Semiotics, Pragmatics, and Metaphor in Film Music Analysis

Abstract

This dissertation proposes an interdisciplinary approach that aims to broaden the music-theoretical strategies employed to analyze film music by borrowing analytical models from the disciplines of semiotics and pragmatics. The examination and application of semiotic and pragmatic models developed by Fauconnier and Turner, Lakoff and Johnson, and Peirce (among others), is complemented by traditional music analysis. This interface crystallizes in considerations of formal design, melodic contour, pitch content, harmonic gestures, cadential formulas, and other structural aspects of the music. The repertoire analyzed consists primarily of recent Hollywood film soundtracks from a wide variety of genres including cartoons, musicals, and documentaries. The result is an analytical framework that allows for the recognition of fundamental processes lying at the very heart of film music interpretation.%%%%A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.%%%%Spring Semester, 2006.%%%%February 1, 2006.%%%%Leitmotif, Onomatopoeia, Sound Design, Sound, Denotation, Connotation, Tagg, Hatten, Peirce, Saussure, Musical, Gesture, Multimedia, Signified, Signifier, Troping, Index, Symbol, Icon, Synecdoche, Metonymy, Irony, Lakoff, Soundtrack, Topic, Fauconnier, Turner, Theory, Music Theory, Cinema, Cartoon, Hollywood, Johnson%%%%Michael Buchler, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Matthew Shaftel, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Denise Von Glahn, Outside Committee Member; James Mathes, Committee Member.

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