Listen to the dark sinister bells from the "Dies Irae" section of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique! Stanley Kubrick recognized the rhetorical power of this music, using it to shape his masterpiece of the macabre, The Shining. Kubrick drew not only on the power of Berlioz's symphony, but also on the essence of the musical storyline itself.
We will listen to and analyze rhetorics of music in film: how musical arguments shape, extend, and give meaning to the dramatic storyline. We will look at examples from several directors, films, and genres, including Stanley Kubrick, Ennio Morricone, the renowned documentary filmmaker Les Blank, and Francis Ford Coppola. At the end of this lecture, you will have the ability to listen with a more educated ear the next time you go to the movies.
Laura Roman
Lecturer, Program in Writing and Rhetoric
Laura Roman received her PhD at Worcester College, Oxford University, where she was also a Research Fellow. After completing her doctorate, she was a Visiting Fellow at Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Universitè de Paris, where she researched literary sources for French nineteenth-century composers (Berlioz and Debussy), early cinema, and the rhetoric of sound. Prior to Stanford, she held posts at Oxford, Sorbonne-Nouvelle, and the American University of Paris. She also works as a film consultant.