The Gendered Score: Music in 1940s Melodrama and the Woman's Film

The Gendered Score: Music in 1940s Melodrama and the Woman's Film PDF Author: Heather Laing
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351544063
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Heather Laing examines, for the first time, the issues of gender and emotion that underpin the classical style of film scoring, but that have until now remained unquestioned and untheorized, thus providing a benchmark for thinking on more recent and alternative styles of scoring. Many theorists have discussed this type of music in film as a signifier of emotion and 'the feminine', a capacity in which it is frequently associated with female characters. The full effect of such an association on either female or male characterization, however, has not been examined. This book considers the effects of this association by progress through three stages: cultural-historical precedents, the generic parameters of melodrama and the woman's film, and the narrativization of music in film through diegetic performance and the presence of musicians as characters. Case studies of specific films provide textual and musical analyses, and the genres of melodrama and the woman's film have been chosen as representative not only of the epitome of the Hollywood scoring style, but also of the narrative association of women, emotion and music. Laing leads to the conclusion that music functions as more than merely a signifier of emotion. Rather, it takes a crucial role in both indicating and determining how emotion is actually understood as part of the construction of gender and its representation in film.

The Gendered Score: Music in 1940s Melodrama and the Woman's Film

The Gendered Score: Music in 1940s Melodrama and the Woman's Film PDF Author: Heather Laing
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351544063
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book

Book Description
Heather Laing examines, for the first time, the issues of gender and emotion that underpin the classical style of film scoring, but that have until now remained unquestioned and untheorized, thus providing a benchmark for thinking on more recent and alternative styles of scoring. Many theorists have discussed this type of music in film as a signifier of emotion and 'the feminine', a capacity in which it is frequently associated with female characters. The full effect of such an association on either female or male characterization, however, has not been examined. This book considers the effects of this association by progress through three stages: cultural-historical precedents, the generic parameters of melodrama and the woman's film, and the narrativization of music in film through diegetic performance and the presence of musicians as characters. Case studies of specific films provide textual and musical analyses, and the genres of melodrama and the woman's film have been chosen as representative not only of the epitome of the Hollywood scoring style, but also of the narrative association of women, emotion and music. Laing leads to the conclusion that music functions as more than merely a signifier of emotion. Rather, it takes a crucial role in both indicating and determining how emotion is actually understood as part of the construction of gender and its representation in film.

The Gendered Score

The Gendered Score PDF Author: Heather Laing
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


Talkies, Road Movies and Chick Flicks

Talkies, Road Movies and Chick Flicks PDF Author: Heidi Wilkins
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474406904
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The representation of gender in film remains an intensely debated topic, particularly in academic considerations of US mainstream cinema where it is often perceived as perpetuating rigid, binary views of gender, and reinforcing patriarchal, dominant notions of masculinity and femininity. While previous scholarly discussion has focused on visual or narrative portrayals of gender, this book considers the ways that film sound "e; music, voice, sound effects and silence "e; is used to represent gender. Taking a socio-historical approach, Heidi Wilkins investigates a range of popular US genres including screwball comedy, the road movie and chick flicks to explore the ways that film sound can reinforce traditional assumptions about masculinity and femininity, impart ambivalent meanings to them, or even challenge and subvert the notion of gender itself. Case studies include His Girl Friday, Easy Rider and Bridesmaids.

Scoring the Hollywood Actor in the 1950s

Scoring the Hollywood Actor in the 1950s PDF Author: Gregory Camp
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000293645
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Scoring the Hollywood Actor in the 1950s theorises the connections between film acting and film music using the films of the 1950s as case studies. Closely examining performances of such actors as James Dean, Montgomery Clift, and Marilyn Monroe, and films of directors like Elia Kazan, Douglas Sirk, and Alfred Hitchcock, this volume provides a comprehensive view of how screen performance has been musicalised, including examination of the role of music in relation to the creation of cinematic performances and the perception of an actor’s performance. The book also explores the idea of music as a temporal vector which mirrors the temporal vector of actors’ voices and movements, ultimately demonstrating how acting and music go together to create a forward axis of time in the films of the 1950s. This is a valuable resource for scholars and researchers of musicology, film music and film studies more generally.

British Women's Cinema

British Women's Cinema PDF Author: Melanie Bell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135231931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
British Women’s Cinema examines the place of female-centred films throughout British film history, from silent melodrama and 1940s costume dramas right up to the contemporary British ‘chick flick’.

