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Songs of The Hobbit: What is Gained and Lost in Film Adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Work

19 December 2017

Songs of The Hobbit: What is Gained and Lost in Film Adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Work

J. R. R. Tolkien has created one of the most immersive literary fantasy worlds of all time with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy series, largely through the heavy use of song integrated into his characters’ daily lives. The fact that all of his characters sing and are still meant to be taken seriously sets his novels apart from many others in the epic fantasy genre. He utilizes his characters’ songs to enrich their backgrounds, emotions, and desires.

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Curiosity as Endurance; Methods of Sonder in First Person Plural and “The Paper Menagerie”

12 November 2017

Curiosity as Endurance; Methods of Sonder in First Person Plural and “The Paper Menagerie”

Amanda Ngoho Reavey’s Marilyn is provocative in the unique way it presents perspective on identity. Not halfway into the work, she puts forth a particularly thought-provoking belief in her statement: “I believe survival is not about hunger. Nor nourishment. Nor hope. Nor anger. Nor love. It is about curiosity” (Reavey 39). To me, the curiosity she speaks of is more of a sonder, which is defined as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness” according to The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

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Popular Music and Personal Identity; Music Affects Listener Who Affects Music

9 May 2017

Popular Music and Personal Identity; Music Affects Listener Who Affects Music

Popular music, as with any medium of popular culture, infiltrates the lives of almost everyone in its era. Even if one is not keen on listening to music at all, one is still exposed to the rhythms and melodies that are popular at one time. In Daphne A. Brooks’ article, “‘Once More with Feeling’: Popular Music Studies in the New Millennium,” she describes how music, especially popular music, shapes and is shaped by one’s identity, whether national, cultural, or personal. She uses the example of  how W.E.B.… Read the rest

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Theatre’s Infinitely Ambiguous Message in Mossoux Bonte’s Whispers

30 April 2017

Theatre’s Infinitely Ambiguous Message in Mossoux Bonte’s Whispers

When one goes to the theatre, there is typically a small amount of time before the show, sometimes just five minutes, in which the audience members must occupy themselves. I spend these moments preparing for the show in any way that I can, whether that means scanning the programme note, clearing my mind of the day’s events, or familiarizing myself with the space by studying the stage or room. With Mossoux Bonte’s Whispers, I did not have a programme note before the show, so I did not have any prior knowledge of what I was about to experience before it began.… Read the rest

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The Recorded Performance Brought to Life in Superfruit’s “Rise”

31 March 2017

The Recorded Performance Brought to Life in Superfruit’s “Rise”

Regardless of personal musical preference, live performances are generally more lifelike than recorded performances. A live performance comes with a visual as well as an auditory representation of a piece of music, which greatly impacts the listener’s experience. Emotion, which drives the majority of musical messages, is much more palpable when it can be expressed through the performer’s face and body movements. Their surroundings are also vital in determining what sort of message they intend to send. A music video of a recorded performance can give these cues, but since the performance is not happening live, there is always an element of artificiality because the performers have the power to create whatever image they want, regardless of whether it can be expressed or replicated live.… Read the rest

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Emotional Affect at the Battersea Arts Centre

20 February 2017

Emotional Affect at the Battersea Arts Centre

The art of performance may consist of several different motivations and aims, but perhaps they can all be boiled down to one general goal: to affect the audience. In Theatre & Feeling, Erin Hurley defines “affect” as the “immediate, uncontrollable, skin-level registration of a change to our environment … responses we cannot consciously control” (13). To me, an audience is most easily affected in this way through a performance’s reliance on emotion, which has the power to make audience members laugh, cry, or feel momentarily moved or changed. “I told my mum I was going on an R.E.… Read the rest

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Breaking the Barriers of Diegesis in Hooper’s Les Misérables

22 December 2016

Breaking the Barriers of Diegesis in Hooper’s Les Misérables

According to Cameron Mackintosh, the leading producer of the immensely profitable and dramatic megamusical, originally “[o]pera was for the sophisticates … and musicals – with their accessible lyrics and catchy tunes – were cheap fodder for the masses.” This was certainly true of the early 20th century, when musicals were comparable to vaudeville and were largely unintegrated. Today, composers have gone to great lengths to break the molds of the musical and its low brow stigma. One way of doing this was the emergence of the megamusical, described as “‘through-composed popular operas’ and ‘poperas,’” which are often through-sung, creating a blend of high and low brow art.… Read the rest

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Music as Science Fiction; Sun Ra’s Soundtrack in Space is the Place

25 October 2016

Music as Science Fiction; Sun Ra’s Soundtrack in Space is the Place

Countless scholars and fans alike have attempted to define the enigmatic category that is science fiction, but there is no one definition that can be settled upon by everyone. As Vivian Sobchack puts it, “if it is to remain relevant, a definition must accommodate the flux and change which is present in any living and popular art form.” Sobchack raises a good point because the genre is constantly evolving, so its definitions must evolve along with it. I have found that piecing together elements of multiple definitions produces the most accurate depiction of the genre.

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“Edelweiss”; From Broadway to Film

22 November 2016

“Edelweiss”; From Broadway to Film

In this day and age of super-fans and technology that can record original works, adding a scene or moment to a film adaptation of a work that was not in the original is a risky business. This often upsets many loyal fans who wish the adapters would stick to the original script and avoid adding new content. However, I would argue that an addition to the 1965 film adaption of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music that was not in the original Broadway production of 1959 did in fact enhance the show.… Read the rest

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What Makes it Good; Genre, Values, and The Voice in Pop Music

5 May 2016

What Makes it Good; Genre, Values, and The Voice in Pop Music

It is pretty universal that one of the most important elements of a good pop song is the hook; the ability for listeners to find it catchy, to remember it after hearing it only once, is what makes them listen a second time and then decide that they like it. Everyone judges music in different ways because everyone has different values, and pinpointing what makes music good or bad is so subjective that I’ve decided to focus on why I judge music in large part on the vocal performance.… Read the rest

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