ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: SONIC MOVIE MEMORIES: SOUND, CHILDHOOD, and AMERICAN CINEMA Paul James Cote, Doctor of Philosoph
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: SONIC MOVIE MEMORIES: SOUND, CHILDHOOD, AND AMERICAN CINEMA Paul James Cote, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jonathan Auerbach, Department of English Literature Though the trend rarely receives attention, since the 1970s many American filmmakers have been taking sound and music tropes from children’s films, television shows, and other forms of media and incorporating those sounds into films intended for adult audiences. Initially, these references might seem like regressive attempts at targeting some nostalgic desire to relive childhood. However, this dissertation asserts that these children’s sounds are instead designed to reconnect audience members with the multi-faceted fantasies and coping mechanisms that once, through children’s media, helped these audience members manage life’s anxieties. Because sound is the sense that Western audiences most associate with emotion and memory, it offers audiences immediate connection with these barely conscious longings. The first chapter turns to children’s media itself and analyzes Disney’s 1950s forays into television. The chapter argues that by selectively repurposing the gentlest sonic devices from the studio’s films, television shows like Disneyland created the studio’s signature sentimental “Disney sound.” As a result, a generation of baby boomers like Steven Spielberg comes of age and longs to recreate that comforting sound world. The second chapter thus focuses on Spielberg, who incorporates Disney music in films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Rather than recreate Disney’s sound world, Spielberg uses this music as a springboard into a new realm I refer to as “sublime refuge” - an acoustic haven that combines overpowering sublimity and soothing comfort into one fantastical experience. The second half of the dissertation pivots into more experimental children’s cartoons like Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) - cartoons that embrace audio-visual dissonance in ways that soothe even as they create tension through a phenomenon I call “comfortable discord.” In the final chapter, director Wes Anderson reveals that these sonic tensions have just as much appeal to adults. In films like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Anderson demonstrates that comfortable discord can simultaneously provide a balm for anxiety and create an open-ended space that makes empathetic connections between characters possible. The dissertation closes with a call to rethink nostalgia, not as a romanticization of the past, but rather as a reconnection with forgotten affective channels. SONIC MOVIE MEMORIES: SOUND, CHILDHOOD, AND AMERICAN CINEMA by Paul Cote Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Advisory Committee: Professor Jonathan Auerbach, Chair Professor Oliver Gaycken Professor Linda Kauffman Professor Saverio Giovacchini Professor John Lawrence Witzleben © Copyright by Paul Cote 2016 Dedication I would like to dedicate this project to my partner, best friend, and spouse, Rachel Vorona Cote. Rachel was with me from the project’s early gestation stages to its final revisions, and she offered reassurance, critical feedback, and a receptive, supportive ear throughout. Thank you Rachel – for everything. I would also like to dedicate the dissertation to my parents, Maria Martin and Michael Cote, as well as my siblings, Ben, Eric, and Justine Rae Cote. Their love and encouragement has been a crucial source of inspiration and support throughout this process. ii Acknowledgements I have been extremely fortunate in my time at Maryland, as I have received no shortage of departmental support, guidance, and encouragement. I first want to thank and acknowledge my director Dr. Jonathan Auerbach, who could not have been a better advisor. Jonathan had the uncanny ability to sense the best versions of my arguments long before I had learned to articulate them, and he always tailored each line of his rigorous feedback to help me write the best version of the dissertation he knew I wanted to write. He has been a steadfastly dedicated mentor, always ready to read and respond to a draft, write a recommendation letter, talk me through a nervous concern, or push me to do my best work. Thank you Jonathan - you are a brilliant scholar, a sharp editor, and a devoted mentor, and I’m honored to call you my friend. