Cultural Intertexts (Dec 2021)
Film Culture and the Psychology of Sound. A Case Study
Abstract
Nowadays, although the cinema is seen as a way of entertaining the masses, of keeping people abreast of what is going on outside their homes, we sometimes fail to notice that, like any mass media, it ‘injects’ certain values, ideas, even feelings and reactions. Speculating on the conscious and unconscious state of the millions towards which they are directed, the cinematic representations are social constructions rather than valueneutral reflections of the ‘real’ world. Although seen as being essentially visual, because it mimics our mental constructions of life, and the way our consciousness shapes the world, the film ‘touches’ deeper aspects of our inner world, such as emotion, attention, and imagination. The aim of this study is to put forward the idea that music plays a central role in film contexts. Being an all-encompassing and organic tool, music has the power to convey meaning and emotions, at times even more efficiently than images. An analysis of the soundtrack of Disney’s Frozen was attempted in order to highlight music’s potential to influence one’s perception and interpretation of the film.
