Nardi, C. (2012) Sound in Lost and the disavowal of reality. In: Montano, E. and Nardi, C. (eds.) Situating Popular Musics: IASPM 16th International Conference Proceedings. Liverpool: International Association for the Study of Popular Music. 2225-0301. pp. 185-191.
| Item Type: | Conference Proceedings |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the use of synchronised sound in the American television series Lost (2004-2010). Here the score bypasses the conventional distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic sound, thus affecting the viewer’s capacity to make sense of the narrative. I will show how this reflects a current tendency in the media towards the spectacularisation of reality and the fictionalisation of information. The inclusion in the plot of issues such as torture, terrorism or racism, which at the time of the screening were at the centre of the public debate, makes this use of the medium especially problematic. The effect of the score in Lost is not just one of disorientation, as it also contributes to the conviction that there is no available perspective that would grant an understanding of the countless mysteries that characterise the series; accordingly, the possibility itself of a rational explanation of the fictional events is often avoided through illogical turns in the plot. Background sounds play a role in generating this divergence between (fictional) reality and perception: if the fictional world is mystified, any means to know, understand and control it through our senses is frustrated, so that the spectator has to relinquish to the inexplicability of events. I will read this loss of perspective in the light of the theory of alienation, explaining how music is used in order to obtain a derangement of perception |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Lost, senses, alienation, conspiracy theory, infotainment |
| Subjects: |
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1992 Television broadcasts M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML3800 Philosophical and societal aspects of music > ML3830 Psychology M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML2080 Television music |
| Creators: | Nardi, Carlo |
| Editors: | Montano, Ed and Nardi, Carlo |
| Publisher: | International Association for the Study of Popular Music |
| Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: | University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology |
| Date: | 20 December 2012 |
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Page Range: | pp. 185-191 |
| Title of Book: | Situating Popular Musics: IASPM 16th International Conference Proceedings |
| Event Title: | Situating Popular Musics: International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) 16th International Conference |
| Event Dates: | 27 June - 01 July 2011 |
| Place of Publication: | Liverpool |
| Event Location: | Grahamstown, South Africa |
| Event Type: | Conference |
| Number of Pages: | 359 |
| Language: | English |
| ISBN: | 2225-0301 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.5429/2225-0301.2011.25 |
| Status: | Published / Disseminated |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Related URLs: | |
| References: | Arnold, Gordon B. 2008. Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics, Praeger, London and Westport, CT. Askwith, Ivan. 2009. “‘Do You Even Know Where This Is Going?’: Lost’s Viewers and Narrative Premeditation” in R. Pearson ed. Reading Lost, pp. 159-180. Tauris, London and New York, NY. Augé, Marc. 1999. The War of Dreams. Studies in Ethno fiction, Pluto, London and Sterling, VA. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1998. Acts of Resistance. Against the New Myths of Our Time, Polity Press, Cambridge. Drake, Philip; Richard Haynes. 2011. “Television, Deregulation and the Reshaping of Leisure”. In The New Politics of Leisure and Pleasure, eds. Peter Bramham and Stephen Wagg, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Gallino, Luciano. 1969. Questioni di Sociologia, Edizioni di Comunità, Milano. Howes, David. 2003. Sensual Relations. Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (feature film). 1956. Director: Don Siegel, Allied Artists Pictures and Walter Wanger Productions. Keen, Andrew. 2007. The Cult of the Amateur. How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, Doubleday, New York, NY. Lost (television series). 2004-2010. Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof, ABC. Marx, Karl. 1844 (1932). Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844, Progress, Moskau. Medal of Honor (video game). 1999. Director: Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Interactive. Ross, Alex. 2005. “Sound and Vision. Glass’s ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ and the art of film scoring”, The New Yorker, 27 June, <http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/27/050627crmu_music?currentPage=all>; consulted 04.jan.12. Ross, Alex. 2010. “The spooky fill. The man behind the avant-garde sounds of Lost”, The New Yorker, 17 May, pp. 60-66. Sartre, Jean Paul. 1960. Critique de la raison dialectique. Gallimard, Paris. Tagg, Philip; Clarida, Bob. 2003. Ten Little Title Tunes. Towards a Musicology of the Mass Media, The Mass Media Music Scholars’ Press, New York and Montreal. Toffler, Alvin. 1980. The Third Wave. William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York, NY. Thussu, Daya Kishan. 2007. News as Entertainment. The Rise of Global Infotainment, Sage, London. |
| URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/5136 |
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