• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Deleuze and Film Music: Building a methodological bridge between film theory and music Gregg Pierce Redner Submitted by Gregg Pierce Redner, to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film Studies, 16 January 2009. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. (signature) ......................................................................................... 1 Abstract This thesis grows from the premise that film music analysis is currently at an impasse. The reason for this impasse is the inability of film theory and music theory to relate to one another because of their lack of a common theoretical language. It is my contention that a large percentage of the scholarly writing on film music is less than successful, because of the inability of these two disciplines to relate to each other theoretically. Therefore, it is the intention of this thesis to construct a methodological bridge which will allow music theory and film theory to relate to each other on a common analytical plane. I am primarily concerned with just how the film score functions once it enters into the mise-en-scène and is able to exist on an equal theoretical plane with the other elements of the filmic universe. In order to facilitate this, I will apply philosophical concepts drawn from the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze to the analysis of six individual film/score(s): L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934), Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936), Scott of the Antarctic (Charles Frend, 1948), East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955), Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev, 1964) and Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993). Each of these scores provides a specific theoretical challenge which can not be overcome through the use of traditional analytical methodologies. By adapting specific Deleuzian philosophical concepts (sensation, nomadology, the refrain, the eternal refrain, becoming, utopia, smooth space, and duration) to the individual scores in question I will demonstrate that it is possible to create a flexible analytical methodology which draws the various elements of the film into a deep relationship with the score, thereby revealing the score’s actual function in each instance. 2 List of Contents Chapter I. Introduction. p. 4 Chapter II. Methodology. p. 30 Chapter III. Deleuzian Sensation and Maurice Jaubert’s score for L’Atalante. p. 43 Chapter IV. The Division of the One: Leonard Rosenman and the score for East of Eden. p. 78 Chapter V. Dmitri Shostakovich’s score for Kozintsev’s Hamlet. p. 124 Chapter VI. Fragments of a Life: Becoming-music/ woman in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Blue. p. 180 Chapter VII. The changing conception of space as a delineator in film score style: A comparative analysis of the scores for Things to Come and Scott of the Antarctic. p. 226 Chapter VIII. Conclusion. p. 297 Bibliography. p. 304 Corpus of Films. p. 310 Films cited in text. p. 314 3 Chapter One: Introduction In his 1942 book The Film Sense, the Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein carries out an engaging discussion and analysis of the technique of vertical montage which he developed for use in his film, Alexander Nevsky (1948). For our purposes, one of the more interesting chapters in the book involves an analysis of a brief segment of film drawn from the ‘Dawn of Anxious Waiting’, which precedes the famous ‘Battle on the Ice’. In this analysis, Eisenstein juxtaposes seventeen measures of Sergei Prokofiev’s score with twelve frames from the film, creating what for me is the most complete and successful analysis of a segment of film music ever conducted. In an analysis of overwhelming complexity, Eisenstein manages to achieve a rich synthesis of music and mise-en-scène, one that has arguably not been surpassed in fifty-six years. What makes Eisenstein’s analysis so exciting is that he does not discuss the music in a traditional theoretical manner, a practice which often results in an analysis which is at best only partially successful. He does not make use of the traditional tools of music theory, but instead draws the music into a dialogue with the film’s rhythmic, visual, kinetic and graphic elements, thereby freeing himself to explore these on a non-privileged basis. I am not suggesting that a traditional musical analysis is not helpful and illustrative. Indeed, there have been a number of excellent analyses of Prokofiev’s score for the film, but these analyses concentrate on the music, often times to the complete avoidance of the mise-en-scène. Clearly, if one wants to understand a score from a ‘music only’ perspective, then a purely musical analysis is the appropriate way to go. However, what Eisenstein accomplishes runs much deeper. It is not that Eisenstein is not interested in the music as such, for his own heavy 4 involvement with Prokofiev during the composition of the score suggests otherwise. Eisenstein is after something completely different, he wants to understand how the score functions as a part of the whole, not as a disconnected and isolated singularity. Regrettably, the relative specificity of Eisenstein’s analytic methodology has prevented its application on a larger scale, yet it remains in the opinion of this author, the most stimulating, thought-provoking and successful example of film musical analysis to date. During its short life, film music analysis has, as a rule taken one of two paths. The first utilizes an analytic methodology which is appropriated from the discipline of music(ology)/ theory; one which privileges the musical over the filmic. The drawback here is that the score is treated much as any other musical composition might be. It is analyzed for its musical value with little possibility of relating the musical findings to the mise-en-scène of the film. While we may learn something about the way the score functions as music, we learn little about the way that music and film interact. The second approach emphasizes film theory over musicology, again telling us little about the relationship between the music and the film. Both approaches are impeded by a theoretical abyss which prevents either discipline from discoursing effectively with the other, resulting in the subsequent analyses being only marginally successful. Perhaps this is not that surprising, for by virtue of its various designations, i.e. moving-pictures, movies, issues of sound have until recently been back-grounded in film cultures. We go to see a movie; we do not go to hear one. We speak of silent films, which of course have never truly been silent having been accompanied by music almost from the beginning. Throughout its long association with film, music 5 has been used to manipulate the spectator, to explicate the internal, and to fill in the blanks of the missing psychological and emotional pieces of a narrative and the mise- en-scène. Indeed, music is important to film both because of its ability to enhance the listener’s experience of the film, to suture them into it if you will, but also to cover sloppy editing or fix a scene that simply doesn’t work. Yet in spite of its importance as one aspect of the totality of the filmic universe, film music has received neither respect nor interest from the academic community until quite recently. Why is it that so much film music scholarship, which although a reasonably recent addition to the areas of musicology and film studies, still struggles to find a successful voice within the academic canon? It is not that film music scholarship is not firmly fixed as an important part of both areas of study, yet it seems to me that much of what is written is often not particularly helpful or illustrative. In other words, there is writing out there, but little of it gives us any real idea of what is actually happening when the music enters into the mise-en-scène. As a general rule film music scholarship follows one of three courses. The first is the study of the commodification of film music. Analyses such as these are often discussed in Marxist terms and while useful and interesting, don’t endeavour to explicate or unpick much about the actual interaction between score and mise-en- scène. Because this method of analysis has little to do with an analysis of the music within the context of the film, we leave it and pass on to the other approaches. The second approach, involves undertaking a thorough musical analysis of a given score. The theorist delves into the harmonic structure of the individual cues, the thematic interwoven-ness of these cues, the orchestration and the oft quoted leitmotif structure of the film. The problem here is that while we learn much about the music 6 this is all that we learn. This would not be a detriment if film music functioned as other art music does, but it does not. Film music responds to external stimulus, and its final positioning and placement within the film is often altered by someone other than the composer. Unlike art music, film music does not exist in a vacuum. Therefore while traditional musical analysis can tell us a great deal about how the music functions as music, it is not very helpful in explaining how the score relates to the mise-en-scène. A third approach to film music analysis draws its methodologies from the area of film theory.

Load more

  296

Copy Link