The Routledge Companion to Cinema & Gender

The Routledge Companion to Cinema & Gender PDF Author: Kristin Lené Hole
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317408055
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Comprised of 43 innovative contributions, this companion is both an overview of, and intervention into the field of cinema and gender. The essays included here address a variety of geographical contexts, from an analysis of cinema. Islam and women and television under Eastern European socialism, to female audience reception in Nigeria, to changing class and race norms in Bollywood dance sequences. A special focus is on women directors in a global context that includes films and filmmakers from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America. The collection also offers a solid overview of feminist contributions to thinking on genre from the "chick flick" to the action or Western film, to film noir and the slasher. Readers will find contributions on a variety of approaches to spectatorship, reception studies and fandom, as well as transnational approaches to star studies and essays addressing the relationship between feminist film theory and new media. Other topics include queer and trans* cinema, eco-cinema and the post-human. Finally, readers interested in the history of film will find essays addressing the methodological dimensions of feminist film history, essays on silent and studio era women in film, and histories of female filmmakers in a variety of non-Western contexts.

Chinese Women’s Cinema

Chinese Women’s Cinema PDF Author: Lingzhen Wang
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231527446
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
The first of its kind in English, this collection explores twenty one well established and lesser known female filmmakers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora. Sixteen scholars illuminate these filmmakers' negotiations of local and global politics, cinematic representation, and issues of gender and sexuality, covering works from the 1920s to the present. Writing from the disciplines of Asian, women's, film, and auteur studies, contributors reclaim the work of Esther Eng, Tang Shu Shuen, Dong Kena, and Sylvia Chang, among others, who have transformed Chinese cinematic modernity. Chinese Women's Cinema is a unique, transcultural, interdisciplinary conversation on authorship, feminist cinema, transnational gender, and cinematic agency and representation. Lingzhen Wang's comprehensive introduction recounts the history and limitations of established feminist film theory, particularly its relationship with female cinematic authorship and agency. She also reviews critiques of classical feminist film theory, along with recent developments in feminist practice, altogether remapping feminist film discourse within transnational and interdisciplinary contexts. Wang's subsequent redefinition of women's cinema, and brief history of women's cinematic practices in modern China, encourage the reader to reposition gender and cinema within a transnational feminist configuration, such that power and knowledge are reexamined among and across cultures and nation-states.

Music in Action Film

Music in Action Film PDF Author: James Buhler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351204262
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Music in Action Film is the first volume to address the central role of music and sound in action film—arguably the most dominant form of commercial cinema today. Bringing together 15 essays by established and emerging scholars, the book encompasses both Hollywood blockbusters and international films, from classic works such as The Seven Samurai to contemporary superhero franchises. The contributors consider action both as genre and as a mode of cinematic expression, in chapters on evolving musical conventions; politics, representation, and identity; musical affect and agency; the functional role of music and sound design in action film; and production technologies. Breaking new critical ground yet highly accessible, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of music and film studies.

Music in Epic Film

Music in Epic Film PDF Author: Stephen C. Meyer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317425863
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
As both a distinct genre and a particular mode of filmmaking, the idea of the epic has been central to the history of cinema. Including contributions from both established and emerging film music scholars, the ten essays in Music in Epic Film: Listening to Spectacle provide a cross-section of contemporary scholarship on the subject. They explore diverse topics, including the function of music in epic narratives, the socio-political implications of cinematic music, and the use of pre-existing music in epic films. Intended for students and scholars in film music, film appreciation, and media studies, the wide range of topics and the diversity of the films that the authors discuss make Music in Epic Film: Listening to Spectacle an ideal introduction to the field of music in epic film.

Reading Lena Dunham’s Girls

Reading Lena Dunham’s Girls PDF Author: Meredith Nash
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319529714
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
In this book, leading and emerging scholars consider the mixed critical responses to Lena Dunham’s TV series Girls and reflect on its significance to contemporary debates about postfeminist popular cultures in a post-recession context. The series features both familiar and innovative depictions of young women and men in contemporary America that invite comparisons with Sex and the City. It aims for a refreshed, authentic expression of postfeminist femininity that eschews the glamour and aspirational fantasies spawned by its predecessor. This volume reviews the contemporary scholarship on Girls, from its representation of post-millennial gender politics to depictions of the messiness and imperfections of sex, embodiment, and social interactions. Topics covered include Dunham’s privileged role as author/auteur/actor, sexuality, body consciousness, millennial gender identities, the politics of representation, neoliberalism, and post-recession society. This book provides diverse and provocative critical responses to the show and to wider social and media contexts, and contributes to a new generation of feminist scholarship with a powerful concluding reflection from Rosalind Gill. It will appeal to those interested in feminist theory, identity politics, popular culture, and media.