Ambi‐diegetic Music in the Movies: The Crosby Duets in High Society

Abstract

One key element in the product design of a motion picture, ambi‐diegetic music – that is, cinemusical material that appears on‐screen (like “diegetic” music) that advances the dramatic development of plot, character, or other important cinematic themes (like “non‐diegetic” music) – helps to shape the meanings conveyed to a film’s viewing audience. By way of illustration, the present paper examines the role of a pivotal cinemusical duet (“Now You Has Jazz”) by two stellar performers (Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong) in the MGM musical High Society (1956). By pairing off a middle‐aged Bing Crosby with a much younger Grace Kelly, this film faces the challenge of rehabilitating the image of Bing in time to let him plausibly win the hand of the youthful Grace in the end. The mechanism for this recuperation appears in the symbolically central role played by the ambi‐diegetic duet entitled “Now You Has Jazz.” Via his visual, musical, and historical connection with Armstrong and thereby with a walking embodiment of jazz iconography, Crosby attains a rejuvenated vitality to emerge as Kelly’s viable suitor of choice.

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