Music, movies, and meaning

INF1005/1006H - Information Workshop Description Music, Movies, and Meaning Section 0101 (Tuesdays, 1 – 4 pm) Instructor: Alan Stanbridge ([email protected]) This interdisciplinary workshop will examine the synergies in the relationships between music and the moving image, exploring the manner in which these synergies result in processes of meaning-making and communication. Employing examples drawn from the feature film, the Hollywood musical, and the animated cartoon, the workshop will adopt a case-study approach, allowing students to pursue theoretical ideas and concepts grounded in specific instances of cultural practice. Acknowledging the fundamentally social and collaborative nature of all artistic production, and drawing on a wide range of academic readings in cultural theory, cultural studies, musicology, and film studies, the workshop will address movies and their soundtracks as cultural artifacts embedded in their social contexts, serving, in part, both to express and constitute their particular historical moments. As Janet Wolff has argued: “Cultural forms… do not just directly represent the social in some unmediated way. Rather, they re-present it in the codes and processes of signification… Moreover, far from reflecting the already given social world… cultural forms participate in the production of that world.” Please note that students will require no specialist knowledge of either musicology or film studies in order to take this workshop, although some background in cultural theory and/or cultural studies will be helpful. Students will be expected to view a significant number of films outside class time, and relevant films and cartoons will be made available on short-term loan in Media Commons in Robarts Library. Several Movie Nights, featuring key films, will be scheduled as part of the workshop.