‘The Uncanny’ as an artistic concept has rarely been visited as a topic of musicological research. This paper will postulate an artistic and musical definition of ‘the uncanny’, firstly by exploring it in relation to its German delineation ‘The Unheimlich’ through Nineteenth Century art, music and psychoanalysis. Secondly, by engaging with modern definitions of ‘the uncanny’ in relation to social, political and psychological themes and thirdly, by using these findings to evaluate how ‘the uncanny’ can be evoked through film score. The musical score to Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) will be examined through a variety of elements including instrumentation, musical characteristics, sound, space, time and dialogue through the film music analysis method of Neoformalism (formulated by Audissino 2017). These elements will all be considered through key themes connected to ‘the uncanny’ such as autonomy, disembodiment, fear, desire, the unknown and more, to present an argument for the ways in which musical score is able to trigger ‘the uncanny’ as a psychological and artistic experience in film. In doing so, this paper will provide a unique, reframed definition of ‘the uncanny’ as an musical concept as well as a foundation for understanding ‘the uncanny’ through film score.

Authors:
Niamh Gibbs, University of West London, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Niamh Gibbs is a University Postgraduate Student at University of West London in United Kingdom

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