Hearing Haneke
Hearing Haneke

Author: Elsie M. Walker

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0190495901

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Michael Haneke's films subject us to extreme experiences of disturbance, desperation, grief, and violence. They are unsoftened by music, punctuated by accosting noises, shaped by painful silences, and charged with aggressive dialogue. The sound tracks are even more traumatic to hear than his stories are to see, but they also offer us the transformative possibilities of reawakened sonic awareness. Haneke's use of sound redefines cinema in ways that can help us re-hear everything-including our own voices, and everything around us-better. Though Haneke's films make exceptional demands on us, he is among the most celebrated of living auteurs: he is two-time receipt of the Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival (for The White Ribbon (2009) and Amour (2012)), and Academy Award winner of Best Foreign Language Film (for Amour), along with numerous other awards. The radical confrontationality of his cinema makes him an internationally controversial, as well as revered, subject. Hearing Haneke is the first book-length study of the sound tracks that define this living legacy. This book explores the haunting, subversive, and political significance of all aural elements through Haneke's major feature films (dialogue, sound effects, silences, and music), all of which are meticulously conducted by him. Many critics read Haneke as coolly dispassionate about showing scenes of humanity under threat, but Hearing Haneke argues that all facets of his sound tracks stress humane understanding and the importance of compassion. This book provides exceptionally detailed analyses of all Haneke's most celebrated films: including The Seventh Continent, Funny Games, Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, Cach , The White Ribbon, and Amour. The writing brings together film theory, musicology, history, and cultural studies in ways that resonate broadly. Hearing Haneke will matter to anyone who cares about the power of art to inspire progressive change.

The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media
The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media

Author: Steve Choe

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-11-09

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 3031053907

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The chapters contained in this handbook address key issues concerning the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of violence in film and media. In addition to providing analyses of representations of violence, they also critically discuss the phenomenology of the spectator, images of atrocity in international cinema, affect and documentary, violent video games, digital infrastructures, cruelty in art cinema, and media and state violence, among many other relevant topics. The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media updates existing studies dealing with media and violence while vastly expanding the scope of the field. Representations of violence in film and media are ubiquitous but remain relatively understudied. Too often they are relegated to questions of morality, taste, or aesthetics while judgments about violence can themselves be subjected to moral judgment. Some may question whether objectionable images are worthy of serious scholarly attention at all. While investigating key examples, the chapters in this handbook consider both popular and academic discourses to understand how representations of violence are interpreted and discussed. They propose new approaches and raise novel questions for how we might critically think about this urgent issue within contemporary culture.

The Art of Caregiving in Fiction, Film, and Memoir
The Art of Caregiving in Fiction, Film, and Memoir

Author: Jeffrey Berman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-10-29

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1350166596

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Bringing together the human story of care with its representation in film, fiction and memoir, this book combines an analysis of care narratives to inform and inspire ideas about this major role in life. Alongside analysis of narratives drawn from literature and film, the author sensitively interweaves the story of his wife's illness and care to illuminate perspectives on dealing with human decline. Examining texts from a diverse range of authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Edith Wharton and Alice Munro, and filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman and Michael Haneke, it addresses questions such as why caregiving is a dangerous activity, the ethical problems of writing about caregiving, the challenges of reading about caregiving, and why caregiving is so important. It serves as a fire starter on the subject of how we can gain insight into the challenges and opportunities of caregiving through the creative arts.

Sound Design is the New Score
Sound Design is the New Score

Author: Danijela Kulezic-Wilson

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 0190855312

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The practice of blurring the line between score and sound design has transformed contemporary film soundscape by challenging not only the long-established hierarchical relationships between dialogue, music, and sound effects, but also the modes of perception shaped by classical soundtrack practices. The methods of this new trend rely on the language of contemporary popular and art music, producing soundtracks in which it is difficult to tell the difference between score and ambient sound, where pieces of electroacoustic music are merged with diegetic sound, sound effects are absorbed into the score or treated as music, and diegetic sound is treated as musique concr�te. In Sound Design is the New Score, Kulezic-Wilson explores theoretical, aesthetic, and sensuous dimensions of this new trend, providing a multifaceted portrait of a practice which recognizes the interconnectedness of all soundtrack elements and emphasizes their inherent musicality. The aesthetic concerns of this practice are illuminated through the concept of the aesthetics of reticence which rejects classical narrative and scoring conventions and uses integrated soundtrack strategies to create the space for mystery in art and for individuality in the cinematic experience. The book's emphasis on sensuous and musical aspects of this practice, informed by the feminist discourse on the erotics of art, challenges popular notions about sensory cinema, demonstrating that the sensuousness of film form and its soundscapes is more sophisticated than simply being the result of excessive sensory stimulation facilitated by the use of digital technology or the "intensified" aesthetics it inspires. The discussion is supported by a wide range of case studies from American Independent, Asian, Australian, and European cinemas, including films by Shane Carruth, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Harmony Korine, David Mich�d, Gus Van Sant, and Peter Strickland.