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the other members of my dissertation committee. My first reader, Dr. Oliver Gaycken, gave me extremely valuable and detailed feedback over the past several years, and his rigorous approach to research always pushed me to be a more thorough scholar. Dr. Linda Kauffman, both as a reader and as the leader of the Dissertation Workshop, gave me invaluable guidance both on the dissertation and on navigating the job market. Though a late addition to the committee, Dr. Saverio Giovacchini has actually been offering me generous feedback as early as my Master’s thesis years, when I was still working on music in the Italian Western. When he joined the dissertation committee, he wasted no time in offering his invaluable perspective as a historian. Finally, Dr. John Witzelben may have been the Dean’s Representative, but he approached my iii dissertation as though he were any other dedicated member of the committee. In addition to his generous notes and comments, he provided me with the much-needed insight of a musicologist. Thank you all - I could not have asked for a greater committee, and I am grateful for all of the time you took to help me in this project. In addition to the committee itself, I would also like to thank several administrators who have helped me in crucial ways over the past seven years. Thank you to Dr. Ralph Bauer, who as Director of Graduate Studies always seemed to quietly bend over backwards to help me and my fellow graduate students secure funding. Thank you to Manju Suri, whose gentle voice was the first I heard all those years ago when I first called the department as an incoming Master’s student - her calming, generous presence and assured command over administrative work has been a lifesaver to many a graduate student. Thank you also to Scott Ecklund, whose tireless generosity and friendly disposition has made teaching at Maryland at pleasure. I would also like to acknowledge professors who started on my committee who, for reasons related in no way whatsoever to their own considerable merits as scholars and mentor figures, no longer fit in the committee once I moved into film studies. Dr. David Wyatt, you taught me never to forget that we are prose stylists just as much as we are scholars. Dr. Peter Mallios, your enthusiasm for my fledgling film studies ambitions started me on this course in the first place, even if taking this course meant parting ways. Thank you also to Dr. Elizabeth Papazian, Dr. Marianne iv Conroy, Dr. Eric Zakim, Dr. Caroline Eades, Dr. Luka Arsenjuk, and the other members of the Graduate School Field Committee in Film Studies, all of whom welcomed me into their academic community and showed me what it means to be a film scholar. I would like to thank the fellow graduate students who have provided such an invaluable network of friendship and support throughout these years. In no particular order: Kisa Lape, Lisa Kirch, Katie Stanutz, Maria Gigante, Andrew Black, Douglas Kern, Mike Quilligan, Maura Collinge, Dan Collinge, John Mackintosh, Sarah Bonnie, Martin Camper, Justin Lohr, Lauren Albright, Porter Olsen, Nathaniel Underland, Maggie Ray, Nicholas Slaughter, Audrey Farley, Elizabeth DePriest, Cameron Mozafari, Joseph Kautzer, Jacqueline Kautzer, Ted Kaouk, Steve Beulieu, and countless other close friends whom I will no doubt immediately regret forgetting the moment I finalize these acknowledgements - thank you. I cannot tell you how much your friendship has meant to me, nor how vital it has been in completing this dissertation. I want to again thank my family - Maria Martin, Michael Cote, Ben Cote, Eric Cote, and Justine Cote - you have been my lifeline, and I can’t imagine getting through the dissertation without your support. I would like as well to thank my in- laws, who have effectively been family members themselves – Robert, Katherine, Laura, Sarah, Jack, and Kappy Vorona, thank you for welcoming me into your family and for your constant support. v Lastly, I would like to again thank my loving wife, Rachel Vorona Cote. Her endless reservoir of unconditional love and support pushed me through the most difficult moments in the dissertation, and her brilliant writer’s mind and sharp editor’s eye made her the both the best sounding board for new ideas and the best editor a writer could hope for. I love you Rachel. vi Table of Contents Dedication ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ vii Introduction: Sound, Film, and Moving Beyond Childishness..................................... 1 i.i. Sleepy Hollow and the Sonic Pull Towards Childhood ..................................... 1 i.ii. Argument and Central Question: What Role Do Children’s Media Sounds Have on Adult Listeners? .........................................................................................