Ru
EnA. Komarova
Audiovisual representation of the nostalgic concept in cinema
This article is devoted to audiovisual representation of the nostalgia concept in cinema. The purpose of the work is to analyze and classify audiovisual interpretations of this concept in cinema. The author relies on the methodology and typological classifications of a number of researchers (F. Davis, S. Boym, N. Marcos, F. Jameson). Since in academic music nostalgia is part of a generalized lyrical complex, the works of Russian musicologists are involved: V. Tsukkerman, L. Mazel and M. Aranovsky. The article highlights three main interpretations of the nostalgic concept in Russian cinema: nostalgia that goes back to the etymology of the word (sadness for the homeland) and its early interpretation as a medical term (the painful condition of soldiers far from home), nostalgia with a national connotation of “Russian melancholy” and nostalgiareconstruction as a reaction to turning points in the history of the country or a response to the demand of the mass audience. In Western cinema, nostalgic representation of historical periods in genre cinema stands out, as well as reflection of cinema art on its own history (the era of the Great Silent Cinema, Hollywood of the 1950s–1970s). Through the reconstruction of individual film genres (neo-noir), Western directors criticize modern events. Western cinema is also characterized by the aesthetics of retro-futurism and inspiration from the 1980s – genres of horror, B-movie action films, early computer games and the work of individual artists (R. Scott, J. Carpenter). The auditory embodiment of nostalgia in film texts is achieved in several ways: referring to quotes from musical works or from the soundtracks of other films corresponding to the time of the film, creating stylizations, allusions to the music of the past using the timbres of musical instruments, experiments with samples, programs, noises, as well as the use of a classical-romantic lyrical complex (various types of hymns, descending scale melodies, narrow intervals, ascending alterations, the motif of languor, etc.) and lyrical genres of miniatures (song, romance, aria, nocturne, serenade, lullaby).
Key words
film text, nostalgic concept, meta-modernism, musical quote, film music, soundtrack.
For citation
Komarova A. Audiovisual representation of the nostalgic concept in cinema. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2024. No. 3. Pp. 75–81.
