The Power of Conformity
Music, Sound, and Vision in Back to the Future
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12997371 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marc Priewe (0000-0002-0956-2873, University of Stuttgart, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1991-9336 • E-ISSN: 1991-9336 |
| Publisher | European Association for American Studies (PUBLISHER • FR) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ejas.12409 |
| OpenAlex | W2790871688 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This essay investigates the aesthetic and political functions of the choice and placement of music in Back to the Future (1985; dir. Robert Zemeckis). After an overview of the movie’s cultural contexts, the focus shifts to the interplays between sound and cinematic mise-en-scène, with a particular emphasis on popular music. I argue that the film employs music strategically in order to convey a nostalgic view of American culture and society in the 1950s by including certain songs and excluding others, as well as by a score that is deeply rooted in the traditions of Hollywood film music. The intermedial use and remediation of music not only amplifies the movie’s quasi-philosophical treatment of time and history in intricate ways, it also resonates with the contemporary sense of American exceptionalism
Acoustics · Aesthetics · American exceptionalism · Art · Art history · Conformity · Focus (optics · Hollywood · Literature · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Popular music · Power (physics · Sociology · Sound (geography · Cinema and Media Studies · Law · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
| Highly cited | No |
|---|