Life 24x a Second
Life 24x a Second

Author: Elsie Walker

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0197600913

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"Life 24x a Second: cinema, selfhood, and society is about the life-sustaining and life-affirming power of cinema. As we confront the devastating reality of the Covid-19 pandemic, our obligation to explain the value of all artistic expression and pedagogical practice has surely never been greater. Life 24x a Second: cinema, selfhood, and society adopts multiple perspectives on why films matter, with special attention to hearing the soundtracks that move through our bodies and which we can carry with us into the world at large. Drawing on work by authors across disparate fields of literature, business, psychology, biological science, cinema, autobiographical, and cultural studies, this book makes the case for cinema as a life force on the biggest emotional, personal, and social terms, and in ways that can resonate for any reader. The book zeroes in on films that offer hope in relation to the Black Lives Matter (Imitation of Life (1959) and BlacKkKlansman (2018)), contemporary feminism (Nobody Knows (2004)), teachings of Heartmath (Dancer in the Dark (2000)), realities of grief and mourning that we all face (Life of Pi (2012), Ikiru (1952), and A Star Is Born (2018)), and a most personal experience of loss (Call Me By Your Name (2017) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)). Life 24x a Second: cinema, selfhood, and society draws directly upon many pedagogical experiences and students' reflections to show that these films can move us toward the creation of a better world for ourselves and others"--

The Use and Abuse of Stories
The Use and Abuse of Stories

Author: Mark P. Freeman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-05-09

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0197571042

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Narrative practice has come under attack in the current "post-truth" era. In fact, many associate "narrative hermeneutics"--the field of inquiry concerned with reflection on the meaning and interpretation of stories--directly with this putative movement beyond truth. Challenging this view, The Use and Abuse of Stories argues that this broad arena of inquiry instead serves as a vitally important vehicle for addressing and redressing the social and political problems at hand. Hanna Meretoja and Mark Freeman have gathered an interdisciplinary group of esteemed authors to explore how interpretation is relevant to current discussions in narrative studies and to the broader debate that revolves around issues of truth, facts, and narrative. The contributions turn to the tradition of narrative hermeneutics to emphasize that narrative is a cultural meaning-making practice that is integral to how we make sense of who we are and who we could be. Addressing topics ranging from the dangers of political narratives to questions of truth in medical and psychiatric practice, this volume shows how narrative hermeneutics contributes to topical debates both in interdisciplinary narrative studies and in the current cultural and political situation in which issues of truth have gained new urgency.

Torturous Etiquettes
Torturous Etiquettes

Author: Daniel Varndell

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2023-07-01

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1438493495

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"Etiquette," as noted toastmaster Herbert V. Prochnow once pointed out, "is knowing how to yawn with your mouth closed"—that is, to spare the feelings of the other person, one must stifle one's own. To be polite, therefore, is to perform. Onscreen, closeups often reveal the effort that goes into maintaining that performance: with a fleeting frown or a slight scowl, an actor reveals the "torture" of mannered behavior. In Torturous Etiquettes, Daniel Varndell examines such gestures to reveal the difficulties of the social encounter. Drawing on the history of etiquette, the book deconstructs an array of examples from classical and contemporary Hollywood and European cinema, taking a close look at onscreen representations of rudeness, ridiculing, racist and sexist etiquettes, hospitality, table manners, and more. In doing so, it reveals etiquette to be a persistent theme in cinema and questions the role it plays in either upholding or denying the basic humanity of others.

Mobilizing Music in Wartime British Film
Mobilizing Music in Wartime British Film

Author: Heather Wiebe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-10-11

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0197631711

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Mobilizing Music in Wartime British Film examines the preoccupation with art music and total war that animated British films of the 1940s.

Unlimited Replays
Unlimited Replays

Author: William Gibbons

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-04-02

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0190265280

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Classical music is everywhere in video games. Works by composers like Bach and Mozart fill the soundtracks of games ranging from arcade classics, to indie titles, to major franchises like BioShock, Civilization, and Fallout. Children can learn about classical works and their histories from interactive iPad games. World-renowned classical orchestras frequently perform concerts of game music to sold-out audiences. But what do such combinations of art and entertainment reveal about the cultural value we place on these media? Can classical music ever be video game music, and can game music ever be classical? Delving into the shifting and often contradictory cultural definitions that emerge when classical music meets video games, Unlimited Replays offers a new perspective on the possibilities and challenges of trying to distinguish between art and pop culture in contemporary society.

Audiovisual Alterity
Audiovisual Alterity

Author: Michael L. Austin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-11-04

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0190277793

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This new book fully expands our understanding of how historically marginalized groups are represented in music videos. Author Michael Austin explores the ways in which Asian and Pacific Islanders, Indigenous communities, the LGBTQIA+ community, drag performers, religious minorities, and the incarcerated are represented. The book also covers several contemporary controversies involving music videos, especially cultural appropriation. Importantly, this book also explores the ways in which marginalized communities use music videos as a way to find their own voice and represent themselves.