<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka på vilket sätt musik och filmrum interagerar med varandra i filmmusikalerna ”Dancer in the Dark” och ”Chicago”. Detta görs huvudsakligen med utgångspunkt från Richard Dyers teorier kring rumsgestaltning inom filmmusikaler, men också utifrån deras roll som förmedlare av utopiska värden, samt Michel Chions teorier kring ljudets olika effekter på film. Vilka värderingar och budskap filmerna har och hur de kommer fram diskuteras också. </p><p> Resultatet av analyserna visar att de två filmernas sätt att arbeta med rum och musik skiljer sig markant, men att de båda för fram ett samhällskritiskt budskap.</p>

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka på vilket sätt musik och filmrum interagerar med varandra i filmmusikalerna ”Dancer in the Dark” och ”Chicago”. Detta görs huvudsakligen med utgångspunkt från Richard Dyers teorier kring rumsgestaltning inom filmmusikaler, men också utifrån deras roll som förmedlare av utopiska värden, samt Michel Chions teorier kring ljudets olika effekter på film. Vilka värderingar och budskap filmerna har och hur de kommer fram diskuteras också. Resultatet av analyserna visar att de två filmernas sätt att arbeta med rum och musik skiljer sig markant, men att de båda för fram ett samhällskritiskt budskap.

According to reviewers, bloggers, and scholars, Lars von Trier’s films, particularly Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Dogville (2003) tend to evoke multiple intense, often contradictory, emotional responses from viewers. The films’ dialectical effects can perhaps be explained by the fact that they broadcast their artifice, which results in a seeming break in the audience’s emotional immersion. The question that this thesis seeks to explore is how the films can simultaneously distance and engage viewers. Generic theories, as well as theories on emotion and film reception, are useful in exposing von Trier’s emotive strategies. In the end, it might be that von Trier endeavours to evoke emotions in viewers while also making us aware of his manipulations in order to suggest that as spectators we must constantly question the film and its creator. More troublingly, he implies that there might be something fundamentally perverse about our desire to watch films. / October 2008

According to reviewers, bloggers, and scholars, Lars von Trier’s films, particularly Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Dogville (2003) tend to evoke multiple intense, often contradictory, emotional responses from viewers. The films’ dialectical effects can perhaps be explained by the fact that they broadcast their artifice, which results in a seeming break in the audience’s emotional immersion. The question that this thesis seeks to explore is how the films can simultaneously distance and engage viewers. Generic theories, as well as theories on emotion and film reception, are useful in exposing von Trier’s emotive strategies. In the end, it might be that von Trier endeavours to evoke emotions in viewers while also making us aware of his manipulations in order to suggest that as spectators we must constantly question the film and its creator. More troublingly, he implies that there might be something fundamentally perverse about our desire to watch films.

According to reviewers, bloggers, and scholars, Lars von Trier’s films, particularly Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Dogville (2003) tend to evoke multiple intense, often contradictory, emotional responses from viewers. The films’ dialectical effects can perhaps be explained by the fact that they broadcast their artifice, which results in a seeming break in the audience’s emotional immersion. The question that this thesis seeks to explore is how the films can simultaneously distance and engage viewers. Generic theories, as well as theories on emotion and film reception, are useful in exposing von Trier’s emotive strategies. In the end, it might be that von Trier endeavours to evoke emotions in viewers while also making us aware of his manipulations in order to suggest that as spectators we must constantly question the film and its creator. More troublingly, he implies that there might be something fundamentally perverse about our desire to watch films.