![]() The filmmaker unavoidably conveys a biased perspective of the protagonist, effectively re-interpreting and re-representing media sources. The contemporary musical biopic represents the public memory of the popular musical artist through exploring their various public/private identities, while focusing on a certain attribute or persona. There can be no ‘truth’ or accurate re-telling of an actual life narrative. The musical biopic demonstrates that biography is a subjective interpretation of a life history. Through consideration of media representations of the respective music artists portrayed, the filmmakers and cast, significant factors are discussed including the omission and inclusion of certain biographical details, star/celebrity identities and cinematic elements such as visual imagery, narrative and musical integration which shape the public perception of the persona. This thesis examines the text (the film itself) and context of the musical biopic. The musical biopics El Cantante (2006), Control (2007), Beyond the Sea (2004), De-Lovely (2004), Walk the Line (2005), Ray (2004) and I’m Not There (2007) are analysed in depth. Focusing on selected case studies, each chapter discusses the representation of actual musical artists including musicians, composers and singers. ![]() This thesis analyses the contemporary musical biopic (biographical film) examining theatrically released feature films from the years 2004 to 2007. In George Clinton’s words, this ‘shines the spotlight on ‘em!’ onto various non-dancing subjects, placing them into a shifting acoustic space wherein all things dance and clash. Expanding on Kodwo Eshun’s model of AfroFuturism, I characterise hip-hop’s spatio-acoustic project as ethnographic Surrealism (James Clifford), in which juxtapositions defy normal narrative time and space, producing new insights and confluences, from the Mothership to Ancient Egypt, from Mississippi to West Germany, from Picasso to the Ivory Coast. NTM’s bass and Terminator X’s noise bounce off and penetrate concrete, bodies (do you feel it?), history and location. It enables us to rethink history and music as spatial juxtaposition: the aesthetics of the montage. Hip-hop is less a narrative project, than a spatial one. ![]() Rather director Stéphane Sednaoui’s fluid, tunnelling montage moves us through space and time faster than a train bearing the latest tag, than the iron horses linking America’s Westside with the East, or even the TGV joining Les Halles to the banlieues. MC Solaar’s ‘Nouveau Western’ does not simply comment on the past and Americanism. ![]() What then might we learn from hip-hop, and what kind of historical relations does it make possible? The syncopation of beat stages the gap between now (get up on the down beat) and then (get down on history). ![]() Hip-hop and related sample-based musics inhabit a world which is deeply historicised-indeed historiographic. Images of le graff flick over as though on an antique slide projector, while Chuck D reminds us of when ‘Black people died’ and ‘the other man lied’. NTM’s ‘That’s My People’ echoes through the Paris metro, whilst director Mark Pellington stages a history of Black resistance across a New York wall. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |