Resolving The Paradox of Film Music Through a Cognitive Narrative Approach to Film Comprehension
Annabel J. Cohen · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2013
Music plays an integral part of most movies. Its presence however is often paradoxical particularly when music contributes to the compelling nature of a scene, while being one of the most unrealistic components. The explanation of this phenomenon requires an account of perception and cognition of the film as a whole. Such an account must acknowledge the multiple roles that music plays in a film from that of structuring information and focusing attention on cross-modal congruencies to providing associations as a basis for interpretation of narrative actions and scenes. The Congruence-Association Model including the Working Narrative (Narrative (CAM-WN) is described as a way of explaining the perceptual and cognitive processes activated by film. The paradox of film music is exemplified by early scenes from the film Babel, and the ability of CAM-WN to resolve the paradox provides support for the model in general as a means of explaining the role of music in film.