Representations of “Idyllic” Childhood in the Film Music of John Williams

In his film music, John Williams has consistently explored the condition of childhood. This paper examines Williams’s representations of “idyllic” childhood, analyzing how he deploys the childhood topic in scores for Harry Potter, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Empire of the Sun, Jaws, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Williams both fulfills and disrupts topical conventions to portray childhood as a distinct realm, a precious refuge from adult darkness. Ultimately, his idealization of childhood (while partly reflecting his collaborations with Steven Spielberg) participates in centuries-old discourse about nostalgia and naivety in Western art music, hearkening back to eighteenth-century aesthetics that elevated naïve purity and placed the uncorrupted child in relief against darker visions of adulthood.