Hollywood Theory, Non-Hollywood Practice: Cinema Soundtracks in the 1980s and 1990s

Relatively little has been written about film scores and soundtracks outside of Hollywood cinema. Hollywood Theory, Non-Hollywood Practice addresses this gap by looking at the practices of film soundtrack composition for non-Hollywood films made after 1980. Annette Davison argues that since the mid-1970s the model of the classical Hollywood score has functioned as a form of dominant ideology in relation to which alternative scoring and soundtrack practices may assert themselves.The first part of the book explores some of the key theoretical issues and debates in film studies and film music studies. The second part comprises a series of case studies of non-Hollywood scores: Jean Luc Godard's Prénom Carmen (1983), Derek Jarman's The Garden (1990), Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (1987) and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990).Seeking to stimulate debate about the aesthetics and interpretation of film scores and soundtracks in general, this book develops an important synthesis of film studies and musicology.

Annette Davison is lecturer in music at the University of Leeds, UK.