Understanding sound tracks through film theory / Elsie Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walker, Elsie M., 1975- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sound in motion pictures.

Sound motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Aesthetics.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Sound effects.

Physical Description:

ix, 435 pages ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2015]

Summary:

Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory breaks new ground by redirecting the arguments of foundational texts within film theory to film sound tracks. Walker includes sustained analyses of particular films according to a range of theoretical approaches: psychoanalysis, feminism, genre studies, postcolonialism, and queer theory. The films come from disparate temporal and industrial contexts: from Classical Hollywood Gothic melodrama (Rebecca) to contemporary, critically-acclaimed science fiction (Gravity). Along with sound tracks from canonical American films including The Searchers and To Have and Have Not, Walker analyzes independent Australasian films: examples include Heavenly Creatures, a New Zealand film that uses music to empower its queer female protagonists; and Ten Canoes, the first Australian feature film with a script entirely in Aboriginal languages. Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory thus not only calls new attention to the significance of sound tracks, but also focuses on the sonic power of characters representing those whose voices have all too often been drowned out. Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory is both rigorous and accessible to all students and scholars with a grasp of cinematic and musical structures. Moreover, the book brings together film studies, musicology, history, politics, and culture and therefore resonates across the liberal arts. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Genre Studies

1 Introduction: "A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre" / Rick Airman Airman, Rick 15

2 The Searchers 21

3 Dead Man 52

Part II Postcolonialism

4 Introduction: "Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction" / Robert Stam Stam, Robert, Louise Spence Spence, Louise 89

5 Rabbit-Proof Fence 101

6 Ten Canoes 137

Part III Feminism

7 Introduction: "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" / Laura Mulvey Mulvey, Laura 173

8 To Have and Have Not 179

9 The Piano 203

Part IV Psychoanalysis

10 Introduction: "Looking for the Gaze: Lacanian Film Theory and Its Vicissitudes" / Todd McGowan McGowan, Todd 245

11 Bigger Than Life 258

12 Shutter Island 286

Part V Queer Theory

13 Introduction: "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" / Judith Butler Butler, Judith 325

14 Rebecca 339

15 Heavenly Creatures 371.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes filmography.

ISBN:

9780199896301

0199896305

9780199896325

0199896321

OCLC:

882620100