dc.contributor.author |
Camp, Gregory |
en |
dc.coverage.spatial |
University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music. Hamilton, New Zealand |
en |
dc.date.accessioned |
2017-02-13T02:11:48Z |
en |
dc.date.issued |
2016-11-20 |
en |
dc.identifier.citation |
Camp, G. L. (2016). Music and method in the films of Elia Kazan. In New Zealand Musicological Society Annual Conference: Contemporary and future paths in music performance, composition and analysis. University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music. Hamilton, New Zealand. |
en |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/31810 |
en |
dc.description.abstract |
Elia Kazan is seen as the quintessential “method” director, at the forefront of putting Stanislavsky’s theories of acting into practice in American stage and film in the 1940s and 50s. Kazan summed up his philosophy of directing by stating that direction is “turning psychological events into behaviour, inner events into visible, external patterns of life on stage” (A Life, 90). Kazan’s sensitive use of music was one way by which this transformation from inner psychology to outer behaviour was effected. This paper examines how Kazan’s composer collaborators achieved this process through music in three of his middle-period films. Alex North’s score for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) attempts to get inside the mind of protagonist Blanche Dubois through the juxtaposition of varied types of music, reflecting the character’s de-centred sense of her own identity. An analysis of the musical motives of Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront (1954) will then show that character motivations can be mirrored by means of an organically “unified” score. Finally, Kenyon Hopkins’ understated score for Wild River (1960) serves to focus our attention on the film’s characters’ quietly intense desires and relationships. While music is usually seen only as a narrative mechanism in film, shifting our focus to music’s role in conveying character psychology offers a new approach to “audio-vision”. Kazan’s intense interest in character motivation makes his oeuvre an ideal case study for the application of this approach. |
en |
dc.relation.ispartof |
New Zealand Musicological Society Annual Conference: Contemporary and future paths in music performance, composition and analysis |
en |
dc.rights |
Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
en |
dc.rights.uri |
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm |
en |
dc.title |
Music and method in the films of Elia Kazan |
en |
dc.type |
Conference Item |
en |
dc.rights.holder |
Copyright: The author |
en |
pubs.author-url |
http://musicologynz.org.nz/Conferences.htm |
en |
pubs.finish-date |
2016-11-20 |
en |
pubs.start-date |
2016-11-19 |
en |
dc.rights.accessrights |
http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/RestrictedAccess |
en |
pubs.subtype |
Conference Paper |
en |
pubs.elements-id |
546613 |
en |
pubs.org-id |
Creative Arts and Industries |
en |
pubs.org-id |
Music |
en |
pubs.record-created-at-source-date |
2016-11-21 |
en |