also how he does not respect her. It also shows that he cares more about what the other people at the night club think about him then he cares about Julia. The reason that Glen does not like the song is because it is about a woman being in control in a relationship and how he is dependant on her. This is showed when in the song it says “ I’m a mess without my little China Girl.” This is the exact opposite of Glen and Julia’s relationship because Glen tells her what to do and is not dependant on her at all. Julia and Holly sing the lyrics “When I get excited, my little China Girl says oh baby just you shut your mouth.” Glen interjects their laughter and tells Julia to shut her mouth, showing the difference in the two relationships. This whole conversation is a lead up to after Julia leaves the table to go to the bathroom and in the meantime Robbie finds out that Glen has been cheating on Julia and intends to continue to do so even after they are married. This all is so important to the plot line. With the wrong song, not all of the message would have been conveyed. Without the song the viewer would not get the extent of how much of a jerk Glen really is.
Music is something that can make or break a movie. The movie The Wedding Singer is one movie that, without the correct music placement, would not have been as good. Because it was a movie portraying an era in total, music was very important. Also, the 80’s was a decade when music changed forever, and without the most important songs played in the movie, it would have been a less valid portrayal.