Narratology and the Soundtrack

Chapter 6 focuses on narrative theories of film. It opens with a discussion of film narratology in general. The second section then covers narratological theories of the soundtrack, especially music, which was one of the first subsystems of film to have its theory rewritten in explicitly narratological terms. It considers contributions by Claudia Gorbman, Michel Chion, Sarah Kozoloff, Giorgi Biancorosso, Robynn Stilwell, Jeff Smith, and Ben Winters and traces how the basic conceptual distinction of diegetic and nondiegetic music has evolved. The next section examines the important narratological concept of focalization as it applies to music in film, drawing on the work of Guido Heldt and concludes with a brief discussion of focalization in Casablanca.