Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience

4. The Feel of Film Music

93 The Feel oF Film muSic 4 Film music is so much more than a simple tool that filmmakers use to communicate a story effectively. It is also, for lack of a better word, “powerful.” Music is unique among other filmic elements in that it exists “for” the audience and, thus, has the peculiar capacity to invite, encourage, and even persuade filmgoers to respond to its call. Indeed, at first blush, music’s ability to influence an audience is simply a given; most filmgoers can, and often do, attest to the ways that music holds them in its melodious grip. Yet it would seem that music’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, for when we attempt to speak constructively about film music’s power—especially its emotional appeal—we are faced with a number of difficulties that are rooted in a long history of both theological and ideological assumptions. Nevertheless, the argument I want to put forward in this chapter is that music’s affective power is not a hurdle that we must overcome, but rather is the very means by which filmgoers are able to derive a kind of “spiritual” significance from their encounters with film. As such, film music serves as a concrete point of departure for reflecting theologically on the role that emotions play in modern persons’ general awareness of the world and, thus, in their conception of what constitutes a genuine spirituality. However, I want to suggest something more, for embedded within the theological tradition are a number of helpful resources 94 Scoring TranScendence for developing a more robust understanding of the “affective spaces” that film music opens up and, by extension, the contemporary impulse to identify these spaces as spiritually meaningful.1 Indeed, I am convinced that, by listening anew to some old voices in this tradition and by exploring the full breadth and richness of their insights, the Christian community might discover a number of avenues for productively engaging musical emotions rather than simply decrying or disregarding them. The “PoWer” of musicAl emoTions Theological and Ideological Difficulties Film music is above all music, and coming to terms with the filmic experience as a musical experience is the first step in understanding how a film’s score wields power over us. —Kathryn Kalinak2 As we attempt to reflect theologically on the affective space that film music opens up, we do so with the recognition that our discussion is located within and directly informed by a rich tradition of theological reflection concerning not only music but also the affectivity of the musical-aesthetic experience itself. Without question, this tradition poses some difficulties for our inquiry that are rooted in a number of assumptions regarding music and musical emotions—assumptions that we will ultimately seek to develop and even challenge. For, historically, the Western theological tradition has approached music in a somewhat ambivalent manner. Although it is central to the devotional life of both individual Christians and the Christian community, many have conceived of the musical experience as problematic due to the embodied and markedly sensual nature of the emotions it arouses. Augustine is perhaps the most influential theologian whose thought displays this ambivalence toward the musical-aesthetic experience . In his Confessions, he often speaks of the central role The Feel oF Film muSic 95 that music played in his conversion experience.3 Yet, while Augustine often stressed the God-given value of the created order and strongly believed in the ability of music to elevate the soul toward God, he was equally concerned with the sensual nature of musical emotions and, thus, the potentially harmful effects of music’s affective power.4 Augustine’s approach toward music is important for two basic reasons. First, his primary misgivings about music concern the inherent sensuality of the musical-aesthetic experience . And Augustine recognizes this experience as sensual because it is fundamentally emotional. It provides an occasion for the overflowing of “holy emotions.” It engenders “weeping” and “tears.” The highly emotional experiences that Augustine had with musical phenomena compelled him, subsequently, to elevate the rational and cognitive elements of music over and against the emotional dimensions, which, as sensual, were incapable of aiding the soul’s journey toward God. Thus, Augustine’s ambivalence regarding the musicalaesthetic experience is rooted in his particular theology of affect. Second, from the Christian philosopher Boethius to the Reformers Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli, Augustine’s thought has profoundly shaped the...