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" The Narrative Function of Pre-Existing Music in Video Games "
Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah E.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1105658
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2320930913
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| Main Entry
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Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah E.
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| Title & Author
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The Narrative Function of Pre-Existing Music in Video Games\ Pozderac-Chenevey, Sarah E.
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| College
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University of Cincinnati
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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266
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| Abstract
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The use of pre-existing music to communicate did not originate with video games, any more than it began with film—referencing the old to add layers of meaning to the new has been a part of music for centuries. Film music built on existing strategies of musical reference, and video games have explored new possibilities for story telling with pre-existing music. This dissertation examines the variety of ways video games employ pre-existing music to support their narratives, with each chapter considering a subtopic via case studies. In my first chapter, I consider the semiotic possibilities, as well as potential pitfalls, of pre-existing music via the topic of nostalgia in Bastion, Fallout 3, and The Legend of Zelda. In my second, I illustrate musical strategies for continuity within series in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid and Atlus’s Persona series. In my third, I problematize the knee-jerk criticism of historical inaccuracies in the Assassin’s Creed series, reframing the games as historiographic metafiction and reconsidering their use of historical music. And finally, in my fourth chapter, I sift through the musics of BioShock Infinite, exploring the altered anachronistic music that foreshadows mindbending plot points, as well as the music that depicts with uncomfortable accuracy the racism of early twentieth-century popular culture. Along the way, I analyze music from six centuries and three continents in games that span decades and tell stories about nuclear warfare, Jungian psychology, time travel, and the eternal struggle between freedom and order.
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Mass communications
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Music
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