The End of Diegesis As We Know It?

Abstract

AbstractThis article appears in the Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics edited by John Richardson, Claudia Gorbman, and Carol Vernallis. The distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic music and its critiques have become something of an industry in film music studies lately. There are articles, sections of journal issues, conference sessions, and other activities organized on the topic. As I argued in Hearing Film (2001), I have never found the terminology particularly useful, though as many have suggested, we can’t throw out all sense of the distinction that the vocabulary tries to describe. The problem, however, amps up exponentially when video games and Web sites are added to the mix. The use of music in “new media” challenges most of film music studies’ assumptions and presumptions, and these new practices demand new approaches and vocabulary. This chapter focuses on the challenges posed to film music studies models by digital media practices.