Criticality and Film Music: Funny Games, Drive, and Meta-Textuality

Stopford, Richard

Abstract

In this article, I argue that film music sometimes plays a ‘critical’ role. As such, my analysis seeks to extend writing on the philosophy of film, which tends to focus exclusively on its narrative and affective functions. I argue that ‘criticality’ occurs when the music plays a meta-textual role. That is, it directs audience attention away from the narrative and/or expressive dimensions of narrative, and towards the conventions and situation of cinema itself. This may make us think that critical film music is special to experimental cinema. I argue this is not the case. Through two examples of narrative movies, I argue that some kind of criticality is required to make sense of the music and, moreover, that narrative and/or expressive accounts of the music in these cases are, to some extent, unsatisfactory. Criticality is a distinctive role of music in narrative cinema.

Citation

Stopford, R. (2022). Criticality and Film Music: Funny Games, Drive, and Meta-Textuality. Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, 16(2), 153-178. https://doi.org/10.3828/msmi.2022.10

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 21, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 22, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Deposit Date: Oct 30, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2024
• Journal: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image
• Print ISSN: 1753-0768
• Electronic ISSN: 1753-0776
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 153-178
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/msmi.2022.10
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2993280