The Comedy of Tragedy - Harold Crick's Stranger than Fiction Chain of Events

Character Playlist for

Harold Crick

from the film “Stranger than Fiction”

Synopsis:
Author Karen Eiffel is writing her latest novel about an unusual character named Harold Crick. What she doesn't know is that her fictionalized character is real. The real Harold Crick is an IRS agent who has lived a monotonous, dull existence until one day he begins to hear Karen's voice narrating his every move.
Harold enlists the assistance of literary professor Jules Hilbert, to help him figure out what's going on. Hilbert helps Harold change some of the mundane every day rituals in his life. However, trouble ensues and Harold's life becomes fragile when he learns that Karen plans to kill him off and the events that follow become Stranger Than Fiction.

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***DAFT PUNK - TECHNOLOGIC***

"Name it, rate it, tune it, print it
Scan it, send it, fax, rename it
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it
Turn it, leave it, stop, format it
Technologic
Technologic"

Harold Crick has been working as an IRS auditor for the past 12 years during which he has become much like a machine. His whole life revolves around all sorts of calculations – whether it is at work or during his daily routine activities. He solely depends on his wristwatch and everything he does is precise and within set timeframe. “Every week-day for 12 years Harold would brush each of his 32 teeth 76 times - 38 times back and forth, 38 times up and down.”
This songs perfectly depicts Harold’s mundane, routine, and machine-like existence and I think it's also perfect for the beginning of this playlist. The movie starts with the female voice narrating, and similarly we have a female saying the lyrics before the music even starts. The female voice is modified to sound robotic. The song lyrics consist of nothing but strings of technology related phrases. They are short, fast and mainly commands, much like what Harold's life is made of. He follows same agenda throughout every weekday, always rushes for a morning bus to work, follows rules without questioning and does things automatically, as if they were programmed.

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***KORN - AM I GOING CRAZY***

"Am I going crazy?
Am I going insane and dazed?
Am I too lost to face this?
And what will it cost to escape?
Nothing is right.
I am so scared."

One day Harold’s monotonous and repetitive life of solitude drastically changes when he begins to hear a voice inside his head narrating his life. The narrator is surprisingly accurate which at first confuses and scares Harold. He confesses to his friend at work “I am being followed by a women’s voice. She’s narrating (…) accurately and with a better vocabulary.”
In terms of music Korn’s song may be too “heavy” and to the degree even exaggerating Harold’s state of mind; however, I think the lyrics by themselves are right on the spot. Harold is scared and unsure of his own senses, just like anybody would be if all of a sudden they started hearing something that didn't belong to the usual scheme of phenomena

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***FAITHLESS - SALVA MEA***

"What's real?
I need a mirror to check my face is in place,
Incase of upheaval, fundamental movement below,
What's really going on I wanna know"

Harold’s paranoia reaches its pinnacle when the female narrator reveals that he is going to die. He desperately seeks help. Initially he visits a psychologist who suggests taking medications for Harold’s mental condition. However, Harold rules out possibility of schizophrenia and meets with literary expert in hopes of getting better understanding of the doomed situation he is in.
Faithless is one of my favorite artists. Their songs are usually very poetic and often take on philosophical aspects of reality. The phrase “just below my skin I’m screaming…” occurs repeatedly throughout the song. Also, in this particular song there’s a voice in the background desperately asking “help me!”
Similarly, Harold is in the situation where he no longer is sure if he is indeed the one in charge of his life and his destiny. He cries to the heavens “Why me?” and frantically demands the voice to leave him alone.

