Description
I will argue that many earlier jazz films offer rich referential sources that are widely underestimated by disqualifying them as employing only 'source' music. By analyzing the finale sequence of Black and Tan (Dudley Murphy, 1929)-- the on-screen debut of Duke Ellington--I propose that the function of the music here is 'syn-diegetic': synthesizing plural diegetic expressions. The singular 'diegetic' interpretation of music's representation here as 'part of the film's narrative world', while its 'purported source (...is) visible on screen' (Cooke, 9) may not be inaccurate, yet its narrows down the narrative complexity with the multi-layered intertextual references of this sequence. The concept of a sheer singular diegetic interpretation is insufficient, even poverty-stricken. The Duke might have already realized this.I suggest therefore modifying the catch-all term 'diegetic' into a quadruple framework of manifestations of the diegesis to better suit the purpose.
| Period | 27 May 2018 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Music and the Moving Image |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | xiii |
| Location | New York, United States, New YorkShow on map |