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***PORTISHEAD - SOUR TIMES***

"Who am I, What and Why
Cos all I have left is memories of yesterday
Ohh these sour times

Cos nobody loves me
It's true"

In the midst of Harold’s hopeless and soon-to-be-over life, he is assigned to audit the anti-establishment baker named Ana. From the first encounter Harold cannot get Ana out of his head (along with the unwanted voice of the narrator). Professor Hilbert advises Harold to pay close attention to all his daily interactions in order to figure out if Harold is the main subject of a tragedy or a comedy. Ana soon becomes Harold’s love interest; unfortunately Harold realizes that according to all the events he is not following the comedy plot formula at all.
At the end of rather dreadful day of working on Ana’s messy tax documentation, Harold confesses to Ana: “This might sound like gibberish to you but I think I’m in a tragedy.”
On top of that, Harold tells professor Hilbert “I’m an IRS agent – EVERYBODY hates me.”
I think every aspect of the song “Sour Times” perfectly describes Harold’s emotions at that time. The sensual vocals of Beth Gibbons singing “Nobody loves me” reflect Harold’s enormous heartache and grief when he leaves Ana’s baking shop. The mood of the song is rather melancholic helping to picture Harold walking away from Ana and into the depressing plot of the tragedy of his own life

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***STEPPENWOLF - BORN TO BE WILD***

"Yeah, darling
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and
Explode into space

Upon Harold’s awareness of his “imminent death” professor Hilbert has only one advice left for Harold: “… you don’t control your fate. Go and live your life! Make it the one you always wanted!!!” At this point Harold completely changes his lifestyle and habits. He no longer counts brush strokes or his steps to the bus stop.
Among other things, Harold always wished his life was more musical, so now he decides to buy a new guitar and starts taking lessons. It is almost as if the new unafraid and spontaneous Harold is born.

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***FROU FROU - LET GO***

"Let go, let go
jump in
oh well, what you waiting for?
it's alright
'cause there's beauty in the breakdown"

This next song describes how Harold decides to let go of any lingering limitations which may still prohibit him from leaving his life to the fullest. Realizing he could die at any moment, Harold declares his true feelings to Ana. He brings her a gift and bluntly spells out to her: “I WANT YOU!”

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***U2 - BEAUTIFUL DAY***

"You love this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away"

Harold manages to find Karen Eiffel, the woman narrating his life, and confronts her with the truth. Even though the book draft is still not entirely typed, the story itself is completed resolving in Harold’s “simple, ironic, possibly heartbreaking” death. Karen’s gives the draft to Harold, who then gives it to professor Hilbert. Harold faces disappointed when professor Hilbert tells him: “I’m sorry. You HAVE to die. It’s a MASTERPIECE.” Harold is not ready to die though. He says “Now it’s really bad timing.” He thinks about running away with Ana, and possibly escaping the plot. However, professor Hilbert explains to him “In the grand scheme it would not matter. No one wants to die, but unfortunately we all do. You will die. You will ABSOLUTELY die. And I guarantee it won’t be as poetic. It’s the nature of all tragedies - the hero dies, but the story lives forever.” Harold gets on the bus and reads the novel himself.
Despite the sorrow he feels at first, I think Harold feels somewhat liberated and ends up encouraging Ms Eiffel to keep the original ending, which would kill him. To Harold, it is indeed a beautiful day. He completes all of his unfinished business and soaks up every second of his last day alive, even the most mundane moments.

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***MASSIVE ATTACK - TEARDROP***

"Love, love is a verb
Love is a doing word
Fearless on my breath
Gentle impulsion
Shakes me makes me lighter
Fearless on my breath"

Eventually, Karen Eiffel makes the accident only near-fatal and decides, for the first time in her career as a writer, to save the hero of her novel. "If you have someone who willingly, knowingly, goes to his death, well...isn't that the kind of person you want to keep alive?"
During his journey Harold changes 360 degrees. I think “Teardrop” it’s a well chosen song to end my playlist, at least for the reason being that it’s completely different from the first song “Technologic.” Harold starts as a very structured man of “infinite numbers, endless calculations, and few words” and I think the jittery, short phrases in the song "Technologic" translate that very well. On the contrary, “Teardrop” flows freely, and I can see Harold being mesmerized by the beautiful vocals, drifting away, unafraid of his destiny.